Worcester Polytechnic Institute
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

Air and climate is considered indirectly through energy efficiency and initiatives to reduce green house gases. WPI's Green Revolving Fund (GRF) includes a community component to identify creative approaches for advancing sustainability, energy efficiency, and associated cost savings. A 2020 IQP developed a long-term plan for developing electric vehicle charging stations to promote the use of electric vehicles (which will intern reduce green house gas emissions). Projects have addressed energy dashboards for increasing awareness of energy and green house gas emissions. Other work in civil and environmental engineering has included wind, rainfall, and air monitoring for hydrologic analysis.

Students are engaged in on-campus sustainability challenges through a variety of student project activities. For example, one project focused on the structural analysis of the renovation of Kaven Hall at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, Massachusetts. It provides a structural design of the building with an additional floor added on to the attic and the total cost estimate. Taking into consideration sustainability analysis and data from the Code of Massachusetts Regulations and Americans with Disabilities Act, an appropriate renovation plan is proposed. The renovation proposal of Kaven Hall is expected to improve the educational efficiency with the increased area.

A number of student projects have addressed energy. In 2019, a student IQP group assessed the feasability of WPI's parking areas for a solar canopy system, and developed a recommendations for the most effective option. Potential locations around campus were analayzed, with total area, sunlight exposure, and local topography taken into account. Regional climate patterns and solar incentives were also considered. Best practices were learned through interviews with solar installation companies and other schools with solar canopies. A comprehensive cost/benefit analysis was completed to estimate installation costs and payback period. (Brown, Bernier, Hartwick); Another example included a project in 2018 by a student IQP group was to develop a proposal for the implementation of an Energy Monitoring Dashboard. (Vega, Mancinelli, Bathelder, and Shingleton)

Food is commonly considered through student clubs and projects. In 2019, a student IQP group did a project on food. As the cost of living and the cost of education rise, students at colleges and universities may be encountering struggles with food insecurity. The goal of this project was to determine the magnitude of the issue at WPI, educate the WPI community on the issue, and propose sustainable solutions. The researchers developed a survey to uncover the extent of food insecurity at WPI, followed by interviews, and the report culminated with the presentation of sustainable solutions to be implemented in the WPI community. Another project in 2019 assessed WPI’s food waste management system and provided recommendations for future efficiency and food waste reduction.(Penaloza, Rathore, and Trvalak)

A number of projects have addressed WPI's grounds. In 2018, a student IQP group did a research project on enhancing the appreciation of the woody plants on campus at WPI. This project achieved its purpose through a diagrammatic representation of the trees and shrubs on the WPI campus and a self-guided tree tour. the map consists of the accurate location and the identified scientific and common name of the tree or shrub. The self-guided tree tour, in the form of a brochure consists of a guided path among the most important and/or interesting woody plants identified and a short description of the plant.

Projects in this area have addressed transportation alternatives. In 2018, a student IQP group did a research project on SNAP. SNAP is a Student Government Association funded transportation service offered to WPI community members. As it is a popular campus service, it experiences heavy usage which slows its service times. For students awaiting service, their safety is sacrificed when they must wait long periods of time unsure if and when their request will be fulfilled. The goal of this project was to create an application, SNAPP, to enhance SNAP services and increase student safety on campus through increased awareness and communication with SNAP services. (Caraballo, Zamaniego, McCormack) Another project in 2020 assessed WPI's projected electric vehicle use, and developed a plan for addressing EV charging stations in the future.(Liu, Mercer, and Seker)

Project on waste management include both undergraduate and graduate projects. In 2019, a student IQP team worked on a research project to assess WPI's food waste management system and to provide a foundation for future food waste reduction with recommendations. They investigated food waste and interviewed people involved with food waste at WPI and other universities. Then they mapped the waste sterams at WPI's food locations from source to destination. They found significant gaps in WPi's food waste management system and provided recommendations for improving the Campus Center system and filling the remaining gaps. (Moseley, Penaloza, Rathore, Trvalik); and in 2018 an IQP team looked at WPI recycling. The students sent a survey to students and faculty at WPI, and then examined the WPI recycling efforts in 2016 and 2017 using waste audit data collected from WPIs annual waste audit in each respective year. The result of their findings indicated that less than half of the commonly used recyclable materials were properly recycled. Based on the previous finding, they interviewed students at WPI on their opinion on why people do not recycle. As a result of those interviews, we found that a majority of students believed that carelessness was the main reason, and recommendations were made. (Le, Nhan). Another team in 2019 investigated waste Reduction Through A Reusable Container Program (Curtin, Mooney, Peccerillo). Graduate research includes the work of Berk Calli, a WPI researcher who is leading a $2.5 million study to develop new robotics for recycling centers.

WPI has a number of projects and initiatives to address water sustainability. In 2018, a student IQP group did a project on storm-water. Storm-water from WPI drains directly into nearby Salisbury Pond, contributing to its chronic pollution. For their project, they worked with WPI facilities to develop a plan to more effectively manage storm-water runoff in one area oaf campus. they assessed WPI's current storm-water management practices, investigated existing solutions, and detailed which solution was mot feasible. They found that a combined stone swale and rain garden would best service the campus needs by reducing or eliminating frequent flooding in the center of campus and simultaneously reducing the quantity of storm-water entering Salisbury Pond through storm sewers. This project was also submitted to the US EPA's RainWorks Challenge. (Secino, Merchant, Barsan, Racine) In spring 2020, a team of students assessed WPI's water use by evaluating metering records from various buildings and surveying the campus community on water use. They found that conservation could be improved using a long-term program for eliminating leakage, increasing water system efficiency, and implementing education programs to reduce water use. (Curiel, Pierre, Lenihan, and Zhong)

In 2019, a student IQP group did a project on the underrepresentation of females in STEM fields limiting innovation. The purpose of the project was to develop resources for the Office of the Pre-Collegiate Outreach Program at WPI to aid them in their expansion of summer STEM programs, increasing opportunities for middle school girls to get involved as well as increasing female engagement in STEM. We analyzed the effectiveness of previous activities and developed 25 modules as frameworks for designing effective STEM outreach programs for 6th, 7th, and 8th grade girls.

An IQP project was done in 2019 to discover ways to relate federal work study at WPI and the associated community service to specific majors at the school. This was done by researching Federal work study policies both in place at colleges and enforced by the US federal government, interviewing WPI's FWS administrator, and surveying WPI students. It was found that there are many opportunities to change WPI's FWS program to improve its educational value and that the majority of survey respondents would prefer the proposed changes. Author: Carbonneau.

In 2018, a student IQP group did a project to investigate the possible short term prediction of stock prices using historical data of the stock and market in general. They created several models from real data and integrated multiple tools such as autocorrelation, least square linear fit, fourier series, moving averages, correlation with Nasdaq and Dow Jones. (Ditthapron, Ekkaewnumchai, Kongpornjaras, Nalamlieng)

In the 2019, IQP students researched Worcester community-based organizations which experience a lack of consistent and long-term flow of volunteers. The goal of this project was to recommend a sustainable volunteering structure connecting student volunteers to these organizations. The project worked with the Central Community Branch YMCA as a pilot and recruited students from WPi to assist with the YMCA after school program. Lira and O'Neil.

In 2018, a student IQP group did research to analyze and improve the safety of social drinking culture at WPI. Through interviews of student leaders and faculty, and a survey of students, the team concluded that social drinking is prevalent at WPI, fraternity parties are generally safer than apartment parties at WPI, and that WPI's good Samaritan policy, the Culture of Care Resolution, needs strengthening and increased awareness. The team developed recommendations and educational materials for WPi faculty, event hosts, and event guests. (Hard, Sayers, Wensley, McCormick)

In 2017, a student IQP group researched on campus farms. The on-campus farms have been a valuable asset to several institutions in the nation providing a level of educational experience for those students interested in production and consumption of food. In the study, they investigated the feasibility of an on campus farm for WPi. They looked into several options for creating such a farm considering all aspects of implementation including technical aspects such as land and infrastructure, as well as the educational and institutional benefits for WPI. (McDonald-Schwartz, Gietzmann-Sanders, Korkhov)