Auburn University
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

• Sustainability Picnic: This annual event, hosted by the Office of Sustainability, brings together organizations and offices from across campus at the beginning of each school year. Featuring local food vendors, music, games, and informational booths, the picnic is designed to introduce new and returning students to the wide variety of sustainability-related programs at Auburn. Website: http://sustain.auburn.edu/event/sustainability-picnic-2021/
• Earth Day Celebration: Held on Earth Day each year, this campus-wide event provides activities and information for students to learn about environmental organizations and departments on campus, promote environmental student groups, and educate the student body on environmental issues of immediate and global concern. The event is coordinated by the University Program Council, a student-run organization. In addition, a self-guided display created by an Industrial Design student for a class project is used to educate event participants on the sustainability compass.

• The Community Garden, operated by Tiger Dining, is maintained as an educational and community service to Auburn University. Individual plots of varying size are available to rent for a nominal fee each year. All Auburn/Opelika residents are eligible to rent a plot, including students, faculty, and community members. Gardeners grow everything from herbs, fruits, and vegetables, to pollinator host plants, flowers, and other ornamental plants. School groups, university classes, and other groups also use the garden as an educational resource. The director of the Community Garden, Marley Halter, was awarded a Spirit of Sustainability Award in 2021. Community Garden website: https://auburn.campusdish.com/Sustainability/CommunityGarden
• Campus Kitchens Project: The Campus Kitchens Project is an emerging leader in community service for students and resourceful anti-hunger programs for communities around the country. This student-run program collects unused food from on-campus dining facilities, turn these donations into nourishing meals, and deliver those meals to food-insecure members of the Auburn-Opelika communities. Students are responsible for the entire operation and gain hands-on experience with nonprofit administration as well as education on food security and hunger issues. Students plan the menus, get the food, run the cooking shifts, organize the drivers, provide nutrition programs for local children, and teach culinary skills to unemployed adults. They also keep track of all of the paperwork, organize fundraisers, develop curriculum, and recruit new students to get involved. Website: http://www.auburn.edu/outreach/ops/campuskitchens/
• Connect Auburn: students in SUST 5000 (Senior Capstone) completed research and analysis of the City of Auburn’s multi-use trail systems, the factors that have inhibited further development, and recommendations for moving forward. Their project included presentations to faculty, students, and members of the public, flyers, yard signs, and a social media campaign. Website: http://acadsustain.auburn.edu/research/student-work/connect
• SDG Report: beginning in 2020, undergraduate students worked on compiling a comprehensive report of the University’s activities with regard to each of the Sustainable Development Goals. During its first year, this massive endeavor was undertaken by a single student, who received credit for it as an independent study. In the second year, a new student has taken on the task of updating and revising the document using current information. The completed report is available publicly online and used in the university’s marketing materials. Website: http://sustain.auburn.edu/learn/sustainable-development-goals/

• Campus Travel Survey: A student in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering conducts, analyzes, and reports on the campus’ travel choices every 3 years. This works informs campus planning for infrastructure and provides critical data for conducting the university’s greenhouse gas report, the Bicycle Friendly University report, and STARS modal split credit.

• Gorie Center for Building Science Tours: The LEED features in this building, including waterless urinals, shower and changing facilities for bicyclists, and many natural lighting and energy-saving features, are used for organized class tours in various programs on campus, including Biosystems Engineering, Sustainability Studies, and Architecture. Student learning on these tours is assessed through a variety of assignments, reports, and exam questions, depending on the class. http://cadc.auburn.edu/construction/construction-facilities
• Recreation and Wellness Center Tours: The new, student-funded Recreation and Wellness Center has many LEED features, such as a courtyard landscaped with native plant communities, 2 green roof areas, and natural lighting features and materials throughout. It is used for organized class tours in SUST 2000 Introduction to Sustainability, and in HONR 1027 Sustainability and the Modern World. Students participate in a group guided tour of the center during their class meeting time, view the various LEED features, and then integrate these observations with related class lectures and discussions about sustainable building practices. Student learning on these tours is assessed through a variety of assignments, reports, and exam questions, depending on the class. Website: http://www.campusrec.auburn.edu/facilities
• Office of Information Technology (OIT) LEED Building Tours: Staff in this building give organized tours on demand, of the building features, to show off various aspects including innovative cooling and heat-use in the mainframe computer server rooms. These rooms vent their generated heat to the outdoors during summer to reduce AC costs, then keep the heat in during winter to heat the building. The website link describes some of these features, for which OIT won a Spirit of Sustainability Award in 2015. Student learning on these tours is assessed through a variety of assignments, reports, and exam questions, depending on the class. Website: http://wp.auburn.edu/sustainability/oit-building-project/
• The Capstone course for mechanical engineering, a two-semester course taken by all seniors in the major, focuses every year on retrocomissioning a building on campus. Each class selects a building and completes a thorough analysis of the building’s central distribution systems, efficiency, proper operation, opportunity for future projects, and the financial potential for improving energy efficiency. This program has been ongoing for the past nine years.

• Energy Tours: On-campus systems for energy production and use are visited during organized class tours in SUST 2000 Introduction to Sustainability, and in HONR 1027 Sustainability and the Modern World. Students participate in a group guided tour of a power substation, where cooling and heating systems are demonstrated that pump water for temperature control in campus buildings. An engineer from the Facilities department on campus describes the opportunities and challenges involved in increasing energy efficiency, using water vs. steam-based systems for heating and cooling, and in purchasing electricity from Alabama Power. Student learning on these tours is assessed through a variety of assignments, reports, and exam questions, depending on the class.

• Food Tours: On-campus systems for sustainability in food production (Horticulture), food consumption (Tiger Dining) and food waste (Campus Kitchens) are visited during organized class tours in SUST 2000 Introduction to Sustainability, and in HONR 1027 Sustainability and the Modern World. Students participate in a group guided tour of these 3 aspects of the campus food system, during a class meeting time. They visit the Old Rotation on campus, which is the oldest continuous cotton experiment in the world, begun in 1896. They view the effects of using sustainable methods of rotating legumes, cotton, and corn in demonstration plots. They then walk over to the adjacent horticultural fields and orchards, where they identify, sample and taste local and seasonal crops. They end up at one of the campus Tiger Dining facilities, where the head chef of Campus Dining demonstrates various sustainability initiatives such as recycled and re-use food containers, food-waste-reducing practices, use of local and on-campus foods in the dining system, etc. They end up learning about the Campus Kitchens project which funnels leftover campus foods each week to the local Food Bank. Student learning on these tours is assessed through a variety of assignments, reports, and exam questions, depending on the class.

• Campus Kitchens project: The Campus Kitchens Project is an emerging leader in community service for students and resourceful anti-hunger programs for communities around the country. This student-run program collects unused food from on-campus dining facilities, turn these donations into nourishing meals, and deliver those meals to food-insecure members of the Auburn-Opelika communities. Students are responsible for the entire operation and gain hands-on experience with nonprofit administration as well as education on food security and hunger issues. Students plan the menus, get the food, run the cooking shifts, organize the drivers, provide nutrition programs for local children, teach culinary skills to unemployed adults, they keep track of all of the paperwork, organize fundraisers, develop curriculum, and recruit new students to get involved. Website: http://www.auburn.edu/outreach/ops/campuskitchens/

• In the spring of 2021 students in SUST 5000: Sustainability Capstone developed a thorough plan for three discrete permaculture projects on Auburn's campus. Informed by a survey conducted in the fall which found a major correlation between biodiverse spaces and positive mental health, the project re-imagines monoculture lawn spaces as small, private refuges geared toward sustainable initiatives that shrink the campus’s ecological footprint. Students analyzed the campus space and community needs, and created detailed drawings, ecological permaculture maps, and plant diagrams. This project contributes to the growing research on biodiversity, permaculture, human health, and how these disciplines are materialized through design. The final report is available here: http://acadsustain.auburn.edu/research/student-work/refuge/. In the Fall of 2021 a new group of students in the SUST 5000 course is working on the next phase of the project, to implement part of the original plan and create a new permaculture space on campus.

• Transportation tour: On-campus systems for sustainable transportation are visited during organized class tours in SUST 2000 Introduction to Sustainability, and in HONR 1027 Sustainability and the Modern World. Students participate in a group guided tour of a solar panel pilot project on top of a campus parking garage, which is linked to electric vehicle charging stations inside the garage. They also tour stations of the Tiger Transit bus system on campus and view and discuss the bicycle pathways, racks system, and other features of the bike transport system. Finally, they visit the experimental solar cars project in the Engineering Department.
• Walkability Tour: This tour leads students through campus to adjacent downtown Auburn, and shows them features related to pedestrian transportation, such as sidewalk features, design of street crossings, traffic calming features, relation to on-street buildings and business access, nearby residential street features for walkability, intersection issues, as well as linked on-campus features for pedestrian use such as pedestrian-only concourses. Students see examples of best practices for walkability, as well as areas and features with low walkability in which the city and campus infrastructure have been built mainly to support automobile-only transportation. Students view first-hand examples of alternative transportation systems such as electric vehicles, solar-powered experimental cars, public transit, and bicycle and pedestrian systems, all as alternatives to automobile use. They use campus and adjacent city features to understand the complexity of the transportation system and the possible options for more sustainable transportation. Student learning on these tours is assessed through a variety of assignments, reports, and exam questions, depending on the class.
• Campus Travel Survey: A student in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering conducts, analyzes, and reports on the campus’ travel choices every 3 years. This works informs campus planning for infrastructure and provides critical data for conducting the university’s greenhouse gas report, the Bicycle Friendly University report, and STARS modal split credit.

• Students in UNIV 1100 Live Green, Save Green work on a waste/recycling project for the fall semester that includes a campus waste tour and a waste audit/sort and a final presentation. The tour encompasses multiple aspects of Auburn’s waste stream processes and highlights efforts by waste management services to reduce the environmental footprint of campus operations. Highlights include water bottle refill stations, the campus building recycling program, hand pick-up recycling bins, Big Belly solar compactors, student center recycling (kitchen grease, cardboard, etc.), and information about the university’s recycling processes, markets, grant funding, and diversion rates. In the “waste audit,” students sort through trash and identify the main sources of waste on campus, developing a presentation to identify areas for improvement.
• Waste Tour: On-campus systems for waste reduction and recycling are visited, mostly in and around the Student Center, during organized class tours in SUST 2000 Introduction to Sustainability, in HONR 1027 Sustainability and the Modern World. Students participate in a group guided tour led by a staff person from the Waste Reduction and Recycling Department. They "follow the waste stream", by visiting solar-power waste compression receptacles outside the Student Center, recycling sorting bins inside the center, behind-the-scenes recycling activities of the dining system inside the center, and then exit the building to see how cardboard, cooking oil, and other materials are sorted and packaged for transport. They then walk across campus to the Recycling Center to see where the separated materials are prepared for transport to off-campus recycling facilities. Student learning on these tours is assessed through a variety of assignments, reports, and exam questions, depending on the class.
• Food waste awareness campaign: Students in SUST 5000 Senior Capstone researched and implemented a campaign to make Auburn’s students more aware of exactly how much food waste and food-related waste is produced on campus and in specific areas of campus, while also marketing the new sustainable initiatives coming to campus such as the industrial-sized food digester and freight farms. Details are posted here: http://acadsustain.auburn.edu/research/student-work/food-waste/
• Waste Sort: This event is a public demonstration of the waste that comes out of the library after just three hours of use. The event workers are student employees, employees, and volunteers.

• On-campus water systems are visited during organized class tours in SUST 2000 Introduction to Sustainability, and in HONR 1027 Sustainability and the Modern World. Students participate in a group guided Stormwater Tour at the Campus Arboretum, led by arboretum staff. They visit rain barrels, pervious concrete pathways, rain gardens, restored stream areas, floodplain areas, a bog garden, and other stormwater management features in the arboretum. Then they proceed downstream to see bioswales where rainwater collects near the LEED Gorie Center, a cistern and rain garden at the Architecture Building, and then follow the stream bed of the undergrounded Parkerson Mill Creek that runs through campus. Students listen to the stream through drain pipes and manhole covers, following it until it daylights at a restored stream area adjacent to the Sports Coliseum. They also visit degraded and restored stream branches behind the Forestry Building, to compare how they appear and function. Student learning on these tours is assessed through a variety of assignments, reports, and exam questions, depending on the class.
• The E.W. Shell Fisheries Center, https://sfaas.auburn.edu/e-w-shell-fisheries-center/, provides field and laboratory venues for courses taught in Auburn’s School of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Aquatic Sciences; School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences; School of Industrial and Graphic Design; Department of Biosystems Engineering; and Department of Biological Sciences.

• Each academic year, the Office of Sustainability recruits and supervises approximately six student interns. These students assist with daily office operations, special programs, student outreach, research, grant writing, communications, and policy development. The student interns also receive an expense-paid trip to the annual, national-level AASHE conference with Office staff. The assistance provided by the student interns helps the Office of Sustainability meet its mission. The work produced by the interns greatly augments the efforts of the 3-person Office of Sustainability. Their efforts have enabled the creation and execution of a number of programs, as well as providing a direct connection to the perspective and needs of the student body. The student interns, in turn, receive valuable hands-on experience with addressing issues of sustainability planning and coordination on campus.

• Students in SUST 5000: Sustainability Senior Capstone developed a digital timeline of the university's racial history, incorporating current statistics and data illustrating the racial and economic disparities on Auburn's campus. This research is available online: http://acadsustain.auburn.edu/research/student-work/timeline/
• In the spring of 2021, students in the Theater department completed a study of campus buildings that were named for Confederate officers, slaveowners, Klan leaders, and segregationists and created an installation demanding their renaming. On the last day of this installation, Auburn University announced plans to reexamine existing building names to consider renaming or contextualizing those found to be incompatible with racial equity.

• The campus’s TigerFit health and fitness assessment program provides students with hands-on experience in a state-of-the-art fitness clinic, as well as participation in outreach efforts by the School of Kinesiology. The program offers quality health and fitness screenings at an affordable price to the Auburn University community, while giving students valuable hands-on experience in applied exercise technology, exercise physiology, and adult fitness programming. TigerFit offers appointments to students, faculty, OLLI members (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute), alumni, and the general public during academic semesters. Each person who participates receives a thorough fitness assessment, and receives a comprehensive report covering cardiovascular disease risk, aerobic fitness, body composition, muscular fitness, balance, and flexibility. This work not only helps clients, but in coordination with local health professionals can help improve prevention strategies for cardiovascular disease, Type II diabetes, hypertension, and other metabolic diseases. The participating students gain experience with all of these issues related to health and well-being, as they apply to the campus community.
• AU Employee Pharmacy Internships: The AU Employee Pharmacy offers multiple internships to students in the Pharmacy school. Interns provide skilled and technical assistance to a pharmacist on a wide variety of tasks, including verifying and filling prescriptions, managing records, performing patient tests (including COVID tests), providing information on the proper way to take medicines, and maintaining inventories, dispensing and maintaining proper inventory of controlled substances, administering vaccinations, and maintining databases of inventory and expiration data for pharmaceuticals.