Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 68.91
Liaison Susan Powers
Submission Date April 10, 2024

STARS v2.2

Clarkson University
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 4.00 / 4.00 Susan Powers
Director of the Institute for a Sustainable Environment
ISE
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Campus Engagement

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Campus Engagement?:
Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Campus Engagement:
Student interns and graduate students helped plan and conduct a food waste audit at Clarkson University as well as an educational campaign during FY23. ISE interns also do a variety of tabling about invasive species, recycling, food waste and other topics on campus to educate students and spread awareness.

Public Engagement 

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Public Engagement?:
Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Public Engagement:
C3G is in-house Clarkson University capability that provides pre-professional consulting in planning, engineering, and construction areas. The C3G group works with a variety of different complete street projects in communities around Potsdam that involve working with the public to get their input on sidewalks, bike lanes and other sustainable transit projects that would be most beneficial for them.

https://sites.google.com/clarkson.edu/clarkson-c3g/

Air & Climate 

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Air & Climate?:
Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Air & Climate:
Students in biology lab classes measure trees and estimating carbon storage. Information is added to our understanding of carbon sequestration as we learn to better account for this in our CAP.

Buildings  

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Buildings?:
Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Buildings:
Students in building systems, GIS and thermodynamics classes have reviewed, mapped and assessed many aspects of our building systems. This has included review of credits used and actual design of LEED buildings; detailed building energy system data reviewed to assess components in buildings that consume the most energy; and quantification of the efficiency of major features such as the chiller for the ice hockey arena.

Energy 

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Energy?:
Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Energy:
Student researchers at Clarkson get the chance to work with Dr. Ken Visser on wind energy technologies by helping to improve blade and other technologies for Ducted Wind Turbines on campus and at the wind turbine test site. Both undergrad and graduate students are also involved in managing the on-campus anaerobic digester and working to improve the system. Students in several classes ranging from math to electrical engineering use data for our solar PV field to learn math modeling and details of the power engineering components (and associated energy losses) of the PV system.

Food & Dining 

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Food & Dining?:
Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Food & Dining:
There is a student-run coffee shop on campus that partners and works with the Institute for a Sustainable Environment's student interns to compost their food waste and incorporate other sustainability initiatives into their business plan. This allows students who run the coffee shops to learn best practices and methods for making businesses more sustainable and allows the ISE student interns to gain more professional experience in implementing sustainability across organizations.

Students in Garden Club grow herbs and other plants during the semester that are then used in catered meals throughout the summer and fall that allow them to gain understanding in how important local food systems are. Undergraduate and graduate students work with the dining services to collect food waste and feed it to the on campus digester as part of their research for their degrees and projects.

Grounds 

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Grounds?:
Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Grounds:
A member of the grounds crew at Clarkson University who focuses on Clarkson's trees has started a program called Sustainable Tree Legacy Program. Using the campus greenhouse, students work with this employee to plant and grow seedlings recovered from campus trees. Students and the member work every week to re-plant and care for these trees to help grow. Other groups of students are actively involved in controlling invasive species.
Students interns in the ISE work on meadow restoration and perform experiments to better understand what conditions allow for re-wilding the best.
Students in CE301 do GPS mapping projects on campus and produce new data each semester. Students have produced and shared maps of campus trails, sidewalks, running and walking routes, campus trees, and underground utilities.
In the first year biology and ecology labs, all ecological activities are conducted in the Clarkson forest and wetlands. At least two projects are intended to collect data relevant for environmental management.

Purchasing 

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Purchasing?:
Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Purchasing:
A student intern helped gather information on the purchasing information for Food and Dining section of this report as well as worked on drafting letters to help add local vendors to the approved list of vendors to be used by Sodexo, our dining contractor at Clarkson.

Transportation 

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Transportation?:
Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Transportation:
We have four students actively managing our bike friendly campus initiative and others working on this through a GIS class. The Bike Interns manage our Knight Rider Bicycle Rental Program. This program allows students to rent bikes for a day, a month or a semester. The interns make sure bikes are repaired when needed. Other students have been actively involved through a GIS class to map bike routes on campus and into the village. These maps were used to evaluate locations to add signage for the bike routes. These efforts have led to the submission of a Bike Friendly University application that was prepared and submitted by students during FY23.

https://www.clarkson.edu/student-life/student-support-services/safety-security/knight-rider-bicycle-rental-program

Waste 

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Waste?:
Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Waste:
Multiple interns in the ISE focus on projects related to waste at Clarkson. One intern focuses on recycling and how to increase recycling while reducing contamination in the recycling waste stream. Another intern focuses on the food waste management programs on campus and how to improve them. The university also has an anaerobic digester that students help manage as part of their research in undergraduate classes and for their graduate degrees.
Students in the Industrial Ecology class evaluate potential ways to increase our circular economy on campus through recycling, food waste management and out Take it or Leave it program that collects and redistribute materials students no longer need at the end of the year.

Water 

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Water?:
Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Water:
Students in ecology and biology lab classes sample water from the Raquette River.
Issues related to sustainable water uses in local watersheds are used as the focus of study in the Limnology and water resources classes (e.g. eutrophication, land use impacts on water quality).
Students in water treatment class are engaged in laboratory activities that measure water quality at transition points in the Potsdam Water Treatment Plant and Sewage Treatment Plant. Students evaluate plant performance and make recommendations to the staff regarding treatment unit operations and processes and improving plant sustainability. Students tour these utilities in Potsdam as a requirement of the course.

Coordination & Planning 

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Coordination & Planning?:
Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Coordination & Planning:
Undergraduate students sit on the University's Sustainability committee, Forest committee and Tree committee. In each of these cases, they are exposed to the critical discussions and decision making processes that help to make a sustainable campus. Two undergraduate students interns have helped gather and analyze data for this STARS submission. Additionally, students have helped with planning Sustainability Day and Green Living Fair which is an annual event put on by multiple colleges in the area and the public.

Diversity & Affordability 

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Diversity & Affordability?:
Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Diversity & Affordability:
Student interns and volunteers from many DEI professional societies work with the diversity office to help plan events and outreach campaigns to improve the campus communities' appreciation and understanding of cultures that our diverse student body brings to Potsdam. They cook a lot and provide amazing open dinners for all to benefit from!

Investment & Finance 

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Investment & Finance?:
No

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Investment & Finance:
N/A

Wellbeing & Work 

Is the institution utilizing its infrastructure and operations as a living laboratory for applied student learning for sustainability in relation to Wellbeing & Work?:
Yes

A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Wellbeing & Work:
Student workers help the EHS department with lab safety each year. They complete items such as lab safety inspections, fume hood inspections, first aid kit deployment and monthly inspections, and food and drink bin installations outside labs (so that people aren't eating and drinking inside the labs). Student workers assist with fire safety room inspections in residential spaces as well. Students in the Human Exposures class design and perform a small-scale human exposure study using monitoring instruments and/or exposure models focused on campus exposures in campus buildings.

Optional Fields 

Website URL where information about the institution’s living laboratory program is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.