University of North Carolina, Greensboro
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

Students in the UNCG Eco Reps are taught public speaking and community engagement best practices so they can teach other students to learn about campus sustainability practices and initiatives.

Students on the UNCG Green Fund Committee are mentored by faculty and staff advisors on the committee and charged with promoting and advocating for students to utilize the Green Fund as a resource.

Dr. Wenliang Li, Assistant Professor in Geography, Environment, and Sustainability received a Sustainability Faculty Fellowship to focus on improving our understanding of both building energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions within the complex urban dynamic system, exploring the impact of natural environment and human activity on building energy use, and providing cost-benefit analysis and economic engineering analysis of energy efficiency policies on informing stakeholders and assisting decision-making in adopting energy efficiency measures for buildings. Students in Introduction to GIS (GES121) and advanced remote sensing (GES659) in fall were highly involved in the proposed project. Specifically, students in GES121 worked on the survey to help us understand the functions of buildings on the UNCG campus, including several topics associated with urban sustainable development, such as urban heat island effect (thermal remote sensing), mapping urban features (remote sensing spectral analysis), quantifying urban natural resources (remote sensing classification).

Dr. Wenliang Li, Assistant Professor in Geography, Environment, and Sustainability received a Sustainability Faculty Fellowship to focus on improving our understanding of both building energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions within the complex urban dynamic system, exploring the impact of natural environment and human activity on building energy use, and providing cost-benefit analysis and economic engineering analysis of energy efficiency policies on informing stakeholders and assisting decision-making in adopting energy efficiency measures for buildings. Students in Introduction to GIS (GES121) and advanced remote sensing (GES659) in fall were highly involved in the proposed project. Specifically, students in GES121 worked on the survey to help us understand the functions of buildings on the UNCG campus, including several topics associated with urban sustainable development, such as urban heat island effect (thermal remote sensing), mapping urban features (remote sensing spectral analysis), quantifying urban natural resources (remote sensing classification).

Graduate students in Economics and Computer Science received a grant from the Green Fund to employ multiple linear regression techniques to model energy consumption in buildings on the campus of UNCG. The models will use building characteristics, occupancy controls, and weather data to explain hourly meter readings of electricity, steam, and chilled water. The results will provide an understanding of the significance and magnitude of the effects that these factors have on energy consumption that is valuable for the university’s pursuit of sustainability.

Computer Science students then used this information and participated in a hackathon to build an energy dashboard for Facilities.

BIO 449 taught by Dr. Han Li, a group of undergraduates on campus collaborated with the Greensboro Science Center to analyze bat activity patterns using analysis of bat sonar calls captured on audio equipment on the Greensboro Science Center and UNCG campus. The results were published in the professional journal Animals.

Students in Spring 2019 in the BIO444 course, entomology, took their experiments to the UNCG Plant and Pollinator Center where they studied questions like how color preferences influences egg laying of Blue Racer Dragonflies or how temperature affects the territorial behavior of the Common Paper Wasp. Using the data collection and experimental designs skills from class, the students were able to get hands-on research experience in the field at the Plant and Pollinator Center and bring their results back to class through powerpoint presentations.

McNair Scholar and Senior in Biology, Kathy Ly, is an undergraduate researcher in the Raymann lab where she examined The role of honey bee presence and flower choice in supporting native pollinators in urban areas. Kathy spent her summer working with Drs. Kasie Raymann and Sally Koerner in the fields of the Plant and Pollinator Center. She had multiple experimental plots and spent hours collecting native pollinators that visited the flowers in those plots. She examined them under the microscope to identify their species and used this information to answer her hypothesis.

Undergraduate research conducted under the supervision of three Biology Department Faculty to study the impact of UNCG campus wetlands on mosquito abundance.

Drs. Han Li, Malcolm Schug, Rada Petric, supervised a group of undergraduate students who analyzed the impact of restoring wetlands on bat activity over a four year period on the UNCG campus and published the results in a professional journal, Land.

Faculty in the Biology Department at UNCG incorporated undergraduate research throughout the curriculum from freshman to senior level courses as part of a national study of how to improve underrepresented minority student's identification as scientists by taking part in the process of sciences in their coursework. Many of the CUREs (courses in undergraduate research) have activities that incorporate natural areas on campus.

The student group Spartans for Science and Policy wrote a white paper that analyzed the UNC System's investment policies and it's endowments, advocating for divestment from fossil fuels.

Community Therapy & Recreation CTR 342: Recreation Area and Facility Development makes site visit to Peabody Park and the wetlands installation there. This is one part of the section on sustainability, conservation, and environmental ethics for the class. Students conduct site analyses for all locations we visit, and then they create a mock master plan for improving a specific site. There is a small faction every semester that focuses on enhancing the restorative natural areas of campus for holistic wellbeing and escape from the hustle bustle of campus, the wetlands area being a primary focus.