Stanford University
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

Stanford Energy System Innovations (SESI), which has currently reduced campus greenhouse gas emissions by 68% and will reduce 80% by 2021, is an example of campus operations serving as a living laboratory for impact on air and climate. Stanford staff, faculty, and students have worked together since 2007 to design, model, and construct the new energy system. In March 2017, 5 MW of on-campus rooftop solar came online, supplementing the 67 MW off-site Stanford Solar Generating Station (SSGS). The Stanford student newspaper, the Stanford Daily, sent student representatives to the official launch of the SSGS in December 2016. Additionally, the student Group Stanford Solar and Wind Energy Project (SWEP) directly supported the on-campus installations. Furthermore, there has been a surge in student class projects related to solar energy, and since the new on-campus solar came online, students are able to use actual campus solar data to inform these projects, many of which evaluate the impact of installing solar on additional campus buildings. These types of projects will continue in the future as Stanford brings online a new solar plant in Lemoore, CA that will allow the university to achieve 100% renewable electricity by 2021.

Since the new Central Energy Facility came online in April 2015, staff in the Department of Sustainability & Energy Management have provided tours for many classes, student groups and faculty groups, among others, to encourage hands-on learning through this innovative energy system. In fact, many of the spaces within the new Central Energy Facility were built with the concept of campus as a living laboratory in mind, such as amphitheater-style outdoor seating, large windows for easy viewing of the machinery, color-coded piping symbolizing the hot water and cold water supply and return loops, informational signage offering a self-guided tour, and new conference rooms available for use by any campus group.

For more information, visit: http://sustainable.stanford.edu/sesi

ROBLE LIVING LABORATORY FOR SUSTAINABILITY AT STANFORD
The Roble Living Laboratory for Sustainability at Stanford (ROLLSS) initiative epitomizes a living laboratory for buildings on campus by turning a student residence into a living laboratory in and of itself. For example, ROLLSS has its own Organic Teaching Garden and conducted a “zero-waste” competition to reduce the amount of garbage that Roble residents produce. In addition to this ROLLSS initiative, several other living laboratory opportunities related to buildings are described below.

SUSTAINABILITY COURSES
Many classes use Stanford buildings to demonstrate efficient building practices. For instance, CEE 161C - Natural Ventilation of Buildings uses the Jerry Yang and Akiko Yamazaki Environment and Energy Building (known as Y2E2) as a case study for successful natural ventilation and features tours of the building as well as using building data in class projects.

INTERNSHIP PROGRAM
Each year, the Sustainable Stanford Internship Program hires interns to work on sustainability initiatives in Student Housing buildings through Residential & Dining Enterprises (R&DE) and academic buildings through the Cardinal Green Office Program, the Cardinal Green Labs Program, and a variety of targeted plug load programs run through the Office of Sustainability. For instance, R&DE interns conducted a heating study in winter 2017-18 to understand how best to reduce heating in Student Housing over winter. They oversaw the installation of temperature sensors and thermostat instructional stickers – designed to help students understand and manage their heat – in 1,500 student rooms. These efforts reduced heat use by 1,383 MMBTU compared to last year, equivalent to the energy used by 33 homes for one year. During the same period they also led an incentive program for off campus residents to reduce their energy usage by 30%, and studied the benefits of installing programmable thermostats in apartments with the highest energy use. The program resulted in over 94,000 kWh of electricity saved in 79 apartments - equivalent to over 70 metric tons of avoided CO2 emissions, or taking eight homes off the grid for a year. Overall, these efforts saved over $40,000 in utility costs.

RESEARCH
The top of the Packard Electrical Engineering Building at Stanford University has been the setting of many milestones in the development of an innovative cooling technology that could someday be part of our everyday lives. Since 2013, Shanhui Fan, professor of electrical engineering, and his students and research associates have employed this roof as a testbed for a high-tech mirror-like optical surface that could be the future of lower-energy air conditioning and refrigeration. Research published in 2014 first showed the cooling capabilities of the optical surface on its own. Now, in 2018, Fan and former research associates Aaswath Raman and Eli Goldstein, have shown that a system involving these surfaces can cool flowing water to a temperature below that of the surrounding air. The entire cooling process is done without electricity, and Stanford's Packard building has been the source of these learnings.

COURSES
There are also many classes offered through a wide variety of departments that teach students about different types of sustainable energy and strategies for implementing and advocating renewable energy on the local, state, and national levels. Many of these courses offer opportunities for hands-on exploration and research in the field of renewable energy, such as projects and on-campus field trips. One of the many examples of courses like CEE 107F: Understanding Energy. Many of these courses also use actual campus energy data to complement the field trips and inform class projects. See details on the example CEE 107F course at: http://explorecourses.stanford.edu/search?view=catalog&filter-coursestatus-Active=on&page=0&catalog=&q=CEE107

INTERNSHIPS
Each year, the Sustainable Stanford Internship Program hires interns to work on energy initiatives in Student Housing through Residential & Dining Enterprises (R&DE) and academic buildings through the Cardinal Green Office Program, the Cardinal Green Labs Program, and a variety of targeted plug load programs run through the Office of Sustainability. Stanford's Cardinal Green Office Program enlists intern support to conduct energy audits of volunteer buildings across campus each year. In the 2017-18 academic year, Cardinal Green Office Interns audited 35 buildings and provided energy conservation and efficiency recommendations.

ROBLE LIVING LABORATORY FOR SUSTAINABILITY AT STANFORD
The ROLLSS initiative included significant new living lab programming in the area of Food & Dining. First, students involved in ROLLSS founded the Roble Growing Club, which is responsible for maintaining the Roble Hall Organic Teaching Garden, which was built in summer 2017 and is operated in partnership with Residential & Dining Enterprises (R&DE). The Roble Growing Club also hosted dinners for Roble residents made from the garden's yield, with dishes such as spring salad and roasted turnips. The events allowed the club to discuss sustainable food topics, such as eating seasonably, with an even broader group of Roble students. The group also hosted a vegan-sushi night where residents learned to make fish-free sushi and talked about what it’s like to eat a plant-based diet.

COURSES
Matt Rothe, co-founder of Stanford’s Food, Entrepreneurship, Education & Design (FEED) Collaborative, and Dara Silverstein, manager of R&DE’s sustainable food program, jointly taught a course in Roble Hall in conjunction with ROLLSS during fall quarter. The class was called Grow It. Cook It. Eat It. and focused on teaching students about sustainable food, design thinking to solve problems, growing food, and cooking food. The final project focused on creating vegan dining hall dishes that would appeal to students through using the design thinking process.

STANFORD RESIDENTIAL & DINING ENTERPRISES
R&DE Stanford Dining has ten organic teaching gardens, and multiple dorms and co-ops have student-run gardens as well. Stanford Dining also has a greenhouse in one dining hall and hydroponic towers in another dining hall. Student garden managers plant and harvest produce that is used in the dining halls. They are managed by a full-time Farm to Table Coordinator as part of the Sustainable Food Program. The R&DE Stanford Dining organic teaching gardens offer multiple work days a week in addition to workshops to teach students how to grow their own produce. Student volunteers also help manage the BeWell Community Gardens and many graduate and undergraduate students have personal or communal plots in the community garden, including the Graduate School of Education’s Stanford Teacher Education Program, which teaches teachers how to incorporate gardening into their curriculum using the community garden plots. Visit https://rde.stanford.edu/dining/organic-gardens

In addition, the Seed Library run by R&DE Stanford Dining gives students and the Stanford community free seeds each month that they can plant at home or in the gardens by their dorms.

R&DE Stanford Dining’s Tasting Table launched in 2016-17 to engage students in learning, trying and tasting ingredients. Several times each week there are menu items or ingredients for students to sample on the tasting table, most of which are vegetarian, if not vegan. R&DE chefs, nutritionist and the sustainable food program manager have designated days where they are working this table. The R&DE Sustainable Food Program also hosts intimate meals with farmers and producers as part of the Know Your Food program, many of which focus on vegan products or producers. Lastly, the Florence Moore Dining Hall’s weekly chef’s table is sold out every week and features a fully vegan menu.

Finally, R&DE works with students in numerous classes and departments for class projects, research projects, theses, and capstone projects that focus on operations, purchasing, or education in the dining halls. Students are very interested in learning more about how the food they eat is grown, cooked, and ultimately disposed of. The Sustainable Food Program works on about 25 class projects each year in classes ranging from The Global Warming Paradox to Design for Extreme Affordability. The R&DE Sustainable Food Program also works with the Earth Systems department to advise about 5 seniors each year on their capstone projects that focus on food and sustainability.

O'DONOHUE FAMILY FARM
In 2014, the School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences established the 6 acre O'Donohue Family Stanford Educational Farm. The farm is itself a living laboratory offering academic and experiential learning opportunities for the Stanford community and beyond. The farm utilizes agroecological relationships and natural diversity to grow over 200 varieties of vegetables, flowers, herbs, field crops and fruit. Students come to the farm to test new ideas about the biological, social and environmental aspects of farming and gain experience in the practice of sustainable agriculture. On-farm research provides students hands-on learning opportunities. Over the course of a year, the farm harvests over 15,000 pounds of organically-grown produce, and R&DE has bought over 20,000 pounds of produce since the farm opened. Those crops feed into a new farm-to-campus program, with fresh vegetables featured at R&DE Stanford Dining in the dining halls, in campus cafes, and at the Teaching Kitchen @ Stanford, a groundbreaking cooking education program available to the Stanford University community. The hands-on cooking classes have sustainability information woven into them, with a focus on vegan and vegetarian dishes. The students visit the organic teaching garden and use produce in their cooking lessons from the garden. In 2016-17, Residential & Dining Enterprises partnered with the Jamie Oliver Food Foundation and the Stanford School of Medicine to test an extra 30-minute sustainability and nutrition themed lecture after the cooking classes.

JASPER RIDGE BIOLOGICAL PRESERVE
The Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve offers a multitude of educational programs designed to teach Stanford students, professors, and other community members about sustainable land use and grounds practices. These opportunities include formal classes offered through Stanford University as well as other universities in the area, environmental education programs for teachers, K-12 education programs for area schools, and open community programs such as tours, lectures and continuing education classes. A full list of educational opportunities offered through Jasper Ridge can be found here: https://jrbp.stanford.edu/education/classes
Jasper Ridge also offers a docent training program for Stanford students to become year-long volunteers at the preserve, leading field-based education programs for younger students and community members and participating in projects and research alongside Jasper Ridge staff. This is an internship-like program offered through the Biology and Earth Systems departments to provide Stanford students with the opportunity to learn firsthand what goes into sustainable grounds care by working directly with faculty in those career fields.

Finally, Jasper Ridge has a Ranger Program that draws from the Stanford undergraduate and graduate community, specifically those involved in docent training, Earth Systems, biology, environmental organizations, and/or cycling clubs. A select group of students is chosen from an applicant pool to become Rangers who patrol the perimeter and trails of the preserve two to three times a week by mountain bike. This program provides another avenue for Stanford students to gain firsthand experience with ecological sustainability and grounds care in a preservation setting.

STANFORD CONSERVATION PROGRAM
Stanford's Land Use and Environmental Planning (LUEP) group also sponsors several living laboratory opportunities through the Stanford Conservation Program. For instance, LUEP staff teach a Restoration Short Course and act as guest lecturers for the Jasper Ridge Docent Course and the California Naturalist Program. They also support both undergraduate and graduate research and ecological field coursework by providing equipment, information and training to students and teaching staff in field methods and ecology.

TEACHING GARDENS
Stanford also constructed teaching gardens in the Science and Engineering Quad. These gardens mirror the landscaping of Stanford’s original main quad, but were designed specifically as teaching gardens for the interdisciplinary staff residing in each of the four quad buildings to utilize during their classes. Each of the four gardens has a different theme: plants used for dyes, medicinal plants, local and drought tolerant plants, and plants traditionally used by the Ohlone tribe in the Bay Area. Additionally, Stanford’s Building and Grounds Maintenance department constructed a separate Waterwise Demonstration Garden on campus that serves as an example for students and local residents of how to employ alternatives to thirsty residential landscapes. It also has a water meter on display to illustrate its low water consumption and showcases drip irrigation and California native plants.

COURSES
Professor Michael Lepech's fall quarter course on lifecycle assessments engages partners students with multiple organizations to solve real-world problems. Each year, the Office of Sustainability brings projects to the class as one of the organizational partners. In 2017, students in this class helped the Office of Sustainability better understand the full environmental impact of liquid nitrogen in order to better understand the benefits of liquid nitrogen lab freezers. In 2018, students in the same class evaluated the lifecycle impacts of smart power strips and ultra-low temperature freezers in conjunction with the Office of Sustainability.

INTERNSHIPS
Stanford hires a Stanford Dining Intern to research and analyze existing food purchases and make recommendations for new sustainable food purchases. Specific responsibilities include:
• Research on sustainability topics, farms, and vendors
• Analysis of current and future purchasing
• Writing and editing newsletters
• Organizing educational events

Finally, Stanford also hires a Procurement Intern to evaluate sustainable spend in certain categories chosen as part of the broader spend analysis effort being conducted by the Procurement Department. To date, this intern has evaluated spend on sustainable office products using an existing framework and has created an entirely new framework to evaluate spend on sustainable med/lab equipment. The intern also developed Sustainable Purchasing Guides for Stanford administrators in 2018.

STANFORD PARKING & TRANSPORTATION SERVICES
Below are examples of how Stanford’s Parking & Transportation Services (P&TS) has directly utilized the campus as a living lab philosophy:
• P&TS worked with the School of Education’s Social Ecology Lab to examine the relationship between learning and travel behavior: which conditions and mechanisms impact that link and the role(s) that institutions do or do not play in commute choices and behavior. Research methods included a survey of employees, interviews and commute documentation with up to 10 employees, observation of transportation-related events (e.g., Bike to Work Day, employee orientation events, Commute Club events), focus groups, and document analysis. Existing survey and other data from P&TS has been used as background and baseline data.
• Working with the Precourt Energy Efficiency Center, P&TS collaborated on a study to evaluate what Transportation Demand Management measures are relevant and applicable to employees’ mode choices. Research included a series of focus groups to understand employee transportation and parking behavior and the underlying factors that determine employees’ attitudes toward existing and hypothetical transportation and parking policies.
• P&TS worked with Stanford graduate students and postdoctoral scholars from the Graduate School of Education, Statistics Department, and Precourt Energy Efficiency Center to improve the research methodology used in developing its annual commute survey.
• P&TS consulted with a group of Summer Undergraduate Research Institute (SURI) students on an open-source transportation modeling system that highlights the benefits of purchasing electric buses compared with conventional diesel, compressed natural gas, or hybrid buses. Once completed, this model could help other universities or municipalities determine institutional benefits realized through the electrification of their fleet, such as total savings compared to initial cost.

COURSES
In the Stanford's Bicycle Design and Frame-Building course (ME 204A/B), students learn how to build their own bicycles. In this course, students master the fundamentals of bicycle dynamics, handling, and sizing as well as manufacturing processes.

STUDENT GROUPS
Founded in 1989, the Stanford Solar Car Project is an organization of undergraduate students working toward building a car powered entirely by the sun. The group partners with both faculty and operational groups across campus to build a solar car every two years that competes in an international competition in Australia. The Stanford Solar Car Project made great strides during the 2015 and 2017 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge, placing sixth and ninth respectively, in the biannual competition against engineers from around the world. More details are available at: https://solarcar.stanford.edu/

STUDENT GROUPS
The student-led group Stanford Project on Hunger (SPOON) leads large food donation efforts on campus that help the university reduce the amount of food waste generated on campus. The group assists with Dining, Athletics, Student Housing move-outs, and other large community events by collecting food and coordinating with local homeless shelters to receive the food. For instance, after preceeding the 2017-18 Winter Closure, the group packed four vans full of food that had been leftover in dorms before the closure and would have otherwise gone bad. Additionally, the group collects and delivers food after each Stanford home football game, with thousands of pounds of food rescued each season.

WASTE AUDITS
As part of the university's long range planning effort, Stanford announced a goal in spring 2018 to achieve Zero Waste by 2030. Development of the master waste plan will include input from students, staff, and faculty across campus.

Informing the waste master plan is data from 29 waste audits that have been conducted on campus since 2008. These audits engage student volunteers in sorting through landfill waste from a particular building on campus to better understand its composition. These audits are valuable learning opportunities for students and provide critical data for campus operations.

INTERNSHIPS
Peninsula Sanitary Service, Inc. (PSSI), Stanford's waste hauler, works with interns annually to improve waste and recycling at Stanford. Student interns work in the areas of cafe composting and developing a cafe rating system, outreach and social media, zero waste efforts at Stanford's on-campus elementary and preschools, and planning and execution of Recyclemania, a national recycling competition among schools in higher education. All interns gain experience in the field of waste reduction, recycling and composting, in addition to a deeper understanding of the challenges of achieving a sustainable zero waste society. Visit: http://sustainable.stanford.edu/internships

RESEARCH
PSSI is testing a new technology offsite that turns food waste to animal feed. Stanford is supporting this research by sending food scraps from the campus to this facility, called Sustainable Alternative Feed Enterprises (SAFE). Stanford has also offered tours of the SAFE facility to students and staff in conjunction with the annual RecycleMania campaign. More information on SAFE is available here: https://www.forktofeed.com/solution

On March 25, 2014, Stanford broke ground on a new wastewater facility entitled the William and Cloy Codiga Resource Recovery Center. Construction was finished in May 2016. The facility is a collaborative effort among university water resource specialists in the Department of Sustainability and Energy Management (SEM) and faculty researchers from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the Woods Institute for the Environment and the Stanford-led Engineering Research Center for Re-inventing the Nation’s Urban Water Infrastructure (ReNUWIt). Faculty and student researchers will use the facility to test promising technologies for both recovery of clean water and energy from wastewater. Visit these sites for more details:
http://web.stanford.edu/group/cr2c/ http://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/march/water-recovery-facility-032414.html https://news.stanford.edu/2016/04/04/codiga-recovery-center-040416/

LONG-RANGE PLANNING DESIGN TEAMS
Stanford embarked on a long-range planning effort in 2017 organized around key conceptual categories: education, research, our community, and beyond Stanford. The long-range planning effort began with the solicitation of proposals from all campus community members--including students, staff and faculty--between April and June 2017. More information on the planning effort can be found here: https://planning.stanford.edu/
A total of 2,800 ideas were submitted, which were analyzed by area steering groups and synthesized into white papers in particular topic areas. The white paper on sustainability can be found here: https://planning.stanford.edu/papers/joint-paper-sustainability
After evaluation of the common themes by campus executive leadership, a vision for the university was announced in spring 2018. As part of this vision, Stanford announced two sustainability-related goals: 80 percent carbon-free by 2025 and zero waste by 2030. More information on Stanford's full vision can be found here: https://ourvision.stanford.edu/
Design teams comprising Stanford community members were formed by topic area in Fall 2018 to execute Stanford's vision, including a Sustainability Design Team. The Sustainability Design Team is mainly comprised of Stanford faculty that are dedicating a portion of their research to addressing the campus GHG reduction and zero waste goals.

ENVIRONMENTAL BEHAVIOR GROUP
The Office of Sustainability regularly partners with the Stanford Environmental Behavior Group, a group of graduate students focused on sustainable behavior change. The graduate students consulted heavily on development of the My Cardinal Green action network, including aspects like incentive structure and messaging. In 2018, the students helped evaluate the My Cardinal Green sign-up process and the user experience of taking the initial survey.

The "Intergroup Communication" class is co-taught by Professor Hazel Markus and the Training Director in the Diversity and First Generation Office, Dereca Blackmon. The goal of the course is to challenge explicit and implicit assumptions about different groups and to enhance students' abilities to successfully communicate across the complex web of identity. Throughout the course, students explore four aspects of identity (sexual orientation, race, gender and socioeconomic status) and engage in dialogue at the intragroup, intergroup and interpersonal levels. With a prominent staff member as one of the professors, this course gives students the opportunity to better understand diversity on Stanford's campus and use case studies from actual occurrences at Stanford to study the use of inclusiveness in intergroup communications, ultimately serving to directly improve inclusiveness on Stanford's campus. Over 173 students enrolled in the course in 2018.

NEW EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH INITIATIVE
In 2018, Stanford University committed $10 million over a 10-year period for a new initiative that will develop an expanded platform of educational and research opportunities for students and faculty with interests in responsible, sustainable and impact investing and governance. Visit: https://news.stanford.edu/2018/12/04/trustees-adopt-new-investment-responsibility-framework-stanford-university-commits-10-million-educational-research-initiative/

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS SOCIAL IMPACT FUND
The Stanford Graduate School of Business Social Impact Fund provides MBA students with hands-on experience in generating a beneficial social or environmental impact alongside a financial return. The program provides funds to give students a hands-on experience with philanthropic “impact investing." Faculty, alumni, and expert practitioners provide strategic guidance to students on co-investing, sourcing, structuring deals, measuring impact, portfolio allocation, and exits. The fund is geographically flexible and invests in early-stage for-profit ventures in the following areas: (1) environment and energy; (2) health care and wellness; (3) education; (4) urban development; and (5) food and agriculture. Student investment managers gain: (1) hands-on experience in impact investing; (2) preparation for a future career in impact investing or as social entrepreneurs, understanding how investors work; (3) application of classroom knowledge to real-world impact investing; (4) a deeper understanding about issues in particular fields; and (5) a stronger network of alumni, social entrepreneurs, and investors focused on impact in industries of interest. Visit: http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/organizations/invest/other-ways/centers-initiatives

COURSES
Stanford offers many courses that transform the campus into a living laboratory for public engagement. For instance, the course "Sustainable Cities," offered through the Earth Systems and Urban Studies departments, is a service-learning course that exposes students to sustainability concepts and urban planning as a tool for determining sustainable outcomes in the Bay Area. The course focuses on the relationship of land use and transportation planning to housing and employment patterns, mobility, public health, and social equity. Topics include government initiatives to counteract urban sprawl and promote smart growth and livability, political realities of organizing and building coalitions around sustainability goals, and increasing opportunities for low-income communities and communities of color to achieve sustainability outcomes. Students participate in team-based projects in collaboration with local community partners and take part in significant off-site fieldwork. In the past, the class has collaborated with Bay Area non-profit organizations and government agencies, including Redwood City, the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, Friends of Caltrain, the San Mateo County Health Department, and many others. More information about the course can be found here: http://sustainablecities.weebly.com/
In addition, one of the four tenants of Stanford’s Cardinal Service program is Cardinal Courses. Through this initiative, the Haas Center for Public Service works with faculty on campus to provide hands-on service learning opportunities throughout the Bay Area. Through a group of staff positions focused on expanding community-engaged learning opportunities, the Haas Center is expanding the academic opportunities available to students to partner directly with non-profits, government agencies, and other local organizations while engaging in hands-on learning. Specifically, one Director of Community Engaged Learning focuses only on sustainability initiatives and works with local organizations to identify and incentivize living lab opportunities in public engagement. For further information see: https://haas.stanford.edu/students/cardinal-courses
AWARDS
The Haas Center also awards the Miriam Aaron Roland Volunteer Service Prize each year to faculty “who engage and involve students in integrating academic scholarship with significant and meaningful volunteer service to society.” It was created by alumna Miriam Aaron Roland, ’51, and includes a $5,000 cash award. In 2018, the award was given to Nicole Ardoin, an associate professor in Stanford's Graduate School of Education and the Woods Institute for the Environment, as well as the acting director of the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program on Environment and Resources (EIPER) in the School of Earth, Energy, and Environmental Sciences. Nicole researches opportunities for motivating pro-environmental and sustainability behaviors, connection to place, and environmental learning in everyday life. Her Social Ecology Lab includes interdisciplinary social-science scholars who address pressing environmental challenges through collaborating with community and nonprofit partners to design innovative approaches grounded in theories from social psychology, sociology, anthropology, and the learning sciences.

COURSES
In spring 2018, Stanford students took an in-depth look at some of the diverse pathways available for sustainability professionals, from Stanford's own sustainability professionals, in a new spring course offered through the School of Earth, Energy, and Environmental Sciences. Fahmida Ahmed-Bangert, Director of Sustainability and Business Services within the Department of Sustainability and Energy Management, taught the Pathways in Sustainability class to an inaugural cohort of 12 students. The class included guest speakers from across a multitude of industries related to sustainability, who enlightened students about their career development and decision points, as well as lifestyle impacts that came along the way. Participating students commented that the class provided "eye-opening insights" and "a fabulous way to get exposure and contacts" in the field of interdisciplinary sustainability.

VADEN HEALTH CENTER
Additionally, the Vaden Student Health Center operates the iThrive program. Derived from research studies of the science of happiness, iThrive offers courses, workshops, discussion groups and internships as student opportunities to examine the knowledge and skills of sustainable emotional well-being. Students can explore their natural capacity to thrive, to be happier and accomplished, and to handle challenging situations with more ease, resilience, and confidence through this program. Visit: https://vaden.stanford.edu/caps-and-wellness/ithrive-emotional-well-being

Stanford has made a concerted effort to utilize art created on campus as means of communicating about sustainability. For instance, sustainability-related art created by Stanford students has been showcased at the Celebrating Sustainability Earth Day festival each year. In recent years, these art demonstrations showcased single pieces like a large plastic wave and a fish made out of pearls, as well full exhibits. One such exhibit showcased photos from a Stanford photography class that were meant to "communicate the stories of climate change." Moreover, artwork has also been included in the Celebrating Sustainability festival as an interactive activity. Beginning in 2017, a large poster board was posted at the event that asked attendees, "What does sustainability mean to you?" As attendees wrote responses on the poster board, student volunteers used string to connect answers that were related to one another to highlight the interconnectedness of the individual responses. These boards have subsequently been showcased at other sustainability events.

Other opportunities for ongoing active participation in sustainability-related arts and culture include the Arts Theme Dorm (Kimball Hall), the freshman year ITALIC arts immersion program, the Art Focus Lecture Series sponsored by the Cantor Arts Center, and Stanford Arts event and performances at Roble Theater and other venues. See details at these sites: https://undergrad.stanford.edu/programs/residential/italic https://museum.stanford.edu/support/membership/art-focus-lecture-series
https://arts.stanford.edu/events/

Generally, Stanford has also invested significant resources over the last several years in building out its Arts district, which includes buildings focused on the mindset of the user inside. While these are not directly sustainability-related campus as a living laboratory initiatives, they do help enrich the arts culture here on Stanford's campus and contribute to a well-rounded education for all Stanford students.

From museums, such as the new Anderson Collection and the new McMurtry Building, to contemplative centers like Windhover Pavilion, these buildings not only incorporated key sustainability features in their construction, but they also contribute to the overall health, wellness, and vibrance of the campus community by providing campus as a living lab opportunities for both staff and students to both learn about and experience new elements of religion and culture. For instance, Windhover is an elegant and natural contemplative center located in the heart of campus accessible to Stanford students, staff and faculty that houses a labyrinth based on the 12th-century stone labyrinth installed in the floor of the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Chartres, France. The outdoor labyrinth can be accessed by all Stanford visitors, at any hour of day. It offers a looping, spiraling walking path culminating at a rosette at its center. The rhythm and simplicity of following a clear path can quiet the mind, restore balance, encourage prayer, and facilitate meditation, insight, and celebration. The labyrinth has a long past in both cultural and religious belief and practice, and courses at the labyrinth, such as "Walking the Windhover Labyrinth" not only expose students to ancient traditions, but also give them the firsthand emotional and physical experience of walking the labyrinth, allowing the campus infrastructure to directly affect student learning about culture, religion, and identity.

The Roble Living Laboratory for Sustainability at Stanford (ROLLSS) was founded in 2016-17 as a way to integrate sustainability into everyday life for students living in Roble Hall. Specific initiatives associated with ROLLSS are discussed in the relevant sections. In 2019, Roble Hall will undergo LEED certification for Existing Buildings Operations and Maintenance.

In addition to operational upgrades to the building itself and student engagement efforts for residents, the initiative also involved the creation of several courses that were open to all Stanford students that allowed them to use Roble as a case study for learning about sustainability. For example, the Hard Earth series is comprised of sustainability lectures from industry experts held once per week at Roble Hall followed by a discussion section for students taking the class for credit.

Additionally, a year-long series focused on assessing and trimming Roble’s environmental footprint was launched in conjunction with this initiative. This series is taught by Michael Lepech, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering.

Students in Lepech’s fall-quarter class produced a lifecycle assessment of Roble that quantified the energy, water, waste and transportation impacts of residents and that, based on that assessment, recommended ways to make Roble more sustainable. The winter-quarter class evaluated each of those recommendations for its costs and benefits, ultimately recommending which potential interventions would produce the biggest environmental bang for the buck.

The living lab initiatives available through the ROLLSS program are described in further detail in the following Stanford Report article: http://news.stanford.edu/2017/04/11/making-stanfords-roble-hall-sustainable-second-century/