East Carolina University
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

Each semester, I partner with a professor who teaches a Health Education and Promotion capstone course and the students are required to earn 15 hours of service-learning work. I typically have one or two students who want to earn their service-learning experience with the sustainability program so I match them up with a campus department that has expressed interest in the Green Office Program. This partnership was put on hold for 2 years during the COVID-19 pandemic, but has since resumed.

To date, students from the HLTH 4880 class have helped nearly 14 campus departments earn Green Office certification. It is beneficial for everyone involved because the students are learning and applying various skills needed in the workforce, departments are getting certified and reducing their own impacts, and the Sustainability Manager is able to focus on other duties and responsibilities.

In fall 2022, the University Sustainability Manager assisted in hosting the NC Bike Walk Summit at the East Carolina Heart Institute. Bicycle and Pedestrian advocates from around the State of North Carolina came to ECU's campus to learn from their peers. Students helped plan and promote this event and volunteered on the day of to welcome guests, sit in on sessions, and help divert waste from the landfill by assisting attendees with recycling and composting.

In addition, I rely heavily on students and organizations like ECO Pirates, ReLeaf ECU Chapter, SustainabiliBEES, Planet ECU, American Fisheries Society, and others to plan, promote, and setup for the monthly Sustainability Film & Discussion Series as well as our annual Campus Sustainability Day and Earth Week Celebrations at ECU.

In 2018, we installed three Purple Air monitoring devices on campus properties at ECU. One is installed on the Health Sciences Campus Student Center, a second was installed near the intramural Blount Recreation Fields, and the third was installed at a bus stop on Main Campus. These devices measure temperature, humidity, and Particulate Matter (PM 2.5-10) and they were provided to the University for free by a nonprofit organization called Clean Air Carolina. Students in the Brody School of Medicine Public Health Department as well as other academic programs utilize these sensors and the dataset in their coursework. In addition, we have graduate and doctoral researchers utilizing other air quality monitors installed on our West Research Campus, which take measurements of PFAS in the ambient air. Students and researchers work with facilities staff to assess potential installation sites and then proceed forward with installing and monitoring the functionality of these devices.

Our Energy Manager position was vacant from Summer 2019 through summer 2022. Prior to this position being vacant for three years, the Energy Manager would submit a Capstone Project proposal and work as an advisor for a group of Engineering students. Once the new Energy Manager gets up-to-speed on the job duties and responsibilities, we hope to resume this partnership.


In 2018, a group of students did a study looking into potential energy efficiency upgrades in the Flanagan Building and these were their recommendations:

1. Upgrade building automation system
2. Upgrade lighting to LEDs
3. Install thermal window film

In fiscal year 2019, we completed recommendations 2 and 3.

Each year, we work with a GIS class in the Geography Department to map features on campus. In 2018, a group made an entire class project out of mapping external lighting across all campus properties. Over 30 students divided into smaller groups and split Main Campus and Health Sciences Campus into multiple zones. The students plotted the coordinates for each and every light pole on the map in addition to the make, model, light fixture type, and other features related to the light poles. The students did a cost-benefit analysis to determine the payback period for switching out older, less efficient lighting with newer, high-efficiency LEDs and as a result of this project, we have converted all external lighting at ECU to LEDs.

There are multiple students involved with Sustainable Dining initiatives at ECU. We have student interns that work for ECU Dining and Aramark, the University's contracted dining service provider, on several projects such as the raised garden beds behind Todd Dining Hall, the Freight Farm Big Leafy Machine behind Jones Residence Hall, and some who help promote plant-based diets through tabling and larger events.

Starting in fall 2021, we began running Weigh Your Waste events in both dining halls. Aramark student interns scrape food waste into a clear container and track food waste during the lunch periods to raise awareness about food waste.

Students have helped tremendously when it comes to campus grounds sustainability initiatives. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Grounds Services was very understaffed so students from the ReLeaf ECU Chapter volunteered on multiple occasions to help plant trees, weed landscaped beds, and spread mulch under and around trees.

In addition, we have continued to make progress on our Campus Tree Inventory. Over the past three years, we have had multiple students working on large sections of campus to map trees including: common name, DBH, condition, etc.
There is only one residential neighborhood left on campus to map as well as a couple of small pockets here and there on main campus to map.

Starting in spring 2020, the University Sustainability Manager worked with an international exchange student to complete a Transit Merger Feasibility Study. This student had attended ECU in-person as recently as the fall 2019 semester and planned to come back to do his capstone project in-person and finish his degree. However, the COVID-19 pandemic prevented him from doing so. As a result, the project was completed remotely, but this student did conduct numerous interviews with stakeholders at the University and within the local community. In addition, he distributed surveys to current ECU students, staff, and faculty. Finally, he utilized ECU Transit route maps and proposed a new route system that merged ECU Transit with the Greenville Area Transit (GREAT) Bus System. The effort to merge these two transit systems has not come to fruition yet, but there is growing conversation and support for the idea.

Starting in fall 2021, we began a student-led composting pilot program. The students were employed as interns through the ECU Sustainability Program. They used a Facilities box truck with a lift gate to collect pre-consumer food waste from our two dining halls on campus 3 times per week starting in November. This pilot ran through the spring semester and students diverted nearly 33,000 pounds of pre-consumer food waste from the landfill. They took the waste to a compost demonstration site at the Pitt County Recycling Center. This project demonstrated how successful composting can be and has since turned into a business endeavor for an ECU Alum. She got a $60,000 grant from NC DEQ as well as $30,000 in private investment funds to purchase a truck, tractor, and other equipment. ECU became her first client in fall 2022 and we anticipate to divert approximately 60,000 pounds of organic material from the landfill this year.

ECU WaterCorps is a student-focused organization that takes on environmentally-related projects for clients within and outside of ECU. WaterCorps operates like a real-world business, similar to the way companies work in the environmental consulting industry. As a part of WaterCorps students have the opportunity to take part in both technical and business operations, thereby creating a unique opportunity to prepare for the workforce. Members of WaterCorps also take part in professional development and networking activities to prepare for success after graduation!

All members of WaterCorps are paid employees of the organization, though different types of positions exist:

- Interns work on projects under the supervision of WaterCorps staff and project managers. Internship positions provide an opportunity to learn more about WaterCorps and the projects we work on. Intern positions are typically about 30 paid hours over the course of a semester.
- Staff positions require a greater degree of expertise in an area, which may be gained through internships or by taking part in WaterCorps training activities. Staff members may apply their specialized expertise to support multiple client projects. A typical staff position will be for 5-10hrs per week or full-time in the summer.
- Project Managers have a high degree of technical expertise enabling them to lead a project. Project managers interface with clients to define the scope of work for a project, manage staff and interns to complete project activities, and prepare reports and presentations to share the project products with the client. Project managers typically focus on a single project at a time and work closely with their clients and faculty to ensure that high quality work is produced. The amount of time required for project managers is typically 10hrs/week during the semester or full time in the summer.

The WRC’s Water Scholars Program provides funding for currently enrolled ECU undergraduate and graduate students who are seeking support for a student-led, faculty-supervised creative, educational, or research project. The student applicant is required to identify a faculty member who will serve as a mentor. The faculty mentor is expected to provide guidance on the design of the proposal and serve as a mentor throughout the span of the project. Proposals should include a component that supports and builds the WRC community. Examples for supporting and building the WRC community include (but are not limited to) the following:
- helping to develop a new community field site,
- building data infrastructure,
- initiating/strengthening community partnerships,
- leading citizen science activities, or
- creating and sharing stories about the issues in the region (e.g., documentaries, storyboards, etc.).

In spring 2021, the University Sustainability Manager worked with sustainability-related student organizations to host a Sustainability Roundtable event. The students determined who they wanted to be at the table discussing sustainability issues and what campus stakeholders they wanted to invite to listen in and ask questions about their goals and objectives for campus sustainability. The student organizations involved and represented included:
- ECO Pirates
- Planet ECU
- SustainabiliBEES
- ReLeaf ECU Chapter
- Pirates on Water
- ECU Rock Painting Club
- Sustainability Interns

Campus Stakeholders included:
- ECU Recycling Coordinator
- ECU Chief Sustainability Officer
- ECU Grounds Services Director
- ECU Housing and Dining Associate Vice Chancellor
- ECU Water Resources Center Director
- ECU Integrated Coastal Studies Program Dean

Starting in spring 2021, the University Sustainability Manager began hosting Trail Maintenance Workdays at Otter Creek Natural Area. This property was gifted to ECU back in the mid-1980s and was used for teaching and research up until the early 2000s. Since that time, the property has been neglected and the trails have become overgrown and difficult to follow. After a year of working with students to reestablish the trail network, we hosted an Otter Creek Natural Area Grand Reopening event during Earth Week in spring 2022. Now that the trails have been restored, the University has opened this property back up for teaching and research. In addition, the ECU Adventure Leadership Program plans to offer monthly guided hikes this spring and the property is also available for team-building and leadership development activities for students, staff, and faculty.

Source: Chad Carwein, University Sustainability Manager