University of Illinois Chicago
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

UIC's Office of Sustainability has students working on data collection and research relating to greenhouse gas emissions from UIC campus sources. The research and work of this intern has helped the Office, and the campus, make informed decisions related to Air and Climate. A graduate student worked on supporting and conducting GHG emission analysis for the proposed strategies for the UIC Climate Action Implementation Plan.

We have campus green maps and sustainability maps that point out the green features of the buildings. These maps were developed by students. We also conduct tours of our green buildings. Engineering Design Teams have frequently used UIC buildings as sites for their plans.

Student interns in the Office of Sustainability also research UIC's energy consumption, and relate this information to Climate Action Plan goals and measurements. A current project by graduate students in Urban Planning and Policy is focused on Creating a centralized energy monitoring and management system at UIC. Smart Grid Interns engage campus community on energy use through a an asset based community development approach. An Engineering Design Team did a study of building level energy use and weather trends.

A former sustainability intern is doing research into the barriers and opportunities to procuring local food for dining services as her Honor's College Research project. There are also interns who have worked on food recovery from the student centers and hospital kitchens. This involves piloting projects, collecting data, and developing plans to expand collection programs.

Student interns have worked on developing the Campus Pollinator Plan for Bee Campus USA and Tree Care Plans. A student intern has been dedicated to planting and caring for a newly planted Prairie Garden. She has also worked on content for signage. UIC's Heritage Garden, which is located on UIC's East campus, offers a variety of internships to students, allowing them to work directly with the Garden and interact with campus grounds and community. The Heritage Garden and its satellite gardens are educational spaces on campus that relate diversity to quality of life issues that benefit both people and nature. The garden and satellites use an integrated approach that links environmental and social concerns to promote social change. It's Summer and Fall internships helped to establish a sustainable educational model with activities that can help mobilize other students on campus around environmental and cultural sustainability issues. Students are able to expand their knowledge of cultural and diversity issues through intellectual framework discussion, participating in field days, hands on horticulture learning and practice, and developing a public program displaying the garden.

In FY2017, a student intern worked on developing strategies to highlight green purchasing opportunities for departments.

Three Master of Public Administration students are conducting the commuter survey for the purpose of STARS reporting and GHG reporting. Every year the Office of Sustainability has 1-2 student interns conduct a bike inventory and work on various other biking related data collection and policy work. A graduate assistant conducted an analysis of the transportation and commuting-related programs to derive the Strategies and Solutions for the UIC Climate Action Implementation Plan.

The Office of Sustainability offers recycling internships to undergraduate students, with the purpose of analyzing the University's recycling and waste management data. Students are able to track the amount of waste the University is producing, and what totals are being sent to the landfill or recycled. In 2015-2016, students conducted a building level recycling rate analysis that resulted in a presentation at the Air and Waste Management Conference in New Orleans in 2016 and the paper being published in the proceedings

Numerous water audits have been conducted by students on campus. One resulted in a paper being published in Sustainability: Journal of Record (Khan et al). Most recently, an Engineering Design Team moved that project forward: Water reduction measures have been under review and consideration by the University through the efforts of the Office of Sustainability staff and interns. Specifically, the installation of dual flush toilets and low flow faucets has been on the table for quite a while. An area of concern raised by key decision makers sanctioning this project is whether the calculated water and financial savings are accurate. Calculations range from $30,000 to $80,000 if measures were implemented across campus. This uncertainty has delayed implementation of reduction measures. This project seeks to absorb this risk by providing capital to install low-flow faucets and toilets in multiple buildings, conduct an engineering analysis on the actual water savings, and determine the prospect of scaling the project to the original scope proposed by the Office of Sustainability. In order to provide metrics on the water impact of these reduction measures, meter readings are being taken and analyzed for the six months before the project and the six months after installation of these water saving up grades.

Several of the projects listed above contributed to the development of the UIC Climate Action Implementation Plan: two graduate students worked on data analysis for GHG, energy, and transportation solutions; two Engineering Design Teams did studies that contributed to the energy and water analysis needed to create this data-driven plan. In addition, a graduate student also took the lead on developing "Urban Transformations v2.0: A green infrastructure plan for UIC" based on an award-winning EPA Rainworks project from 2014 that a team of students developed.

UIC's Heritage Garden allows for student involvement with issues of diversity and affordability. The Heritage Garden is an on-campus garden that provide educational spaces that relate diversity to quality of life issues. The Heritage Garden's internship program allows students to learn about environmental issues, horticulture and social issues, all the while understanding how environmentally friendly plants and herbs have cultural significance.

A Civil Engineering graduate student has been monitoring green infrastructure on campus as part of his dissertation research. They have been engaged in the design of future green infrastructure projects.

The Office of Sustainability's internship program has worked with various community partners and on campus partners on projects related to Public Engagement. 1. Garden for a Changing Climate - This public art project by artist Jenny Kendler aims to create awareness regarding the effect of climate change on a local scale by focusing on the shifting of the eco-zones and other effects of climate change on various neighborhoods in Chicago. Working on this project relating to art, science, and community engagement, the Garden intern will assist in bridging the three together as the gallery prepares for the launch of the project on UIC’s campus in April 2018. 2.. One Earth Film Festival is the Midwest’s premier environmental film festival. In its 6th year the 2017 festival drew 5,600 attendees to 52 screenings of films in locations throughout the City of Chicago, and suburban Cook, Lake, DuPage, and Kane counties. Working on this awareness-building and community engagement project, the Film Fest intern played an important role in the preparation, organization, implementation, evaluation and follow-up to the 2018 One Earth Film Festival.

UIC's Wellness Center has used student interns to assist in their programming efforts. Additionally peer educators at the Wellness Center have prepared an informative and easy to read guide to nutrition and fitness. In Spring 2017, two Sustainability Interns worked with the Wellness Center to collect data related to food insecurity - mapping locations of microwaves and water-bottle filling stations. The Sustainability Fee funded research in 2016 on food insecurity on campus that was conducted by a professor and public health graduate students.

A Civil Engineering graduate student has been monitoring green infrastructure on campus as part of his dissertation research. They have been engaged in the design of future green infrastructure projects.

Data was gathered by the Office of Sustainability. Most projects listed were either done as part of Student Sustainability Fee projects or Sustainability Internship Projects. Other information was from knowledge of activities around campus.