University of Utah
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

Know Where to Throw
Based on interaction with students, faculty, and staff, the university Facilities department created a recycling tool for the campus community. The “Know Where to Throw” database program takes into account the difference between recycling on campus, and in surrounding communities. It takes the guesswork out of waste disposal by clarifying which materials can be recycled, and which are better suited for trash—so the U can more effectively recycle and avoid contamination. Tell it what item to throw away, and it will help share how to properly dispose of it.
URL: https://waste.utah.edu/know-where-to-throw/

In the Garden: Chapbook,
○ In the Garden is a collection of creative works highlighting the diverse voices of gardeners, growers, cultivators, and creatives, centered on relationships of gardening ecology and social justice. The project is about finding new opportunities for living and growing in a difficult and changing world and rethinking relationships to food, land, and community.

Red Butte Creek Signage
○ In 2020 construction of Red Butte Creeks landscape lab was finished. Grant funding was received to install interpretative signage at the Landscape Lab. The informational signage serves to educate passersby of the landscape labs purpose, design, and research efforts.

Embodied Ecologies,
○ This project explores the intersection of disability and the environmental justice of Salt Lake City through an on-campus art installation and panel discussion in the Marriott Library Digital Matters lab. Grant funds help pay for artist fees, supply stipends and an ASL interpreter for panel events. The installation provides the opportunity for more open discussions on disability, sustainability, and environmental health.

Project HEAL: COVID Vaccine Vials Art Mosaic,
○ Faculty and staff driven project installed a collaborative mosaic art project using empty COVID-19 vaccine vials, uncontaminated healthcare waste, and memorabilia from families in the Utah community that have lost loved ones to COVID-19 at the University of Utah hospital. The intent of the project was to symbolize the path towards healing and honor the patients, staff, communities, and science impacted by COVID-19.

AQ & U Sensors,
○ Students in the Environmental & Sustainability Studies department implemented the installation of new sensors at Lassonde Studios. The sensors provide live feedback of particulate matter and carbon dioxide concentrations. Sensor installment is intended to gather data to help guide efforts to improve indoor air quality in the campus environment.

AQ Monitoring, Outreach, and Pollution Resilience at Glendale Library,
○ Students in the Environmental & Sustainability Studies department installed air quality sensors inside and outside of the Glendale Library, creating opportunities for air pollution adaptation, resiliency, and education through its three objectives: (1) install sensors at the Glendale Library (2) create a clean air room at the library (3) create a clean air purifier program.

Community-Based Educational Outreach to Address Air Pollution: A U-Community Partnership for Environmental Justice,
This project funded the sensors, incentives, and undergraduate/graduate research positions associated with the community air quality assessment research. This project stated goals are to: (1) assess social inequities in the distribution of sensors from the AQ&U program, a non-governmental air quality monitoring network in Salt Lake County developed and overseen by the University of Utah; (2) use those results to provide fine particulate matter sensors to communities of concern with sparse air quality monitoring coverage in order to address inequities and examine residents’ experiences with participatory air quality sensing; and (3) deliver educational outreach about air pollution, Air Quality and U, and mitigation strategies to residents.

Electric Bus Air Quality Monitoring
This faculty led project is a continuation of the air quality monitoring stations affixed to TRAX trains and stationary point sources throughout the Salt Lake Valley. The data collected by these stations has been invaluable to the air quality research and has informed important policy. This project expanded monitoring stations to the new electric bus lines. Grant funds allowed undergraduate students to participate in this research project and develop valuable skills in data collection, sustainability, and environmental justice work.

Workforce and modeling-based engineering solution development for HVAC inefficiency Auditing in campus buildings
○ This Faculty driven project, in collaboration with facilities, is a pilot study for the Crocker Science Center building on campus to utilize digital model to evaluate building performance. The project, funding through SCIF and the Seed to Soil program simulates building dynamics, timely fault detection, and diagnose building HVAC systems in daily operation. Led by two engineering professors, a doctoral candidate, along with graduate and undergraduate students, the project aims to reduced building energy use through fault detection and diagnosis.

Optimizing HVAC for carbon, cost and comfort
○ This faculty driven project funded through SCIF and Seed to Soil has objectives to adjust timing of HVAC operation (Crocker Science Center) to shift loads to renewable sources and reduce electricity costs. Led by a Mechanical Engineer professor and Doctoral Mechanical Engineering student, the project aims to reduced emissions (non-renewable purchase) and electricity costs.

Sutton Atrium Lighting Upgrade
○ Student funding was used to upgrade eight halogen lights in the atrium of the Sutton building's main east entrance with LED lights. Investment in replacing halogen lights with LED lights reduces energy consumption and fixes the safety hazards caused by low lighting.

Energy Choice Survey,
○ This project explores the linkages between consumer values, behaviors, and energy choices. A survey of Utah adults will gather data on energy choices by exploring the importance of framing and decision theory. The survey will help in considering and understanding the importance of program design and provide a base that can be employed directly in designing and developing programs for the campus community.

Edible Campus Gardens Soil
○ A student who worked with the Edible Campus Gardens received funding for seed starting and potting soil along with a variety of specialty seeds to start growing plants in the greenhouse over the winter. When the plants reach maturity, they are given to the main FeedU Pantry and satellite location at the University Student Apartments to be distributed to students.

Tree Planting: A Campus Restoration Project with the MUSS,
The MUSS (a student group) received funding to plant new trees on the University of Utah campus to help replace those lost in the windstorm on Sept. 8, 2020. The majority of the funds were used to purchase the necessary and desired saplings as identified by the Landscape Department and Open Space Facility Manager. Trees were planted in the same location as those lost or in a nearby site. Funds were also used to purchase gloves and shovels to enable student participation, as well as funding the labor cost of preparing the planting sites prior to the day of the event and clean them up in the days following.

Low-Mow Conversion Pilot,
Staff in the Facilities Management Landscape Department received student funding to plant a variety of pollinator-friendly, low-mow grasses in a struggling area. The project manager identified a plot of turf damaged by years of nitrogen testing and the stress of mowing in the housing district as the ideal location for piloting various grasses. The hope is that once these grasses mature, the area can become a living exhibition of the native transition from the Wasatch foothills to the semi-arid lowlands of Salt Lake Valley.

Red Butte Creek Native Vegetation,
In alignment with the Red Butte Creek Strategic Vision, students in the Department of City & Metropolitan Planning green infrastructure class received funding to plant native vegetation alongside the Red Butte Creek corridor. This project was initiated in conjunction with the larger Arapeen Trail Project and aims to restore the riparian ecosystem by plating native water and wildlife resistant vegetation.

Telematic data for fleet vehicles: A data driven solution toward clean vehicle adoption
○ This project, led by two professors and a graduate student, used telematic data to analyze the performance of the fleet operation system at the University of Utah. It aims to develop strategic solutions for fleet consolidation and outline phased electrification fleet deployment. Ultimate outputs of this would reduce transport fuel use, mitigate emissions, reduce operational cost, and maximize campus service coverage.

Quantifying the carbon and air quality footprint of the University of utah using TRAX-mounted instrumentation, traffic, and tap-on/tap-off ridership data
○ This project, led by four University of Utah professors and an undergraduate student researcher, worked to quantify how traffic patterns around the U impact air quality and provide tools to track transportation emissions. On-road traffic emissions are responsible for 48% of the Salt Lake Valley’s CO2 emissions. SIMAP uses % transport modes (per commuter survey) and population. The project informs accuracy of emission estimates across campus and can be used as a tool to track U’s progress to reducing emissions from transportation.

U-Walk: A walk audit tool to facilitate student learning and improve walking safety on campus
○ This project,funded through SCIF and the Seed to Soil program,aims to collect data to identify needed safety improvements to campus infrastructure. Worked on by two professors and a graduate student from the City and Metropolitan Planning department, outputs from this project seek to reduce emissions from transportation and create additional project lists for improving walking and bicycling infrastructure on campus.

Terracycle Nitrile Glove Recycling,
○ The Green Chemistry Committee, a part of the University’s American Chemical Society student chapter, received funding to expand the chemistry department's nitrile glove recycling program. The hope is that Terrycycle recycling will be a more sustainable and financially feasible program compared to the current RightcycleTM system. The need for this change arose when supply chain and pricing issues caused by the pandemic forced the department to order different brands of nitrile gloves that are not accepted by their current recycling program.

Zero Waste Feasibility Study
The Seed2Soil process, a campus as a living lab initiative, funded a zero waste feasibility study that surveyed students, faculty, and staff to get a better understanding of the perceptions of waste on campus. Additionally a thorough site survey was conducted to get a better picture of of all the assets and problems within the university's larger waste system.

Stormwater Green Infrastructure Solution at the Edible Campus Garden:
○ Students in the City & Metropolitan Planning Department received funding to install a bioswale to mitigate flooding issues at the Edible Campus Gardens. This will allow filtration of runoff and mitigation of sediment, nutrient, metal, and bacterial pollution. In addition, the retention of rainwater near the planting rows will reduce irrigation demands for portions of the garden.

* Seed2Soil Program
○ The SEED2SOIL program brings together experts and stakeholders and operational sustainability topics to expand, prioritize, and refine known opportunities for carbon reduction. The program provides an opportunity for students and researchers to impact campus, brainstorm ideas to improve University operations concerning sustainability, have research topics endorsed and funded, have ideas guided by an expert, and network with experts, stakeholders, and cultivators. In 2022 the SEED2SOIL program funded seven projects that advanced sustainability in campus coordination and planning efforts.

Climate Justice Fellows: 4 PhD candidates were selected to participate in UC3's Climate Justice Fellows program. In this role, they used their individual fields of study to participate in and inform the equity-related elements of stakeholder engagement for the university's development of a new Climate Change Action Plan.

Period Equity,
○ Students in the Environmental & Sustainability Studies department received funding to create better period equity on campus by selling reusable pads and period underwear at a reduced rate. Modeled off the Menstrual Cup Distribution project the Period Equity project will provide more affordable access to external period products, give individuals the choices to find the product best for them, and increase participation in sustainable period culture.

Examples of projects that exemplify the campus as a living laboratory were selected from activities supported by the following courses and programs:

Sustainable Campus Initiative Fund (SCIF)
URL: https://sustainability.utah.edu/scif/

Seed to Soil Program:
URL:https://facilities.utah.edu/se/seed2soil/index.php

SUST 6000: Global Changes & Society
A project-based course, required to earn an Interdisciplinary Graduate Certificate in Sustainability
URL: https://environment.utah.edu/programs-projects/student-projects/