The University of New Mexico
AC-4: Applied Learning

The University of New Mexico offers numerous applied learning and living laboratory experiences for students that address various sustainability challenges.

The Sustainability Studies Program is designed around offering solutions-focused applied learning experiences for its undergraduate students through experiential coursework each semester. Recent highlights include:

• In fall 2023, the SUST-334 Environmental Justice class focused on participatory budgeting, an innovative process that opens government funds to direct community decision-making. Students researched and designed three pathways to implement participatory budgeting in Albuquerque and presented them to the community and city officials. One of these student-designed pathways is now being implemented in Albuquerque's 6^th District with the leadership of Counselor Nichole Rogers.
• In spring 2024, the SUST-434 Sustainable Futures class led organizational efforts toward statewide collaborative climate visioning. This event gathered the entire NM Climate Bureau Staff and their allies across State agencies, specialists from various Colleges at UNM, and community leaders, to vision possibilities for resilient climate policy and action. Participants engaged in small groups to identify possible futures, and students recorded and reported back on the visioning exercises.
• For fall 2024, students in the SUST-415 Climate Crisis class are collaborating with the City of Albuquerque’s Sustainability Office on the EPA-funded comprehensive Climate Action Planning efforts. Student will develop a set of climate resilient pathways to be included in the climate policy packet that will be presented to City Council in 2025.
• Every semester the SUST-410 Lobo Gardens course supports students in developing applied learning projects in the on-campus garden spaces that support regenerative agricultural practices, build habitat for pollinators and other wildlife, and address student food insecurity.

Solar Splash is an ongoing capstone senior design project for College of Engineering students at the University of New Mexico. Each year, the team designs and builds a solar-powered boat to compete in the World Championship of Collegiate Solar Boating. The team consists of a mix of undergraduate and graduate students studying Mechanical or Electrical Engineering. Team members gain hands-on, technical experience with the engineering design process, propulsion, solar cells, power management, and more. The UNM team is advised by Mechanical Engineering Professor Peter Vorobieff and has participated in the competition since 2016. The Solar Splash team has garnered many awards and honors, most recently in 2024 and 2022.

The Undergraduate Water Science Communication Scholars Program was originally developed by faculty and staff in the School of Engineering’s Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering and the Center for Water and the Environment as a component of the UNM Sustainable Water Resources Grand Challenge (a research, innovation, and collaboration initiative which acknowledges that one of the greatest challenges facing New Mexico is the simultaneous decrease in usable water supply and increase in water demand). The semester-long program enables students from any discipline to work with faculty mentors to communicate water resources and environmental research to the general public. Students select their own communications modalities (e.g., essay, podcast, art, or video) and work together as a cohort to develop and refine their individual projects. Research projects are presented from each student’s unique viewpoint — influenced by their academic major, the work of a UNM mentor, and their personal interests and talents. Projects are presented at the annual UNM Undergraduate Research Opportunities Conference (UROC), and posted online at the Undergraduate Research, Arts & Design Network and at the Southwest Environmental Finance Center Learning Academy.  

The Lobo Hackathon is an opportunity for students from all disciplines to come together to intensely focus and collaborate on improving or creating an idea. The Hackathon is hosted by the UNM Innovation Academy, a program of the Anderson School of Business, UNM Rainforest Innovations, and numerous other partners including the UNM School of Engineering and UNM Health Sciences. Teams build or refine an idea that sets out to address a problem, utilize a technology, or create something new. Teams collaboratively develop their idea, work on prototypes and pitches, and then present their ideas to a panel of judges to win cash prizes. To prepare for the intensive two-day event, students enroll in an elective course through the Anderson School of Management to learn the basics of entrepreneurship. In spring 2024, winning teams included Cybercharge, mobile EV charging infrastructure, and Earthwise Living, DIY affordable housing. 

New Mexico for Good is a multi-stakeholder initiative focused on education, research, and responsible economic development. The NM for Good program includes certified B Corps, Benefit Corporations and other businesses that have or are interested in institutionalizing responsible business practices such as through Fair Trade, 1% for the Planet, Conscious Capitalism and others. This program engages students through 1) an MBA track in Business for Good, 2) a business for good consulting clinic, and 3) hosting changemaker events like the first New Mexico B-Corps conference and Social Entrepreneurship and Impact Investing. 

The UNM Center for Responsible Entrepreneurship leads an accelerator program that involves undergraduate and graduate students who, along with New Mexico entrepreneurs with sustainable business ideas, engage in a rigorous 8-month program that combines education, mentoring, development of key deliverables such as business plans and investor pitches, and shared practical experiences. The accelerator guides participants and their socially responsible business ideas to product-market fit and early revenue to get to investor-ready status. All of the businesses included in this accelerator are related to topics of sustainability.

The Community and Regional Planning program in the School of Architecture & Planning links theory and action with undergraduate and graduate courses that include discussion seminars, field experiences in natural environments and communities, and rich practical learning. Students contribute to social transformation and placemaking in many of their courses, and particularly through the CRP-420 Community Placemaking Studio and CRP-597 Capstone Planning Studio. In spring 2024, a team of Community and Regional Planning Capstone graduate students launched a new initiative to envision an intentional future for Albuquerque's Westside over the next eight decades. The project, titled Westside Vision for 2100, aims to engage the community in creating a road map for growth, transportation, economic development, water management, and community life on the west side of the Rio Grande through the year 2100. The team will develop projections, a community process, and a vision for growth that reflects what the Westside wants to see for itself.

The Art & Ecology program is an interdisciplinary, research-based academic program engaging contemporary art practices. Graduate and undergraduate students develop environmental and cultural literacy with a conceptual foundation and a wide range of production skills, including drawings, sculpture, social practice, performance, and digital media. Advanced coursework includes the Land Arts of the American West program, which offers bioregional field-based professional practice courses. The Art and Ecology curriculum
 prepares students to pursue
 various career avenues, including learning to combine artistic practices with organizing skills to become an active part of movement-building for social and environmental justice.

Each of the applied learning experiences described above has its own processes and tools in place to assess success. For experiences such as the Solar Splash Project, the Undergraduate Water Science Communication Scholars Program, and the Lobo Hackathon, students work both individually and in groups under the close guidance of faculty members for one to two semesters before presenting their projects to teams of judges at competitions and/or to general audiences at research conferences. In addition to accolades and prizes, students earn course credit toward their degrees and opportunities for further research and publishing. Applied learning experiences in the Sustainability Studies and Community and Regional Planning programs (as well as in many other departments not listed here) typically happen in a semester-long course setting and are assessed by the respective faculty members that oversee these courses.

There is no singular portal that documents all of the applied learning experiences at UNM, but projects are typically housed within their respective departments, colleges, or schools (as noted above).