Montana State University
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

The Office of Student Engagement manages student interns from various departments on campus to work on a wide range of campus engagement activities including Catapalooza, a two day event which allows new and returning students to become engaged in campus clubs and organizations including the Sustainability Now club and the Office of Sustainability.

The Associated Students of MSU (ASMSU) and the Office of Student Engagement both manage student interns from various departments on campus to work on a wide range of public engagement activities including promoting student civic engagement and organizing community service opportunities.

Through the MSU Honors College, students can take HONR 200, ‘Taking the pulse of Montana’. A course which focuses on the divergence of science and policy on a number of critical public health concerns, from climate change to the coronavirus response. The course has the goal of recognizing this and charting a course forward. Working with scientific and political experts, as well as with MSU's Special Collections and Archives, students take their first steps down this path, with the goal of documenting the journey for future generations.

Commercial Building Energy Assessment Lab (ETME 327) is an energy assessment course that uses the campus buildings, heat plant and energy systems as a living laboratory. Students participate in and learn from studies of utility use, systems and building operations including control systems, interviews with maintenance and engineering personnel and in class discussions. Laboratory activities include operation of equipment used to collect energy data and building system performance information.

During the Montana State University 2020 Winter Break, The MSU Honors college offered a Climate Leadership course (HONR 291) for 25 Honors students. Part of their required assignment was to complete an interview with a "climate leader" of their choice and then tell their own climate leadership story. Many students chose to interview faculty and staff acting as climate leaders at Montana State University.

Commercial Building Energy Assessment Lab (ETME 327) is an energy assessment course that uses the campus buildings, heat plant and energy systems as a living laboratory. Students participate in and learn from studies of utility use, systems and building operations including control systems, interviews with maintenance and engineering personnel and in class discussions. Laboratory activities include operation of equipment used to collect energy data and building system performance information.

Commercial Building Energy Assessment Lab (ETME 327) is an energy assessment course that uses the campus buildings, heat plant and energy systems as a living laboratory. Students participate in and learn from studies of utility use, systems and building operations including control systems, interviews with maintenance and engineering personnel and in class discussions. Laboratory activities include operation of equipment used to collect energy data and building system performance information.

Through the MSU University services, students can take a tour of the University’s heating plant and tunnel system which moves heat and energy between buildings on campus. Courses including ETME-327 use the campus heat plant and tunnels to give students a real world application in understanding how energy and heat moves and how the processes involved can be made more efficient.

Renewable Energy Applications (ETME 470) is a professional elective course that provides students with a broad-based introduction to several non-fossil fuel renewable energy technologies, along with pertinent background in conventional energy topics. The class lecture meetings focus on practical applications and theory for a variety of energy generation devices and systems such as wind, solar photo-voltaic, solar thermal, hydro, and other systems. Various energy implementation challenges and issues including electrical transmission, integration of renewables, resource evaluation and site selection, and energy system operation & control will be considered. Labs add a hands-on experience, and tours of energy-related facilities may complement laboratory activities.

MSU's Agriculture Marketing class (AGBE-321) focuses on issues in marketing agricultural products and the economic principles that assist in analysis of these issues, factors affecting market prices, and topics associated with methods of marketing are considered, with an emphasis on Montana products. This course has worked with MSU's Farm to Campus program to market sustainable dinners centered around local agriculture. In particular, this dinner featured grown by MSU students on MSU agricultural lands as a part of the "Steer-A-Year" program.

MSU's Department of Animal and Range Sciences manages the "Steer-A-Year" program. Steer-A-Year students sell the steers directly to MSU’s Culinary Services. Steer-A-Year produced 33 steers during the 2019-2020 school year, which were all purchased by Culinary Services during the spring semester. The steers live at MSU’s Bozeman Agricultural Research and Teaching, or BART Farm, and students are responsible for everything from feeding the animals to health checks and vaccinations.The relationship between these two programs is to provide hands on experience to students, while tightening the gap between producers and consumers in MSU's dining halls.

The Towne's Harvest Garden is a three-acre diversified vegetable and educational research farm supporting a student-run, community-supported agriculture program. Towne's Harvest Garden promotes learning about food production, the value of eating and supporting local foods, community building, and individual empowerment. Students in SFBS 296 gain hands-on experience with small scale market gardening, distribution, and market sales at local farmers markets. Through this program students gain an understanding of the value of local food systems, promoting more sustainable food production.

Students in Planting Design (HORT 331) use campus as a living laboratory in several projects throughout the course. These projects focus on developing and improving current landscape plans for campus focused on pollinator habitat, xeriscaping, community planting design, minimizing herbicides and pesticides, edible gardens, rain gardens, and integration with stormwater infrastructure. Students present their conceptual designs to MSU's grounds manager at the end of the course.

Through the MSU University services, students can take a tour of the University’s heating plant and tunnel system which moves heat and energy between buildings on campus. Courses including ETME-327 use the campus heat plant and tunnels to give students a real world application in understanding how energy and heat moves and how the processes involved can be made more efficient.

MSU's Civil Engineering Capstone course (ECIV-489/499) has utilized campus as a tool to study potential transportation management strategies in and around campus. In the 2019 and 2020 school years, students in this course worked on designing possible alternatives to the southern campus transportation infrastructure including creating a land bridge to better connect campus to the athletic complex.

During the 2020 school year, students in the ARCH 543 (Advanced Applications Design/Construction) course began working to design covered bike shelters for the campus that would promote sustainable commuting practices in the rainy and snowy months. Students gave their design proposal to the University Facilities and Planning board and then drew up construction documents which were submitted to the city for a building permit. Students gained first hand knowledge and experience working to create a building project that will allow sustainable commuting to continue year round into the future.

Design Thinking for Our Community (HONR-494) is an upper division seminar course that explores the process of design thinking using a multidisciplinary approach to solve real world problems in our community and on campus. Examples of past projects include redesigning Move-In day on campus to reduce waste and increase efficiency and studying the potential for composting in MSU's dining halls. Both of these projects have resulted in tangible changes in campus operations - including the development of a full scale composting operation at all dining halls on campus.

During the 2020 school year, MSU's Civil and Environmental Engineering Design courses (ECIV/EENV-489) researched and developed designs for the new MSU pool facility. Students focused on creating a sustainable design, with groups working with the Office of Sustainability to achieve LEED standards for their pool designs. Designs included utilizing green roofs for the facility to better manage stormwater runoff.

Physical and Chemical Treatment Processes (EENV 341), a course in MSU’s Environmental Engineering program, utilizes Mandeville Creek which runs through campus, as a learning space for water quality and sampling. Using this waterbody as a living laboratory allows MSU to monitor its impacts on water runoff which in turn influences management practices.

In the spring of 2021, eight students took part in an interdisciplinary climate action planning (CAP) analysis independent study class. Students first conducted a broad literature review of climate action plans from institutions across North America to better understand the components of a CAP. These students then looked at 22 universities with climate action plans as possible case studies. After creating a matrix that defined each university by emissions, utility type, enrollment, tuition and other factors, the students narrowed compatible case study universities down to four based on similarity to MSU. Once a literature review of each institution's CAP was completed, interviews with individuals involved in the drafting and implementation of the plans at these universities were carried out. Students then created a Climate Action Plan Research Report to detail their findings and present information on how MSU can create a successful CAP of its own. This report has been presented to the Campus Sustainability Advisory Council and MSU Planning Council as the conclusion of the independent study. The final report will be published this fall semester.

During the 2020 school year, students in the ARCH 543 (Advanced Applications Design/Construction) course began working to design covered bike shelters for the campus that would promote sustainable commuting practices in the rainy and snowy months. Students gave their design proposal to the University Facilities and Planning board and then drew up construction documents which were submitted to the city for a building permit. Students gained first hand knowledge and experience working to create a building project that will allow sustainable commuting to continue year round into the future.

The Diversity and Inclusion Student Commons (DISC) at MSU employs two grad students who work through a partnership with the Office of Health Advancement and the Bounty of the Bridgers food pantry to provide food to food insecure students through a drop by basket. The students work to track food usage and inform decisions for improving the food program. Additionally, these students work in the All Inclusive Mentoring (AIM) program to offer mentoring opportunities to a wide variety of underrepresented identities. AIM provides the students with an opportunity to gain experience working with other students in creating a more inclusive and supportive MSU community.

The MSU Alumni Foundation's Board of Governors formed the MSU Investment Strategy Working Group in the 2021 Fall semester. The group made up of students, staff, and faculty works to study the current state of the MSU endowment as well as provide insight into where the money could be responsibly invested to better align with MSU's social and environmental commitments to sustainability. The two student members are able to gain real world experience in researching sustainable investment methods and implementing them in decisions being made regarding the MSU endowment.

The Diversity and Inclusion Student Commons (DISC) at MSU employs two grad students who work through a partnership with the Office of Health Advancement and the Bounty of the Bridgers food pantry to provide food to food insecure students through a drop by basket. The students work to track food usage and inform decisions for improving the food program. Additionally, these students work in the All Inclusive Mentoring (AIM) program to offer mentoring opportunities to a wide variety of underrepresented identities. AIM provides the students with an opportunity to gain experience working with other students in creating a more inclusive and supportive MSU community.