Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 57.70
Liaison Joséanne Bélanger-Gravel
Submission Date May 31, 2016
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Polytechnique Montréal
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.80 / 4.00 Jean-François Desgroseilliers
Sustainable Development Advisor
Sustainable Development Office
"---" 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?:
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 Air & Climate:
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Buildings  

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

Is the institution utilizing its campus as a living laboratory for multidisciplinary student learning and applied research in relation to Energy?:
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 Energy:
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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:
An environmental life cycle assessment of disposable dishes for Polytechnique's cafeteria, has been realized in 2014-2015 by the International Reference Centre for the Life Cycle of Products, Processes and Services (CIRAIG, based at Polytechnique). A third-party revision is currently being planned to be able to communicate the results and use this project to do some awareness-raising activities about disposable dishes reduction and life cycle assessment.

Grounds 

Is the institution utilizing its campus as a living laboratory for multidisciplinary student learning and applied research in relation to Grounds?:
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 Grounds:
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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:
In 2015, a Masters student in Civil Engineering (at Polytechnique's Mobility Chair), contributed to drafting a Sustainable Mobility Plan for Polytechnique, after having organized public consultations on transport issues facing the campus.

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:
In 2015, the subject of the first year integrative project for the undergraduate program in industrial engineering consisted in a simulation and a design of a recycling workshop inside Polytechnique. The students designed the conveyors and used different everyday life waste brought to them on palettes, to test their design.

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:
Since March 2013, a campaign called "Virage Bleu" ("Blue transition") has been going on to remove water bottles from the campus. Under a voluntary approach to check the water quality and to reassure people about drinking "tap" water, Polytechnique Montreal conducted a characterization of water fountains in its building. Water samples were taken on July 17, 2013 on 13 distribution points and the main indicators of drinking water quality were measured. The characterization was carried out by students from the NSERC Industrial Chair in Drinking Water from Polytechnique (for lead and copper) and by an accredited private laboratory (for total coliforms and E. coli).

Coordination & Planning 

Is the institution utilizing its campus as a living laboratory for multidisciplinary student learning and applied research in relation to Coordination & Planning?:
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 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?:
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 Diversity & Affordability:
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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:
In 2014, a group of students from PolyFinances (http://www.polyfinances.ca/) wrote a report about responsible investments practices in universities in Quebec, to help Polytechnique to have a better portrait of responsible investment trends. The report was presented to the director of Polytechnique's Employee Pension Plan Office, as part of the ongoing reflection on integrating responsible investment criteria and practices in policies and procedures.

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:
In 2016, the subject of the first year integrative project for the undergraduate program in industrial engineering consisted in a simulation and a design of a workshop inside Polytechnique to help the management of a food bank. The students designed the conveyors and used different food supplies to test their design by making themselves heterogenous supplies boxes that were then given to Moisson Montreal (a non profit Montreal organization whose mission is to distribute food and supplies to the community).

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:
In April 2015, a Master student in Civil Engineering did a research project (and submitted a report) about the integration of sustainability into the undergraduate programs at Polytechnique. His report included a litterature survey of other universities' programs and a review of various pedagogical approaches. The report showed the relevance of teaching sustainability to engineers, identified key learning objectives in sustainability and best pedagogical approaches to teaching sustainability, including the use of the "program" approach to integrate sustainability in engineering programs. His conclusions are used by a special committee of Polytechnique's Studies Committee that currently works on better integrating sustainability issues in Polytechnique's programs' curricula.

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:
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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.