Two North Carolina colleges are among 45 schools nationwide to receive $15,000 grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to help design sustainable technologies.

Student teams from Appalachian State and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are recipients of the People, Prosperity and the Planet Phase I grants, which challenge students, working together on interdisciplinary teams, to design and build sustainable technologies that improve quality of life, promote economic development and protect the environment.