Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 53.54
Liaison Stephane Menand
Submission Date June 22, 2017
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Missouri University of Science and Technology
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 4.00 / 4.00 Stephane Menand
Assistant Director
Center for Sustainability
"---" 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:
Current projects include research on ozone uptake and secondary product emissions on new sustainable building materials. This research allows for a higher quality indoor air environment when using advanced materials.

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:
Indiscipline student design teams develop new building construction with an emphasis in sustainability. Technologies used include green roofs to reduce solar heat loads and water runoff, building systems that reuse grey water and high performance building envelopes to reduce energy usage.

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:
The Solar Decathlon student design team consists of a multi-discipline team tasked with building a home that relies mostly on alternative energy sources. After competition, homes are brought back to campus and installed within an area to be used as student housing. Long-term research on the houses is then conducted by the students on how the homes perform in a real-world setting. The homes are inter-connected with a micro grid that utilizes photo voltaic, solar thermal, and hydrogen fuel cell energy types.

Food & Dining 

Is the institution utilizing its campus as a living laboratory for multidisciplinary student learning and applied research in relation to Food & Dining?:
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 Food & Dining:
Research projects that include students have focus on drinking water e.g "Advance Chemical Oxidation Technology for Simultaneous Disinfection and Disinfection Byproduct Control in Drinking Water Treatment Process" part of Food-Energy-Water Nexus. Working with Sustainable Ozarks Partnership on local foodshed development.

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:
On going projects on campus include green roof research, and phytoforensic research where trees are used to indicate underground contamination. Other projects on the grounds include the rehabilitation of a waterway that traverses campus to include a small wetland in the heart of campus and the extensive use of native plantings throughout the campus.

Purchasing 

Is the institution utilizing its campus as a living laboratory for multidisciplinary student learning and applied research in relation to Purchasing?:
No

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:
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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:
The campus has an Electric Bus serving the students . This bus has been used for students and faculty research to show how it could help alleviate traffic on streets for parking by being used as a shuttle instead of students using their own car.

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:
Current research being conducted utilizes plants developed in our own greenhouses in conjunction with on going projects that utilize sludge, a by-product of solid waste treatment facilities, to help the plants remove heavy metals from excess mine tailings, preventing environmental contamination.

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:
Multi-year green roof project where new plant type are used/developed to utilize excess water from precipitation events. The water is absorbed by the plants and planting media to be released through transpiration, thereby preventing large amounts of water from reaching treatment facilities, and reducing heat-island effects of large expanse roofing.

Coordination & Planning 

Is the institution utilizing its campus as a living laboratory for multidisciplinary student learning and applied research in relation to Coordination & Planning?:
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 Coordination & Planning:
Missouri S&T requires students to participate in experiential learning. As part of this experiential Learning comes the Students Design teams. We have multiples team participating in design competitions. Design team are open to any undergraduates and majors. One of them is the Student Solar House Design team where students are not only responsible for designing the house, but also for running the project from start to finish by themselves. As part of applying for the competition is a lot of coordination with multiple people and entities.

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

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 Diversity & Affordability:
Student Diversity Program actively supports students from ethnic populations that have been historically under represented in science and engineering. We support programming that better ensures the success of S&T students both on-campus and after graduation, and help promote awareness of multicultural issues on the campus community. An example of student involved work is NATIONAL SOCIETY OF BLACK ENGINEERS PRE-COLLEGE INITIATIVE

Investment & Finance 

Is the institution utilizing its campus as a living laboratory for multidisciplinary student learning and applied research in relation to Investment & Finance?:
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 Investment & Finance:
Missouri S&T requires students to participate in experiential learning. As part of this experiential Learning comes the Students Design teams. We have multiples team participating in design competitions. Design team are open to any undergraduates and majors. One of them is the Student Solar House Design team where students are not only responsible for designing the house, but also for running the project from start to finish by themselves. As part of participating in the competition is to manage a budget that can remain sustainable.

Public Engagement 

Is the institution utilizing its campus as a living laboratory for multidisciplinary student learning and applied research in relation to Public Engagement?:
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 Public Engagement:
Earth Day For earth day many faculty work with their own students to make sure that they have interactive and informative booth related to Environmental issues and that relate to the discipline of the students. This year our campus through the Center for Sustainability organizing this event hosted over 900 kids from area schools where children could learn about environmental issues and how to mediate or solve many of them. During that events, tours of the Solar Village were also offered to kids from school areas so they could learn about sustainable housing.

Wellbeing & Work 

Is the institution utilizing its campus as a living laboratory for multidisciplinary student learning and applied research in relation to Wellbeing & Work?:
No

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:
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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:
The campus conducts the Jacking Intro to Engineering camp every summer. This camp brings in high-performing high school students from around the country to take part in hands-on learning projects in various engineering disciplines. All programs have a large part in sustainable development to instill this as an inherent part of the design process.

Optional Fields 

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
http://solarhouse.mst.edu/

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.