Overall Rating	Silver - expired
Overall Score	49.53
Liaison	Tanja Srebotnjak
Submission Date	March 1, 2019
Executive Letter	Download

STARS v2.1

Harvey Mudd College
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

Status	Score	Responsible Party
	4.00 / 4.00	Tanja Srebotnjak Hixon Associate Professor of Sustainable Environmental Design Engineering

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

Air & Climate

Is the institution utilizing its campus as a living laboratory for multidisciplinary student learning and applied research in relation to Air & Climate?:

Yes

A brief description of the student/faculty projects and how they contribute to understanding campus sustainability challenges or advancing sustainability on campus in relation to Air & Climate:

Through the Rasmussen Fund, administrated by the Hixon Center for Sustainable Environmental Design at Harvey Mudd College, funding has been provided for summer 2017 and summer 2018 for a project focused on measuring clusters of particulate matter or emissions across the Claremont Colleges - led by Professors Christopher Clark (Engineering) and Lelia Hawkins (Chemistry).

Buildings

Is the institution utilizing its campus as a living laboratory for multidisciplinary student learning and applied research in relation to Buildings?:

Yes

A brief description of the student/faculty projects and how they contribute to understanding campus sustainability challenges or advancing sustainability on campus in relation to Buildings:

As with most living laboratory projects, these tend to be one-off or ongoing research projects performed on an ad hoc basis. A recent example of faculty/student projects related to buildings is the ParaSOL Design, Construction, & Analysis project (May 2015), by students Natasha Allen, Jason Casar, Lillian Liang and Anji Malmani (led by Professor Tanja Srebotnjak). Description: "The ParaSOL, Solar Charging Station is a stand-alone solar photo-voltaic (solar PV) system. The system fully integrates the components needed to harvest, store, and dis-tribute the energy needed to power two standard laptops. It was placed on the roof of the Shanahan Teaching and Learning Center". This project gave the opportunity for students to think of the possibility of new green study areas on campus.

Energy

Is the institution utilizing its campus as a living laboratory for multidisciplinary student learning and applied research in relation to Energy?:

Yes

A brief description of the student/faculty projects and how they contribute to understanding campus sustainability challenges or advancing sustainability on campus in relation to Energy:

As with most living laboratory projects, these tend to be one-off or ongoing research projects performed on an ad hoc basis. A recent example of faculty/student projects related to energy is the Updating Energy Monitoring System of Harvey Mudd College project (2011) - by students Beryl Egerter and Rai Feren (led by professors Mike Erlinger and Richard Haskell. The goal of the project was to increase energy use visibility and re-organize an online webpage to give users the ability to have easy access to energy data for tracking and analysis. Major improvements were made, including the purchase of new machine to run the server to improve the system diagnostic tool. This project contributed to advancing sustainability on campus, because the improvement made to the server helped students to perform data analysis and find better and more sustainable ways to reduce energy usage in the dorms.

Food & Dining

Is the institution utilizing its campus as a living laboratory for multidisciplinary student learning and applied research in relation to Food & Dining?:

A brief description of the student/faculty projects and how they contribute to understanding campus sustainability challenges or advancing sustainability on campus in relation to Food & Dining:

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Grounds

Is the institution utilizing its campus as a living laboratory for multidisciplinary student learning and applied research in relation to Grounds?:

Yes

A brief description of the student/faculty projects and how they contribute to understanding campus sustainability challenges or advancing sustainability on campus in relation to Grounds:

As with most living laboratory projects, these tend to be one-off or ongoing research projects performed on an ad hoc basis. A recent example of faculty/student projects related to grounds is the “Designing a Sustainable and Inviting Space: The Olin Lawns” project (2011), by students Abby Korth and Katy Anderson (led by professor Mike Erlinger). This project proposed a new landscape design on the West of the Olin Building and other small areas that focuses on xeriscaping using low-water native plants. The goal of this project was to considerably decrease water usage, make the Olin lawn more beautiful, sustainable, and inviting to staff, students, and faculty.

Purchasing

Is the institution utilizing its campus as a living laboratory for multidisciplinary student learning and applied research in relation to Purchasing?:

Yes

A brief description of the student/faculty projects and how they contribute to understanding campus sustainability challenges or advancing sustainability on campus in relation to Purchasing:

As with most living laboratory projects, these tend to be one-off or ongoing research projects performed on an ad hoc basis. A recent example of faculty/student projects related to purchasing is the “Irrigating the Claremont Colleges with Reclaimed Water” (2011) by student Dustin Zubke (led by Professor Richard Haskell). The report summarized the findings of a serial of studies that intended to evaluate current water reclamation technology and estimate the financial benefits of water reclamation technology for the Claremont Colleges. In addition, this project proposed a detail water reclamation system for the Colleges and recommends undertaking a professional engineering study.

Transportation

Is the institution utilizing its campus as a living laboratory for multidisciplinary student learning and applied research in relation to Transportation?:

Yes

A brief description of the student/faculty projects and how they contribute to understanding campus sustainability challenges or advancing sustainability on campus in relation to Transportation:

In spring 2019, the E4 class (an introductory engineering course) tasked students with a human-centered design project to help them develop this increasingly popular skill and approach to problem-solving. During this particular semester, the early iteration of the project focused on faculty and staff commuting, for which students directly interviewed campus employees about their commuting habits, their awareness around the environmental ramifications of their commuting, as well as its possible effects on their feelings, attitudes, and productivity.

Waste

Is the institution utilizing its campus as a living laboratory for multidisciplinary student learning and applied research in relation to Waste?:

Yes

A brief description of the student/faculty projects and how they contribute to understanding campus sustainability challenges or advancing sustainability on campus in relation to Waste:

One past example is a design project for a fall 2017 engineering course, "Introduction to Engineering Design and Manufacturing" where students took on a project to implement technologies in campus waste bins that determine fill levels and communicate that information back to Facilities staff. The project was designed to help facilities better monitor waste bins in terms of their content and fill levels to reduce the number of trips to take out waste, as well as to improve waste diversion. Another example took place during a client project for a Computer Science course in spring 2017, when the sustainability program manager at HMC worked with multiple student groups on creating online web platforms that educated the campus and city community on how to dispose of waste properly and where to find appropriate receptacles.

Water

Is the institution utilizing its campus as a living laboratory for multidisciplinary student learning and applied research in relation to Water?:

Yes

A brief description of the student/faculty projects and how they contribute to understanding campus sustainability challenges or advancing sustainability on campus in relation to Water:

As with most living laboratory projects, these tend to be one-off or ongoing research projects performed on an ad hoc basis. A recent example of faculty/student projects related to water is the “Irrigating the Claremont Colleges with Reclaimed Water” (2011) by student Dustin Zubke (led by Professor Richard Haskell). The report summarized the findings of a serial of studies that intended to evaluate current water reclamation technology and estimate the financial benefits of water reclamation technology for the Claremont Colleges. In addition, this project proposed a detail water reclamation system for the Colleges and recommends undertaking a professional engineering study.

Coordination & Planning

Is the institution utilizing its campus as a living laboratory for multidisciplinary student learning and applied research in relation to Coordination & Planning?:

A brief description of the student/faculty projects and how they contribute to understanding campus sustainability challenges or advancing sustainability on campus in relation to Coordination & Planning:

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Diversity & Affordability

Is the institution utilizing its campus as a living laboratory for multidisciplinary student learning and applied research in relation to Diversity & Affordability?:

Yes

In summer 2018, the Hixon Center for Sustainable Environmental Design supported a student fellowship (Social Justice Fellowship). The student conducted research for the center regarding student access to food, hunger on campus, malnutrition, and food sustainability. Her efforts produced a comprehensive food security survey (taken by nearly 25% of students, a very high survey return) which also accounted for how food security may vary between different groups of students, a complete literature review of food insecurity on college campuses, and will hopefully yield institutional changes that better support students suffering from food insecurity.

Investment & Finance

Is the institution utilizing its campus as a living laboratory for multidisciplinary student learning and applied research in relation to Investment & Finance?:

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Public Engagement

Is the institution utilizing its campus as a living laboratory for multidisciplinary student learning and applied research in relation to Public Engagement?:

A brief description of the student/faculty projects and how they contribute to understanding campus sustainability challenges or advancing sustainability on campus in relation to Public Engagement:

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Wellbeing & Work

Is the institution utilizing its campus as a living laboratory for multidisciplinary student learning and applied research in relation to Wellbeing & Work?:

Yes

A brief description of the student/faculty projects and how they contribute to understanding campus sustainability challenges or advancing sustainability on campus in relation to Wellbeing & Work:

Other Impact Areas

Is the institution utilizing its campus as a living laboratory for multidisciplinary student learning and applied research in relation to other areas (e.g. arts & culture or technology)?:

Yes

A brief description of the student/faculty projects and how they contribute to understanding campus sustainability challenges or advancing sustainability on campus in relation to other areas:

A group of Harvey Mudd College students in collaboration with the Center for Environmental Studies (existed prior to the Hixon Center for Sustainable Environmental Design) finalized and submitted “The Design and Launch of an Educational Video game to Promote Sustainability” project under the supervision of Professors Paul Steinberg and Elizabeth Sweedyk. The project entailed collaboration with computer science students to design an educational video game on sustainability.

Optional Fields

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:

http://www.hmc.edu/hcsed

Additional documentation to support the submission:

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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

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