University of California, Santa Barbara
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

An Intern with UCSB Sustainability, Emma Olsen worked with the Environmental Awareness Chair Coordinator to implement a UCSB Residence Hall & Apartment Energy Competition during February of 2020. Emma successfully got UCSB students living in campus housing to participate in the challenge and take meaningful steps to reduce their energy use. Through the competition over 12,000 kwh were saved. Emma met with a professional staff member from UCSB Sustainability weekly to receive mentorship and training related to this project. Students in the Residence Hall Energy Competition learned about ways that they could reduce their impact on the environment and how the energy use of their building contributes to our campus' overall impact on the environment.

Professor David Lea Supervised 2 Undergraduate research projects during '19-20 that examined climate risks to campus.The first group of students, Brittany Black, Kaira Wallace, and Vicky Phan looked at the effects of See Level Rise (SLR) and identified the ways in which sea level rise will affect UCSB as well as what steps the campus may take now in order to mitigate further damages. The second group of students, Abigail Hunt, Edgar Zargaryan, Jeffrey Huynh, Alan O’Hara, and Matthew D’Almada Remedios looked at Wildfire causes and their effects on UCSB.

Rachel Huang, a student intern with the LabRATS Program and UC Carbon Neutrality Initiative Fellow in 2019-2020, completed a comparison of the energy use of laboratory buildings across campus and also compared this to the energy use of the average office building on campus. This allowed UCSB to prioritize which laboratory buildings we should focus on to implement energy savings programs. Rachel received weekly mentorship and training from a professional staff member of the UCSB Sustainability Program.

Olivia Bindon, student intern with the PACES Program, developed a set of virtual training modules for employees working at home to learn how to make their home offices more sustainable. This included several modules on energy savings. Olivia receives weekly mentorship and training from a professional staff member of the UCSB Sustainability Program.

Miranda O'Brien, at the time a student intern with UCSB Sustainability working on our CalFresh and Basic Needs Peer Advisor Team, completed her senior thesis in May 2020 on "An Analysis of the SNAP Benefit Utilization and Academic Achievement at the University of California, Santa Barbara." Her thesis advisor was Dr. Liz Carlisle, Assistant Professor, Environmental Studies Program. Her work will help UCSB to ensure more students have access to healthy and sustainable food.

The Cheadle Center for Biodiversity & Ecological Restoration (CCBER) teaches the course ENVS 95- Ecological Restoration Field Skills. Undergraduate students gain valuable hands-on field experience learning about the process of restoring native wetland, coastal sage scrub, grassland, and oak woodland habitats. Each week, the students focus on specific restoration themes such as project planning, plant identification and propagation, water quality and exotic species management. Students tour and help with restoration at various sites on and around campus including over 300 acres of open space such as the centrally located, campus lagoon, and the CCBER greenhouse. Offered three quarters a year, the students of ENSV 95 make a visible improvement in their areas of focus.

Kathryn Foster, a student intern, helped to develop the Zero Waste Plan by gathering information on our past and current waste management practices through engagement with campus stakeholders. This included students, faculty, and staff from different departments, including residential operations, facilities management, and academic and administrative departments. Kathryn worked closely with staff in Associated Students Recycling and Facilities Management to also identify areas of improvement and future programs that would help the University achieve its waste management goals. Kathryn received regular mentorship and training on issues related to her project.

Tiffany Fierros, student intern with the LabRATS Program, studied the water use of different autoclaves on the campus to see how much water savings we were able to achieve by installing modifications to the autoclaves meant to reduce water use. Tiffany also helped to expand our efforts to retrofit more autoclaves. Tiffany received weekly mentorship and training from a professional staff member of the UCSB Sustainability Program.

Cameron Guiliano-Puzi, a student intern with the LabRATS Program, was one of the main authors of UCSB's first Green Lab Action Plan. He worked closely with stakeholders across the campus who had expertise related to sustainability and laboratory operations. He drafted significant components of the plan, helped to vet the plan, and helped to address required edits. He also received weekly mentorship and training from two professional staff members of the UCSB Sustainability Program.

Anne Bilse, student intern, worked with the UCSB Healthy Campus Network and the UC Healthy Beverage Initiative mapped out water access points on the campus (water foundations, hydration stations, etc) as well as the locations to purchase beverages (including both mapping locations where a student can purchase sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs) and where students can access non-SSBs). She also assessed what concerns campus stakeholders have about tap water and collected information to help bust inaccurate beliefs about tap water. Anne received weekly mentorship and training from a professional staff member in the UCSB Sustainability Program.