Texas A&M University
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

The Office of Sustainability Internship Program focuses on educating the campus and the public regarding the University's sustainability initiatives and encourages participants to make more sustainable decisions in their daily lives. The main focus of the program is Campus Engagement through a peer-to-peer outreach platform. Our students give presentations, provide workshops, plan and participate in events and design the educational content, create videos, utilize social media, and do various tabling and other activities to engage our campus community around sustainability issues. Positive outcomes associated with this work include: providing presentations to audiences ranging from 30 - 100 students/faculty/staff 2-4 times each semester; providing workshops for audiences ranging from 30-60 students/faculty/staff 1-2 times each semester; creating educational content for events that range from 250-600 participants 1-2 times per semester, generating digital content for social media platforms that have between 500 to 3,500 followers; and offering virtual presentations 5-6 times per semester.

The Office of Sustainability Internship Program focuses on educating the campus and the public in regard to the University's sustainability initiatives and encourages participants to make more sustainable decisions in their daily lives. The main focus of the program is Campus Engagement through a peer-to-peer outreach platform. Our students give presentations, provide workshops, plan and participate in events and design the educational content, create videos, utilize social media, and do various tabling and other activities to engage our campus community around sustainability issues. Positive outcomes associated with this work include: providing presentations to audiences ranging from 30 - 100 students/faculty/staff 2-4 times each semester; providing workshops for audiences ranging from 30-50 students/faculty/staff 1-2 times each semester; creating educational content for events that range from 250-600 participants 1-2 times per semester, and generating digital content for social media platforms that have between 500 to 3,000 followers; offering virtual presentations and events 5-6 times per semester.

Public outreach occurs at the community-wide Brazos Valley Earth Day. Positive outcomes associated with the work include interacting with ~200 people at event and sharing our sustainability message.

Utilities & Energy Services (UES) holds tours of the operating plants to give students first-hand experience on how the facilities operate. We have a number of students working side by side with UES staff evaluating building performance, distribution system performance, and plant operating performance. These students are usually with UES for 2 or more years and have the opportunity to gain real-world experience while pursuing their academic degrees.

The Combined Heat and Power system at the Central Utility plant is regularly used to give students a better understanding of CHP.

The ARCH 406 class in the College of Architecture was given a project to redesign the underutilized spaces on campus as pavilions with the use of sustainable materials and reduced the total amount of utilities utilized.

Students collected and analyzed building usage data to create schedules to turn heating and cooling systems off when not in use. Schedules typically reduce building energy consumption by more than 15% annually.

Aggie Dining is actively engaged with an environmentally focused student organization, Aggie Eco-Reps, to create campus educational and awareness events like Project Clean Plate, focusing on awareness of food waste at the dining halls.

Aggie Dining had a sustainability intern who was hired as a full-time sustainability supervisor to help increase focus and management of sustainability-related initiatives within the company. Sustainability-related projects include the planning and coordinating of the data collection for STARS, making food recommendations that are in line with STARS, working with local vendors to promote their products and explain how this relates to sustainability, and working on Fair Trade Designated events. This intern, now turned supervisor, Yadira Hernandez, was promoted to a new full-time position in August 2021. She also holds representation at campus-wide sustainability groups: University Sustainability Advisory Committee and the Sustainability & Environmental Management Committee.

As of 2021, Chartwells Higher Education Dining Services appointed a National Director of Sustainability with whom we work closely to provide greater focus on the STARS report, food waste management, climate targets, and more.

A central focus of SSC Grounds Management is the active support and leadership of sustainability efforts campus-wide. The department actively participates in a myriad of activities in conjunction with individual students, student groups, formal course work, research projects, and campus initiatives.

We also manage the landscape at the Leach Teaching Gardens, which is often referred to as the ‘Most beautiful classroom in Texas’. Many professors utilize the Leach Garden as an outdoor classroom.

At the Leach Gardens, students representing multiple majors (Forestry Science, Civil Engineering, World History, Horticulture, and Applied Mathematics) are working to help manage the landscape and the garden itself.

Students also serve as members of the GIS team. The GIS technicians are currently collecting campus arboriculture data to update the campus tree inventory by collecting GPS locations of each tree on campus and data through a list of attributes for each tree. They are also collecting data on all turf panels located on campus and all horticulture/annual color beds located on campus that are within our contract to eventually update our campus APPA maps that detail our service level provided to Texas A&M. With that information, we will have accurate statistics throughout campus (ie: number of acres maintained, how many acres irrigated, what type of irrigation throughout campus). The GIS team is currently creating GPS locations for irrigation valves on campus so repair times can be improved, reducing water loss. The GIS team also collects data for new buildings on campus and will help provide information for the bidding process which includes measurements of the turf and landscape and how much it would cost to maintain the new building if SSC takes care of the building. Lastly, the GIS team puts together maps for other grounds managers when needed if they are simple maps to be created. All of the data is collected through a software called ArcGIS.

The sustainable transportation unit often partners with various academic departments to better transportation options on campus. We did several studies with the urban planning department about bike share before we implemented the program based on their recommendations. We have engaged with the School of Public Health to better communicate with our students, faculty, and staff on safe means of travel.

We expanded our reach with the College of Engineering on developing software to help with the re-balance of the bike share system optimization protocols.

We also partner with other departments and student groups to educate and enable the student population to know more and utilize alternative transportation modes. We have a bike maintenance shop that teaches bike maintenance to students and allows them to use the station and tools to repair their bikes.

We also use League Cycling Instructors to teach bike safety classes to build confidence in cycling, so the mode is used more often and appropriately.

The TAMU Urban Farm United promotes recycling and reduces green waste through composting practices. The farm composts all green waste generated from the gardens and creates compost that is used to fertilize and build healthy soils.

UES partnered with students to conduct a waste audit and provide input on recycling bin placement.

The TAMU Urban Farm United, works to teach students about water conservation by utilizing hydroponic Indoor Tower Gardens in an effort to use less municipal water.

The Office of Sustainability utilizes our Student Worker Team to assist with STARS reporting requirements. Interns prepare the information needed for credits and help with data collection. In particular, they helped us analyze data for AC-1. Our Student Workers are instrumental in contacting stakeholders, running data requests, and compiling information for this current STARS report.

The Winnie Carter Wildlife Center is a 12-acre facility located on the TAMU College Station campus. Native Texas wildlife species, including white-tailed deer and Texas tortoises, are some of the animals housed at the facility.

Undergraduate, graduate, and veterinary students come to the Winnie Carter Wildlife Center to learn about the husbandry, management, research, and medicine of these animals. Experiential learning is the method by which courses are taught at the center. Students participate in the care of the animals and the facilities. The center is a unique campus living laboratory.

In addition, students participate in composting and recycling and reuse efforts, energy conservation, and are taught about sustainability.