Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 71.74
Liaison Carrie Metzgar
Submission Date March 5, 2021

STARS v2.2

University of California, San Diego
EN-10: Community Partnerships

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.00 / 3.00 Michelle Perez
Energy and Sustainability Manager
Utilities and Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Name of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability :
UC San Diego Earthlab Community Station

Does the institution provide financial or material support for the partnership? :
Yes

Which of the following best describes the partnership timeframe?:
Multi-year or ongoing

Which of the following best describes the partnership?:
Sustainability-focused

Are underrepresented groups and/or vulnerable populations engaged as equal partners? :
Yes

A brief description of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability:

http://blum.ucsd.edu/CommunityStations-EL.html

The UCSD EarthLab Community Station is an outdoor environmental classroom of 4 acres, replete with community gardens, solar houses, water harvesting facilities, an energy “nano-grid” and other environmental infrastructure designed by UCSD researchers and students as learning tools for the six public schools in walking distance of the site. Thousands of at-risk youth and their families circulate through EarthLab each year, engaging in participatory STEM-based environmental education and climate action at neighborhood scale.

The UCSD Center on Global Justice, the UCSD Center for Energy Research, and the Jacobs School of Engineering Gordon Engineering Leadership Center in 2016 received a 3year grant from the Bay-Area based non-profit Strategic Energy Innovations (SEI) for undergraduate internships and curricular development in the UCSD Community Stations.
Year 2 funding was shared, and Year 3 was fully covered by, the UCSD Center on Global Justice and the UCSD Community Stations. All of this work has continued through 2021, in partnership with the environmental non-profit Groundwork San Diego, based in Encanto, a low income community of color in SE San Diego.


Name of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability (2nd partnership):
San Diego Metrolab Network

Does the institution provide financial or material support for the partnership? (2nd partnership):
Yes

Which of the following best describes the partnership timeframe? (2nd partnership):
Multi-year or ongoing

Which of the following best describes the partnership’s sustainability focus? (2nd partnership):
Sustainability-related

Are underrepresented groups and/or vulnerable populations engaged as equal partners? (2nd partnership):
Yes

A brief description of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability (2nd partnership):

hhttps://metrolabnetwork.org/projects/

Since 2016, UC San Diego has partnered with the City of San Diego as founding members of the recently created MetroLab Network. The Network, announced at the 2016 White House Smart Cities Forum, seeks to strengthen and create partnerships between metro areas and their respective universities to research, develop and deploy innovative technologies to address challenges facing the nation’s urban areas, including climate change, traffic, infrastructure, city services and civic engagement. The Metro Lab Network catalyzes research, development and demonstration projects that will benefit urban residents, environments and communities. Projects as of 2021 between UCSD and the City of San Diego include "Green Infrastructure and Urban Agriculture" and "Forecast and Control of Transportation Network."


Name of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability (3rd partnership):
Affordable Electric Vehicle Program

Does the institution provide financial or material support for the partnership? (3rd partnership):
Yes

Which of the following best describes the partnership timeframe? (3rd partnership):
Multi-year or ongoing

Which of the following best describes the partnership? (3rd partnership):
Sustainability-focused

Are underrepresented groups and/or vulnerable populations engaged as equal partners? (3rd partnership):
Yes

A brief description of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability (3rd partnership):

UC San Diego partners with faculty and researchers, electric vehicle manufacturers and dealerships (BMW, Honda, Nissan, and Volkswagen currently), and community partners like San Diego Gas & Electric, the Center for Sustainability Energy, Groundwork, and others to offer affordable electric vehicle leasing and sales to both the UC San Diego community (staff, students and alumni) and low-income residents across the San Diego region. Research is connected to these discounts to test EV vehicle charging preferences, vehicle-to-grid technologies, and more. See http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/pressrelease/nuvve_and_uc_san_diego_to_demonstrate_vehicle_to_grid_technology


A brief description of the institution’s other community partnerships to advance sustainability:
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Website URL where information about the institution’s community partnerships to advance sustainability 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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