Inaugural Campus as a Living Lab sustainability grants awarded to 10 projects

The Office of Climate & Sustainability and the Sustainability Leadership Council have announced the recipients of the inaugural Campus as a Living Lab sustainability grants, which will provide awardees with up to $50,000 in funding for sustainability research and teaching projects that use JHU's campuses to test scalable innovations. This year's recipients represent five of the university's nine academic divisions and include researchers, instructors, and students.

The awardees were recognized at a celebratory event on Oct. 11 alongside the launch of JHU's new Climate Action and Sustainability Plan. After presenting the winning proposals, Sustainability Leadership Council co-chair and Bloomberg School of Public Health professor Peter Winch emphasized the importance of the grants.

"This program will serve as a cornerstone for identifying and improving our university's potential with respect to sustainability," he told the Hub. "The program will work synergistically toward our the Climate Action and Sustainability Plan goals. Hopefully it will be generating ideas and innovations that can be integrated and scaled."

Following the implementation of the projects, grant awardees will share their results with university leaders to demonstrate opportunities for JHU's campuses to be used as learning tools and contribute to solutions in the university's Climate Action and Sustainability Plan.

The Campus as a Living Lab program was developed by a multidisciplinary working group made up of faculty, staff, and students from the Sustainability Leadership Council alongside staff from the Office of Climate and Sustainability. Information about the program and future grant opportunities is available on the JHU Sustainability website.

Image caption: Grant awardee Ciaran Harman with undergraduate student Joey Stanley

Image credit: Will Kirk / Johns Hopkins University

Researcher grants

Olin Pond: Water Quality, Hydrodynamics, and Stormwater Management Performance

Awardee: Ciaran Harman, Associate Professor, Environmental Health and Engineering and Earth Planetary Science, Whiting School of Engineering

Engineering researchers will install sensors in the wetland beside Olin Hall to collect data and monitor its effectiveness in reducing stormwater runoff and trapping contaminants. The project will result in student research to inform potential improvements.

Quantifying methane emissions in JHU's sewer system with exoelectrogenic methanotrophs

Awardees: Ruggero Rossi, Assistant Professor, Environmental Health and Engineering, Whiting School of Engineering; Sarah Preheim, Associate Professor, Environmental Health and Engineering, Whiting School of Engineering

Researchers will develop and install biosensors in JHU's sewer lines to quantify methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, to accurately estimate the impact on the university's greenhouse gas emissions.

Course instructor grants

Preparing Future Educators to Teach Environmental Justice and Sustainable Development

Awardee: Hunter Gehlbach, Professor, School of Education

The course will train environmental educators on the educational characteristics of teaching about climate change, sustainability, planetary health, and environmental justice, as well as strategies to help students prioritize environmental issues.

An Automated Way to Measure and Identify Student Food Waste to Inform Responsible Consumption Initiatives

Awardee: Alissa Burkholder Murphy, Senior Lecturer, Whiting School of Engineering

As part of a Multidisciplinary Engineering Design course, a team of students will design an automated system to weigh and identify food waste in JHU dining halls. The project will inform Hopkins Dining as to the relationship between recipe selections, menus, and efficacy of food waste reduction initiatives.

Image caption: Debi Denney, assistant director of sustainability, with two grant awardees, Alissa Burkholder Murphy and Nusaybah Abu-Mulaweh

Image credit: Will Kirk / Johns Hopkins University

Collect and Store Rainwater to Reduce Water Consumption for Irrigation on Campus

Awardee: Nusaybah Abu-Mulaweh, Senior Lecturer, Whiting School of Engineering

In this Multidisciplinary Engineering Design course, students will design a modular rainwater collection, storage, and distribution solution for garden irrigation on JHU's Homewood campus and a Baltimore K-8 school, teaching students about design approaches to stormwater management.

Course on Forested Ecosystems and Sustainability

Awardee: Jerry Burgess, Associate Teaching Professor, Earth and Planetary Sciences, Krieger School of Arts and Sciences

Students in this course will explore the resilience and ecological benefits of urban forests on campus through hands-on fieldwork and develop recommendations to enhance campus greenspaces and protect local water resources.

Engaging Students in Climate Action on Campus Through Arts-based Communication

Awardee: Saraniya Tharmarajah, Instructor, Health, Behavior and Society, Bloomberg School of Public Health

In this course, students will identify climate action behaviors on the JHU campus and apply behavior change theory to create climate communication campaigns to be showcased on campus through lectures, seminars, screenings, and workshops.

Student grants

JHU Travel Dashboard: Tracking and Encouraging Sustainable Travel

Awardee: Rose Weeks, DrPhD Student, Bloomberg School of Public Health

A public health student researcher will create a dashboard visualizing emissions from university business travel to raise awareness, inform strategies, and suggest strategies to mitigate associated greenhouse gas emissions.

Zero-Carbon Electricity Plan to Support AI Research Campus

Awardee: Ziting Huang, PhD Student, Whiting School of Engineering

An engineering student researcher will develop a feasibility plan to forecast the increasing power demands of the new Data Sciences and Artificial Intelligence Institute by exploring approaches including on-site renewable energy, energy storage, and power purchase agreements from local clean energy sites.

Airway Equipment Recycling Program in Operating Rooms

Awardee: Melanie Alfonzo Horowitz, MD Student, School of Medicine

A medical student researcher will develop a pilot laryngoscope recycling initiative, educate and survey operating room staff, and measure the amount of reduced hospital waste and cost savings.