Radford University
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

Native Plant Beds: The native plants beds directly in front of the RU Biology Greenhouse are demonstration gardens to show the beauty and importance of native plants as well as pollinators. The beds were planted by students in the Sustainable Gardening course and are used by students in the Flora of Virginia and Plants & Society courses.


Sustainability Leadership Team: Climate Survey 2022

The annual Senses & ScienceAbility event at Radford University Carilion (RUC), we celebrate science, promote inquiry through structured and unstructured scientific and creative events, educate the community we serve about health and wellness, and provide opportunities to the public to learn about and engage in the research process. For examples, we showcase several health awareness activities, bee hotels, entomology boxes, and other kid-friendly science activities

PHYS 330 – Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics class: For this class, I propose to have the students study the environmental effect of painting asphalt parking spaces white. A major factor in Earth’s energy budget is its “albedo,” or the amount of incoming solar energy that is reflected into space. The albedo of asphalt is approximately 0.05, which means that only 5% of the incoming solar energy is reflected into space. The remaining 95% is turned into heat energy, which re-radiates into our atmosphere and contributes to Earth’s warming. This is a major source of the “urban heat island” effect. The albedo of white paint is between 0.50 and 0.90, depending on the paint. Thus, a parking space painted white – without a car on it – would reflect 50%-90% of the incoming radiation, leading to less heating of our atmosphere.

Dendrochronology at Selu Conservancy: As part of the GEOS 480 Seminar course, students collected tree cores from Selu Conservancy and analyzed how the trees responded to disturbances and changes in climate.

Sociology student internship: Developing and piloting the Green Office Certification. During Spring 2021, a senior Sociology student completed an internship in the Sustainability Office. The student focused on the final stages of development of the new Green Office Certification Program and the pilot run of the new program. The student's efforts resulted in the certification of the first 10 Green Office Certifications on campus and met the internship requirements for the student's degree in Sociology.

For the Spring 2022 Geospatial Science Capstone course, a senior GEOS student evaluated campus renewable energy generation potential. The student assessed available rooftop and parking lot spaces and compared it with the University's annual electricity purchase.

Marketing 101 - Creativity and Innovation: Food and sustainability
The question students were charged with answering: Use the design thinking process to answer the question, How might we improve food well-being for Radford University students? Students collected information about food on campus using a variety of strategies, including: data collection from the Office of Sustainability, interviews with Dining Services, and personal experiences. Students groups then used the Design Thinking process to develop innovative marketing solutions to these problems.

Biology faculty and students developed a campus tree map and campus tree website to inventory existing species, track new plantings, and support the process for identifying new species for planting.

Campus Tree Map: Campus Tree Map: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1Hfk6n-ueKuxpEQX2X1hGyPjlPWsfewM_&usp=sharing;

Campus Tree website: https://rutrees.weebly.com/

plastic vs. compostable - chemistry
Kennedy: Spring 2022

2022 Greenhouse Gas Inventory Commuter Mileage Assessment and Survey
A senior Geospatial Science Major completed the Radford University Commuter Survey during the Spring 2022 semester. Under the supervision of a faculty member and the Sustainability Manager, the student developed a GIS model for measuring the distance from each parking pass holder’s home to campus and used the data to measure mileage per year, fuel consumed, and associated greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, the student developed and administered a commuter modality survey to assess the mode of transportation used by faculty, staff, and students that do not possess a parking pass.

Spring 2022: Abstract from Senior Chemistry major capstone project: "Plastic utensils are harmful to the environment by increasing greenhouse gas emissions during the manufacturing process, and they are unable to decompose naturally. As a result, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam implemented Executive Order 77–a sustainability initiative working to reduce single-use plastics and reduce the waste that is sent to landfills. Radford University responded by upgrading to biodegradable, sustainably sourced materials in Dalton’s dining hall. Radford University chose the Ecoproduct’s Plantware cutlery for their dining hall utensils. This cutlery is made from renewable resources and is branded by Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI) as certified compostable. As opposed to plastic, Ecoproduct’s Plantware cutlery is made from polylactic acid (PLA), which is a commonly used renewable bioplastic. My study examines the pros and cons related to the chemical and biological life cycle of plastic versus PLA utensils used at Radford. I will conclude whether or not Radford’s choice to switch to PLA utensils is chemically and biologically sustainable."


In Spring 2021, a senior Communications major completed required internship hours with the Office of Sustainability. The student developed and implemented an outreach and engagement campaign to promote the Fill It Forward program and reduce consumption of single use water bottles. The student created a series printed and social media promotions, provided presentations to a range of classes and groups, and completed several tabling sessions in student common areas.

Wicked Problems Seminar: Cleaning up the New River. This was focused on cleaning up human use pollution and stormwater runoff pollution. Students interviewed the RU Sustainability Manager and Radford City employees. Students evaluated solutions, like the statewide MS4 (Municipal Separate Stormwater System) program and expanding the existing stormwater wetland on the RU Campus.

Political Science Capstone (POSC 490) teaches frameworks and concepts on global issues that remained unaddressed in our globalized economy. Students are organized into four teams to develop workable strategies and solutions to help Radford University achieve net-carbon neutrality by the year 2040. The teams will focus on four areas in the mandate of the Task Force:
1. Academics: Curriculum and Research, Courses, Campus as a Living Lab, Academic Programs (e.g. new Majors, Minors, Graduate Programs), Research & Scholarship
2. Engagement: – On Campus and with the Public (e.g. Student & Employee Engagement, Training, Orientation, Outreach Campaigns & Publications, Community Partnerships, Community Service
3. Operations: RU Facilities and Grounds, Emissions, Buildings, Energy, & Climate Impacts, Purchasing, Campus Fleet, Waste, Water
4. Services: Food & Dining, Waste, Purchasing, Transportation

They worked in teams to develop ideas and solutions on various areas on RU’s sustainability and climate action to achieve the goals of the Task Force from the students’ perspective, focusing on their interests, needs, and aspirations.

Sociology professor research with three student researchers. Report published Fall 2021.

Radford University’s location in the “New River City” provides a valuable opportunity to highlight, improve, and create sustainability programs. This report based on the responses from n=410 students, faculty, and staff highlights a number of opportunities for which to improve awareness of sustainability initiatives at RU and suggestions for creating new initiatives such as online interdisciplinary programs. Important findings include perceptions of Radford University’s commitment to sustainability, awareness of sustainability initiatives, campus engagement with sustainability, academic programs, and recommendations for improvement.

Sustainability Leadership Team – Project: Neighborhood Cleanup;