Further Together the ORAU Podcast

Further Together the ORAU Podcast


Exploring the benefits of incorporating plants into daily life: An ORAU Innovation Partnership Grant story

October 17, 2024

Lakshya Sharma is student coordination manager for the Resource Center of Excellence Greater Atlanta, one of dozens of such centers around the world working to advance the United Nations' sustainable development goals. An ORAU Innovation Partnership Grant was awarded to RCE Greater Atlanta and Georgia Tech to help fund an Urban Horticulture and Permaculture Workshop, which brought together students from Georgia Tech, the University of Georgia, Georgia State, Morehouse College, Spelman College and other institutions across the Atlanta area. In this episode of Further Together, Sharma talks to host Michael Holtz and guest host Tracie Curtright from ORAU's Research and University Partnerships Office about the workshop. Sharma says students learned to incorporate plant life into their daily lives by gardening where they are. Sharma says the series of workshops also focused on the mental health benefits of caring for and having plants in your physical environment. Curtright shared details about the IPG program, and how ORAU's university partners can apply to use these $4,000 grants to grow attendance and dissemination of events like the one Sharma and his team organized. To learn more about the IPG program, visit https://orau.org/partnerships/grant-programs/innovation-partnerships.html