Bryn Mawr College
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

BIOL B220- A study of the interactions between organisms and their environments. The scientific underpinnings of current environmental issues, with regard to human impacts, are also discussed. Students will also become familiar with ecological principles and with the methods ecologists use. Students will apply these principles through the design and implementation of experiments both in the laboratory and the field. Morris Woods is used to study carbon sequestration.

Math 399 Senior Conference Projects: Studied the effectiveness of the campus LED lighting replacement program. The class gathered data on the conversion of three buildings from florescent to LED lamps. The study calculated the purchase, labor and energy costs associated with each type of lighting to provide an economic analysis. The study also measured the environmental impact of utilizing each type of lighting in terms of its carbon footprint. The students produced a final report quantifying the economic savings and environmental advantages of LED lighting and made recommendations for additional data tracking to better evaluate the program going forward.

Math 399 Senior Conference Projects: Tehzeeb Tyebjee, Swetha Narasimhan, and Jungmin Choi Park Renovation Project- The project studied the proposed renovation of the Park Science Building with respect to making the building and its proposed addition energy neutral. The report looked at the environmental impact and cost effectiveness of renewable energy sources including Solar and Wind Energy. The Study also looked at improving the efficiency of the existing building equipment and recommended improvement that would significantly improve the energy performance of the building as an offset to the additional SF. Finally, the report made a recommendation to consolidate uses in the building to eliminate building area elsewhere on the campus as an offset to the new addition. These recommendations where implemented in the planning for the Park Science Renovation.

BIOL B225- Plants are critical to numerous contemporary issues, such as ecological sustainability, economic stability, and human health. Students will examine the fundamentals of how plants are structured, how they function, how they interact with other organisms, and how they respond to environmental stimuli. In addition, students will be taught to identify important local species, and will explore the role of plants in human society and ecological systems. As part of this study, students are required to find a spot on campus to make weekly observations regarding plant-plant and plant-environment interactions. Locations include Morris Woods , the meadow behind Wyndham, the buffer around Rhodes Pond, and the rows of oak trees on the main green. BIO 390 -This course focuses on performing ecological research. Students will formulate their own research questions, design a field study, collect data, analyze data, and synthesize results into a formal scientific paper and presentation. Field studies all utilize Morris Woods and the permanent forest plots therein.

Math 399 Senior Conference Projects: Studied the effectiveness of the campus LED lighting replacement program. The report made the case for purchasing LED vs Florescent lamps.

Math 339 Senior Seminar, Spring 2015: Anum Shah, Madeleine Johnson and Tom Yi; Landfill vs. Incinerator- This project studied the relative economic, environmental, and social costs of disposing of College waste (excluding recycled and composted materials) via landfill vs. Incineration. The study considered cost and environmental impact of the transport of the waste as well as its disposal. The study calculated the carbon footprint of each method including transportation, Landfill methane production and incineration emissions. The report concluded that incineration was more cost effective while the landfill was better for the environment based on the options available to the College.

BIOL B220- A study of the interactions between organisms and their environments. The scientific underpinnings of current environmental issues, with regard to human impacts, are also discussed. Students will also become familiar with ecological principles and with the methods ecologists use. Students will apply these principles through the design and implementation of experiments both in the laboratory and the field. The pond and on site stream are used to study water quality and runoff issues.

Student interns collaborate with professional staff in managing the activities of the Sustainability Leadership Group and reporting on progress against the Climate Action Plan goals.

The Pensby Center for Diversity and inclusion coordinates and supports College and Student let projects that address issues of diversity. Examples include: StoryCORE, which stands for “Connecting Over Reflections and Experiences,” is a program that responds to the increasingly diverse population at Bryn Mawr. It’s a place for students to come and talk about their experiences, compare stories, and it creates an open dialogue for conversations around the topic and issues of diversity. Each week, one of the seven trained student facilitators organizes a StoryCORE session with different people from the campus community. Black at Bryn Mawr -. A research blog and digital map were created during the Spring 2015 semester by Emma Kioko (Class of 2015) and Grace Pusey (Class of 2015) as part of their Praxis III Independent Study course, designed to build institutional memory of Bryn Mawr’s engagement with race and racism and to encourage future students to hold both themselves and the College community to higher standards of awareness and accountability to racial power dynamics inside and outside the classroom. A POINT OF DIFFERENCE: DIVERSITY AT BRYN MAWR COLLEGE is an exhibit was created between summer 2013 and spring 2014 by Alexis De La Rosa '15 and Lauren Footman '14, the 2013 Pensby Interns at Bryn Mawr College. The scope of the project encompassed the experience of diversity on campus by all members of the Bryn Mawr College community, and this exhibit serves both as a repository of their findings and as a jumping-off point for the next stage of dialogues.

"MATH 399 Senior Seminar Projects: Kathiana Abraham, Sarina Shrestha, Georgia Griggs; KIDS HAVE THE POWER: Math, Recycling, and the School District of Philadelphia. The goal of this project was to increase recycling rates in Philadelphia School District in support of the City of Philadelphia Green Futures Program through a series of educational materials we developed that use mathematics to teach students about recycling and waste. In this work we developed student activity sheets, information guides for students and teachers, a statistics sheets, and an informational video all focused on using mathematics to tell the recycling story and increase recycling rates in Philadelphia School District. "