Overall Rating	Gold - expired
Overall Score	76.00
Liaison	Ciannat Howett
Submission Date	March 5, 2021

STARS v2.2

Emory University
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

Status	Score	Responsible Party
	4.00 / 4.00	Kelly Weisinger Director Office of Sustainability Initiatives

"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Campus Engagement

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Campus Engagement?:

Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Campus Engagement:

A Foundations of Sustainability course project created and proposed sustainability coursework for Emory’s required PACE program for all Freshman. The coursework included facts, behavior change tips, competitions between residence halls, and gaming on issues solely related to Emory’s on-campus sustainability initiatives in the areas of energy, water, waste, climate solutions, food & dining, purchasing, transportation, and built environment.

An Art History student created an on-campus art exhibit focused on climate change and showing its impacts through varied art forms, which was supported by the Henry Luce Grant.

Public Engagement

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Public Engagement?:

Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Public Engagement:

Annually, an Emory Sustainability intern forms a team of graduate and undergraduate students to plan and execute Emory's Earth Festival. These students invite community organizations and Emory organizations to attend, demonstrate their programs/products, and engage with each other and the Emory community to showcase the collective spirit of sustainability in the Atlanta area. This even is open to the public and many family members and friends of faculty, staff, students, and healthcare practitioners attend, in addition to patients and their families.

While working alongside Emory’s Climate Analysis and Solutions Team’s Kilowatt Smackdown project, a student surveyed and conducted research on Atlanta’s household energy burden.

A student conducted a capstone research on the effects of diesel emissions on childhood cognition in Georgia, USA.

A student researched and conducted a capstone project on whether the Financial Stability Board’s Task Force on Climate related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) has been effective in its goals of aligning investor values with firm wide financial decisions through case.

A Sustainability Minor’s capstone project examined the disorders that are causing a decrease in bee populations and ways to amend sustainable beekeeping in Ecuador.

Air & Climate

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Air & Climate?:

Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Air & Climate:

An upper level Emory College environmental studies seminar that encourages students to beware of their surroundings with a focus on climate solutions and resilience thinking.

An Emory College student conducted a Capstone project on the unequal burdens on the perceptions of climate change in Atlanta, which culminated in a presentation on the history of sustainability at Emory.

An Art History student created an on-campus art exhibit focused on climate change and showing its impacts through varied art forms, which was supported by the Henry Luce Grant.

An Emory College student’s honors thesis proposed a program for how Emory can offset its GHG emissions from air travel.

Buildings

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Buildings?:

Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Buildings:

A Masters in Development Practice course on community development uses the campus as a laboratory to explore how investment in the built environment of the campus shapes the construction of knowledge; students explore in particular how the built environment naturalizes relations of race, class and gender. Their work extends beyond the physical environment to examine similar processes at work within Emory’s virtual representations (especially web pages).

Energy

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Energy?:

Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Energy:

An Environmental Studies capstone project researched and proposed carbon offset projects for Emory to develop to offset a portion of Emory’s GHG emissions, which primarily come from energy consumption.

Food & Dining

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Food & Dining?:

Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Food & Dining:

Emory’s SHINE Semester is a 10-week commitment, and it is required for all first-year students through their Freshman Seminars. Students are paired up with organizations like Emory Food Chain, which runs weekly service trips that distribute excess food from Emory cafeterias to local hospitality houses: mitigating local hunger & food waste.

An Anthropology student conducted a capstone project on the sustainable web presence for the Emory Food Fair.

A Masters in Development Practice project incorporated interviews of sustainable food suppliers to Emory Dining to understand the impacts of COVID 19 on local agriculture and on Emory sourcing.

The Sustainable Food Fair course plans and executes Emory’s annual Food Fair, educating the Emory community on the multi-faceted challenges and opportunities of sustainable food production, sourcing, consumption, and disposal.

Grounds

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Grounds?:

Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Grounds:

The undergraduate course Ecology of Emory University with Lab uses ecological concepts to investigate the forests of the Emory campus. This course may be used to fulfill an Elective and Field Course requirement for ENVS students.

Purchasing

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Purchasing?:

Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Purchasing:

A Masters in Development Practice project incorporated interviews of sustainable food suppliers to Emory Dining to understand the impacts of COVID 19 on local agriculture and on Emory sourcing.

Transportation

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Transportation?:

Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Transportation:

A student’s honors thesis proposed a program for how Emory can offset its GHG emissions from air travel.

Waste

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Waste?:

Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Waste:

A Chemistry capstone project explored and conducted research on the breakdown of biodegradable plastics on Emory’s campus.

A Masters in Development Practice practicum with Emory’s Office of Sustainability Initiatives addressed food waste reduction strategies at the Emory Farmers Market.

A Masters in Development Practice Qualitative Methods class project measured on-campus sustainability choices, like recycling, and how they are impacted by the campus trash and recycling options.

Water

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Water?:

Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Water:

A graduate Environmental Health course, Research Methods for Studies of Water and Health, uses the WaterHub at Emory to learn critical skills in measuring water quality exposure assessment and waterborne disease health outcomes that enables students to conduct their own field studies and analyze the resulting data. Issues of microbiological contamination in developing countries and chemical contamination and domestic cases are covered.

A Foundations of Sustainability course project created and proposed sustainability coursework for Emory’s required PACE program for all Freshman. The coursework included facts, behavior change tips, competitions between residence halls, and gaming on issues solely related to Emory’s on-campus sustainability initiatives in the areas of energy, water, waste, climate solutions, food & dining, purchasing, transportation, and built environment.

Coordination & Planning

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Coordination & Planning?:

Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Coordination & Planning:

Diversity & Affordability

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Diversity & Affordability?:

Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Diversity & Affordability:

The Law Seminar Equality: Equality at Emory explores the civil rights history of Emory Law School and Emory University.

A Masters in Development Practice course on community development uses the campus as a laboratory to explore how investment in the built environment of the campus shapes the construction of knowledge; students explore in particular how the built environment naturalizes relations of race, class and gender. Their work extends beyond the physical environment to examine similar processes at work within Emory’s virtual representations (especially web pages).

Investment & Finance

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Investment & Finance?:

Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Investment & Finance:

In the Applied Investments business school course, students apply a sustainability filter to the stock investments they make for the Emory endowment (> $3 million of actual endowment assets).

Wellbeing & Work

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Wellbeing & Work?:

Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Wellbeing & Work:

The course Social Responsibility and Bioethics in Nursing introduces a social responsibility framework as a model of professional nursing practice. Students develop essential skills to provide compassionate, patient-centered nursing care and interpersonal skills to establish effective professional relationships. Experiential learning component occurs at Emory clinical locations.

Optional Fields

Website URL where information about the institution’s living laboratory program is available:

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Additional documentation to support the submission:

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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

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