Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to state agencies' and higher education institutions' compliance with benefits paid proportional to the source of the fund by requirements of the General Appropriations Act.

Congressional Earmark Funding was used to create a Postdoctoral Environmental Fellowship Program, interdisciplinary Environmental Working Groups, and special initiatives to create a dialogue around the environment at the University of Massachusetts Amherst to mobilize faculty to work together to respond to emerging environmental needs and to build institutional capacity to launch programmatic environmental activities across campus over time. Developing these networks of expertise will enable the University to more effectively and swiftly respond to emerging environmental needs and assume a leadership role in varied environmental fields. Over the course of the project 20 proposals were submitted to a variety of funding agencies involving faculty teams from 19 academic departments; 4 projects were awarded totaling $950,000; special events were organized including the Environmental Lecture Series which attracted more than 1,000 attendees over the course of the project; 75 University faculty became involved in one or more Working Groups (original three Working Groups plus Phase 2 Working Groups); an expertise database was developed with approximately 275 faculty involved in environmental research and education as part of a campus-wide network of environmental expertise; 12 University centers and partners participated; and the three Environmental Fellows produced 3 publications as well as a number of …