Wells College
IN-25: Innovation B

Biology professor Christina Schmidt assigns student teams in her Anatomy and Physiology labs the assignment to create cell models using only found and/or natural materials. She calls this "Sustain-a-Cell". Marian Brown, the director of the Wells Center for Sustainability and the Environment, instructs the lab teams on what comprises found materials and where to find them and she provides cash prizes for the best submissions in several categories. This project goes well beyond typical utilization of our campus as a living laboratory for multidisciplinary student learning and applied research in relation to Waste. Most student learning/applied research projects support the learning or applied research needs of individual students or small project teams. This annual Sustain-a-Cell project assignment is part of the Anatomy & Physiology course, required by students majoring in Biology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Biological and Chemical Sciences, as well as students minoring in Biology and Holistic Health Studies. It is also a common elective for studentrs pursuing a Health Science major. As such, this content on our campus reuse programs and appropriate reuse of "found materials" reaches close to 15% of the student body (based upon current enrollment in major/minor programs and course enrollment) each year. This Sustain-a-Cell project was highlighted in the October 2017 newsletter of the New York State Association for Reduction, Reuse and Recycling, the statewide professional organization for waste management professionals.