University of Notre Dame
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

The Office of Sustainability's outreach staff co-instruct a seminar course in Environmental Leadership at the Center for Social Concerns. This course is primarily targeted at teaching students how to be sustainability leaders on campus, engaging their peers, coalition building, and problem solving using real-world challenges from the University itself.

The Center for Civic Innovation works with other research centers and individuals across Notre Dame to identify unique opportunities for collaboration that address pressing issues primarily in the South Bend/Elkhart region. The Center's work is of service to the community while generating new opportunities for scholarship on campus. The Center brings together academic researchers, city government officials, and other community stakeholders to identify needs and to assess and map University intellectual assets to addressing these needs. A key objective of the Center is to create a virtuous cycle wherein faculty and students analyze challenging problems facing the community and develop innovative solutions at the boundaries of existing disciplines that fosters advances in both innovation and research.

The Center offers multiple internships, research positions, and classes for students and faculty.
https://civicinnovation.nd.edu/about/

The Center for Environmental Science and Technology is a cooperative effort between Notre Dame’s Colleges of Science and Engineering, fostering interdisciplinary environmental research and education by providing cutting-edge analytical technologies needed to address complex environmental problems. A full-time technical support staff maintains the instruments and provides basic training on instrument use. CEST is unique in that Notre Dame faculty and students may use the instruments for classwork or research without instrument-time charges. Each year, dozens of undergraduate students use CEST as part of course work, independent study, and/or through formalized REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) programs.
https://cest.nd.edu/about/

In the Spring of 2021, a group of Masters in Business Administration students worked alongside the Office of Sustainability staff to complete a post-occupancy building analysis focusing on water and energy usage across a representative sample of campus building types. The group created a Power BI dashboard, updated recommendations for campus design standards. and proposed building-level campaigns for increased efficiency.

The Sustainability Cup encourages students to reduce their personal energy and waste consumption and plan educational events in individual residence halls. Students are given access to data from their specific community and aim to improve it over the course of a month.

The Computational Molecular Science and Engineering Laboratory (CoMSEL) provides world-class expertise in classical and quantum mechanical simulations. It is designed to provide a unique, high quality, cross-college computational research and collaborative space for both scientists and engineers.
https://energy.nd.edu/facilities/comsel/

ND Energy offers the use of laboratory space to Notre Dame researchers in a visible location within the Stinson-Remick Hall of Engineering campus building to promote research collaborations and to build a strong community of scholars. This space is available to researchers, including students, engaged in active, energy-related research projects at no cost to the investigators. The laboratory space is a total of 2,000 square feet and is equipped with 10-ft. benchtops, shelving, cabinet space, and hookups for air, nitrogen gas, and vacuum.

Theri Niemier, co-owner of local sustainable farm, teaches a horticulture class every spring, allowing students enrolled in the Sustainability minor a hands-on approach to small-scale sustainable agriculture. The University has a student-run garden where these plants are transplanted and cared for as part of the course.

As part of our ongoing sustainable landscaping efforts, the University has several native planting and pollinator patches. These plots are marked with educational signage and are maintained by Minor in Sustainability students.

In April 2021, the University hosted an Invasive Plant Round-Up to teach students about the species which threaten native Indiana wildlife on campus. Native plants are also being installed at the Kenmore Solar Array, where students will monitor their progress and the proliferation of pollinators on-site. The Invasive Plant Round-Up will become an annual event.

In March 2021, MBA students were given access to University purchasing data in order to develop recommendations for policies and procedures to maximize the number of University departments making environmentally-responsible purchases. These recommendations were delivered directly to the Procurement, Licensing, and Food Sourcing Small Working Group.

As of Fall 2021, the Office of Sustainability maintains an ongoing relationship with business student cohorts to conduct market analysis, campus interviews, and prepared strategic plans for expanding campus-wide EV charging infrastructure and plans for a "green fleet" implementation on campus. In 2019, this also included recommendations for regional transportation connectivity. In 2022, this group will assist with updated commuter surveys. Students present their proposal to the Office of Sustainability and Transportation.

The Office of Sustainability has established a Circular Economy intern position within our intern cohort to target both waste diversion and upstream waste elimination in pursuit of our campus waste goals. These students evaluate the cleanliness of campus recycling, trash volumes, plan Game Day and Special Event waste stations, research emerging materials, survey students, and meet with internal and external partners.
https://green.nd.edu/mission/team/interns/

A laboratory provides scientists with a predictable and controlled setting for conducting experiments. However, research in the environmental sciences also needs to be tested at a more realistic scale, in a whole lake or stream for instance. The Notre Dame Linked Experimental Ecosystem Facility, or ND-LEEF, provides scientists with a place to do these large-scale experiments without the challenges of field research, where controlling and replicating experiments can be problematic. ND-LEEF is a globally unique research facility that houses two man-made experimental watersheds, each consisting of an interconnected pond, stream, and wetland. Scientists use ND-LEEF to conduct experiments in a field-like setting but in a more controlled environment than one can find in nature. Both experimental watersheds are roughly the length and width of a football field and located five miles north of campus on six acres of land within St. Patrick’s County Park.
https://environmentalchange.nd.edu/resources/nd-leef/

The Office of Sustainability runs a competitive student intern program. Students are selected based on their ability to contribute to specific aspects of the Comprehensive Sustainability Strategy. Students assist with data collection, stakeholder management, and future-facing sustainability plans for the Office of Sustainability.
https://green.nd.edu/mission/team/interns/

The Energy and Sustainable Development with Design (ESDD) Research Laboratory, led by Dr. Abigail Mechtenberg, focuses on the following key research areas:

Socio-technical design research involving hybrid minigrid and vehicle power management within an energy, sustainable development, and averting sixth extinction nexus.
Physics education research, experimental design pedagogy, and econophysics.
Energy E3 pedagogy and propagation model: E3 = education, engineering design, & entrepreneurship
Global health risks associated with unaffordable and/or unreliable electricity.
Sustainable development involving the interconnections between health, education, and economics.
Renewable energy.
Asset-based International Development focused research with the highlight of weaved wind turbine blades from papyrus, banana fibers, and rafia. Weaved over airfoil frame and with local resin, like other wind turbine blades.
With this broad spectrum of research areas, it is important for Dr. Mechtenberg to maintain a non-traditional research group from multiple disciplines across various colleges and schools in order to advance ESDD research. This unique cluster of students includes those majoring in physics (complex systems and applied physics), physics education, medical/pre-professional, engineering (electrical, mechanical, and environmental), business (entrepreneurship), and architecture to define this unique energy and sustainable development with design research focused laboratory.

Mendoza College of Business offers many undergraduate and graduate courses regarding impact investing specifically related to sustainability. These include Land Conservation Financing, The Business of Sustainability, The Business of Energy, and Corporate Sustainability Reporting. In Fall 2021, a Center for Social Concerns course also worked alongside Office of Sustainability staff to investigate the feasibility of targeted regional climate resiliency investment.

The Office of Sustainability serves on the Healthy Campus Coalition at Notre Dame. It partners with the McDonald Center for Student Wellbeing to advance programming which benefits both student wellbeing and the campus environment. Past collaborations include nature walks, virtual programming, resource fairs, and campus service projects. Student interns in both departments collaborate to establish new ideas and grow the programs overtime in response to current campus needs. In 2021, in response to increased awareness of mental health challenges across campus and the environmental implications, Office of Sustainability student interns were tasked with planning monthly outdoor events and including wellness as an ongoing topic in the Office's student engagement programming.
https://mcwell.nd.edu/