Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 66.43
Liaison Greg Maginn
Submission Date June 30, 2023

STARS v2.2

The Ohio State University
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 4.00 / 4.00 Matt Griffin
Sustainability Program Coordinator
Sustainability Institute
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Campus Engagement

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Campus Engagement?:
Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Campus Engagement:
Senior Capstone projects contributed to Ohio State's initiative to further transdisciplinary environmental and sustainability education. The goal of the project was to assist Ohio State University in developing a framework for delivering sustainability education in order to expand Ohio State’s sustainability education. The study gave the university a set of recommendations to make developments in different areas.

Public Engagement 

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Public Engagement?:
Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Public Engagement:
Ohio State offers a capstone writing internship as a requirement to earn the Professional Writing Minor. After a rigorous application process, students select a semester-long placement in a workplace that aligns with their career goals. The office of Energy Services and Sustainability has been chosen by several students over the past few years in order to develop skills in a contemporary sustainability office. These interns work on an array of tasks in writing, editing, research and communications which are designed to educate and engage the public about Ohio State’s sustainability efforts. This is an integral relationship for both parties; students gain real-world experience in an office setting, and Energy Services and Sustainability receives valuable and talented interns to work on various projects.

Air & Climate 

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Air & Climate?:
Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Air & Climate:
Undergraduate research thesis was completed to analyze traffic related pollution, with the goal to create a method of low-cost mobile air quality sampling for Ohio State's campus to locate highly concentrated areas of traffic emissions. Areas of high traffic concentration are hazardous for students walking to class and it is important to study possible health impacts associated with traffic pollution, and work towards ways to decrease these emissions.

Buildings  

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Buildings?:
Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Buildings:
On Ohio State's campus, any building project or renovation with a budget of $4 million or higher is required to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) certification to improve building energy efficiency. In 2017 a study was done by a student to examine how LEED design principles affect indoor microbial communities. LEED projects may be in conflict with indoor air quality with regards to microbial communities if building designs employ lower ventilation rates in order to reduce energy demand. This is important for understanding how LEED principles affect indoor air quality on campus.

Energy 

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Energy?:
Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Energy:
Senior Capstone projects assisted SMART Columbus with its goal of increasing the use of electric vehicles among transportation service providers in Columbus. The report provided SMART Columbus and Yellow Cab Columbus with recommendations for charging infrastructure and barriers to electric vehicle adoption. This allowed students to develop skills for implementing innovations in renewable energy systems.

Food & Dining 

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Food & Dining?:
Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Food & Dining:
In response to Ohio State's goal to increase production and purchase of locally and sustainably sourced food to 40% by 2025, a 2016 capstone project proposed the creation of a capstone course that focuses on the research and analysis of Ohio State's purchasing and sourcing of local and sustainable food using the Real Food Calculator Framework. This tool tracks institutional purchasing over time, allowing the university to utilize its resources in a financially responsible way and track purchasing to stay on track with the 2025 goal, in addition to giving students research experience.

Grounds 

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Grounds?:
Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Grounds:
For several years Ohio State has been a member of Tree Campus USA; a nationwide program that recognizes colleges and universities that effectively manage their campus trees, and meet certain requirements in doing so. As part of the requirements, the university offers service learning projects to students and the greater community. ArboBlitz has been the service learning event since 2011, that has offered tree lectures, demonstrations, and most recently campus tree mapping. Throughout the year, Chadwick Arboretum continues to encourage public and student involvement with our trees by offering involvement in the campus tree mapping; an effort to identify, measure, and map all of estimated 50,000 trees on Ohio State’s Columbus campus. Through the help of students, staff, and faculty, the university has been able to map approximately 16,000 trees.

Purchasing 

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Purchasing?:
Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Purchasing:
A 2016 senior capstone project aimed to create a new green purchasing policy at The Ohio State University. It is designed to help the university meet its sustainability goals and develop university-wide standards for targeted environmentally friendly products with full implementation by 2025.

Transportation 

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Transportation?:
Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Transportation:
The Campus Transit Lab (CTL) program at Ohio State engages in several areas of research that relate to planning, service, design, and operations of public transportation. It is a living lab for research, education and outreach.
CTL offers a unique means of gathering in situ data that can be used to facilitate understanding, test and generate research hypotheses, compare the performance of alternative methodologies, and refine promising developments. Our faculty and students are involved in several areas of transit research, including research on active sensors, service regulation, transit modeling, and traveler information systems. The developments in CTL extend to studies, applications and implementations across the country.
CTL has also developed and implemented modules and quantitative exercises in several transportation courses, giving students exposure and experience to the research conducted in the CTL.

Waste 

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Waste?:
Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Waste:
In 2016, a capstone project examined Ohio State's goal of zero waste by 2025 through minimizing waste. The project was specifically involved with student life on campus. The main concern addressed was recycling stream contamination and how student life culture contributes to it. The goals were to minimize waste by educating incoming students on recycling, and reduce contamination through a recycling campaign called “What Not To Recycle”. Research surveys were conducted to determine how effective the campaign and education tactics were, providing the university with baseline data for the current trends and awareness level of sustainability on campus as well as research and experience for students.

Water 

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Water?:
Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Water:
In response to The Ohio State University's goal to reduce 5% potable water consumption per capita every five years, a 2016 capstone project focused on improving the efficiency of the steam condensate return system at McCracken Power Plant (a boiler plant that generates steam for 131 campus buildings). McCracken’s current state was compared to an efficient system and recommendations were made to the university in order to improve the system in the future and further reduce the university’s potable water usage.

Coordination & Planning 

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Coordination & Planning?:
No

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Coordination & Planning:
N/A

Diversity & Affordability 

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Diversity & Affordability?:
No

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Diversity & Affordability:
N/A

Investment & Finance 

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Investment & Finance?:
No

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Investment & Finance:
N/A

Wellbeing & Work 

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Wellbeing & Work?:
Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Wellbeing & Work:
A 2016 honors thesis tested whether meditation lead to an increase in mindfulness and lowered stress in child focused human service workers .Stress levels are particularly high for social workers that work with children and families which can negatively impact the worker, agency and their clients. Finding self-care methods is essential to combat stress and this study aimed to demonstrate how meditation can contribute to stress relief.

Optional Fields 

Website URL where information about the institution’s living laboratory program 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.