Community Engagement
Student Projects
The student projects outlined here include Sustainable Campus Initiative Fund (SCIF) Projects, Capstone projects, Community-Engaged Learning (CEL) projects, and other projects.
Urban Trees & Equity in Public Discourse Research
Students in this group examined public statements about trees in news articles. Since these are for general audience consumption, news quotes represent influential sentiments and public promotions for urban trees. This team analyzed quotes from various news sources and looked at over 400 news articles related to trees in eight Utah cities. Using content analysis methodologies, the team developed codes to categorize what was discussed in news articles and whose voice was shared. A few of these students will continue working with Dr. Fry for their research credits and will analyze the codes to better understand whose voice is heard and prioritized in public discourse in regards to urban trees.
Project Type: Undergraduate Community-Engaged Learning
Partners: Dr. Matt Fry
Ethnobotany Archival Research
Students in this project did archival research that helps the Northwest Band of the Shoshone Nation (NWBSN) reclaim cultural knowledge that was lost through colonization. Students went through the Marriott Library archives to look for records of native and cultural plants to help the NWBSN restore the Bear River Massacre site near Preston, ID. The students were also able to engage directly with the ecological restoration of this land by joining a large tree planting event in November where over 500 trees were planted over a weekend with the support of many community groups. This project will continue on for another year or two.
Project Type: Undergraduate Community-Engaged Learning
Partners: Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation, Marriott Library, and researchers Jessie Chaplain (PhD Candidate), Dr. Danielle Endres (Environmental Humanities), Caitlin Quirk (Environmental Humanities Masters student), Jessica Brieman (Digital Archives Librarian)
Voter Education with Stewardship Utah
Students in this project worked with Stewardship Utah to register students on campus to vote and give them information about what was on the Utah Ballot. This group learned about effective tabling and outreach strategies. They helped students register to vote, change their address on their registration, and talked about the ballot initiatives for Utah's ballot.
Project Type: Undergraduate Community-Engaged Learning
Partners: Stewardship Utah
Sustainable Seed Starting with the Edible Campus Gardens
The Edible Campus Gardens (ECG) had trouble getting seeds to start well this past season, so students in this project conducted an experiment to see which soil starting mix helped plants grow the best. The ingredients in these soil mixes were analyzed through a Life Cycle Analysis to consider the sustainability and justice implications of the ingredients. At the end the group determined which soil mixes were most effective at starting seeds and made a rating system for the soil ingredients to consider how environmentally just they are. This information will be used for future seed starting at the Edible Campus Gardens.
Project Type: Undergraduate Community-Engaged Learning
Partners: Edible Campus Gardens
Botany Bins: Green Infrastructure Lesson Plan & Story Map
This project had two components: refinement of a Botany Bin 5th grade lesson plan about flood risks and how they can be mitigated by green infrastructure and an ArcGIS Story Map about the Landscape Lab, a green infrastructure research facility on the campus of the University of Utah. These products are related to an ongoing research project funded by the National Science Foundation.
Project Type: Undergraduate Capstone (Air, Water, Health)
Partners: Red Butte Garden
Freeze Creek Beaver Dam Analogs (BDA) Monitoring
Beaver dam analogs (BDAs) will be installed by Sageland Collaborative in Freeze Creek, a tributary to Emigration Creek, in Spring 2023. Sageland Collaborative wants to establish 4 photo points to monitor the evolution of changes to the creek after the BDAs have been installed. Capstone students in Fall 2022 and Spring 2023 helped to identify photo point locations and develop a citizen science-based photo monitoring program. In the future, students also may help with installation of BDAs by Sageland Collaborative and Level 3 geomorphology surveying conducted by Salt Lake County Watershed Planning and Restoration. Level 3 surveying will establish a robust baseline for comparison of future surveys conducted by the county over subsequent years.
Project Type: Undergraduate Capstone (Air, Water, Health)
Partners: SageLand Collaborative, Salt Lake County Watershed Planning & Restoration
Clean Air Spaces
In recent years, cities and states have been creating Clean Air Rooms to provide the public with a space to retreat to during periods of acute air pollution exposure. In this project, students collaborated with the Environmental Justice SPARC Lab and U of U faculty to study indoor air quality and Eccles Health Science Library patron perceptions to air quality and air purification systems in Clean Air Rooms. This project was supported by two Sustainable Campus Initiative Fund grants awarded to capstone students in Fall 2022 and Spring 2023.
Project Type: Undergraduate Capstone (Air, Water, Health)
Partners: Eccles Health Sciences Library, University of Utah
Good Grief Circles & Climate Anxiety Surveys
A team of faculty began a new research project on climate anxiety / grief amongst undergraduate students and offering 'Good Grief Circles' (informal group discussion on coping with emotions surrounding the climate crisis using an approach developed by the Good Grief Network). Capstone students helped plan, advertise, and implement 4 events between December 2022 and April 2023. Students also helped distribute surveys to event participants and analyze survey results to better understand the efficacy of Good Grief Circles.
Project Type: Undergraduate Capstone (Air, Water, Health)
Partners: Environmental and Sustainability Studies at University of Utah, Department of Geography at University of Utah
Toolkit for Development of Municipal Riparian Ordinances
The City of Cottonwood Heights is in the final stages of adopting an ordinance related to riparian zone protections. Riparian areas are considered one type of sensitive lands managed by municipalities in Utah. To date, Salt Lake City is the only municipality in the Salt Lake Valley with an adopted ordinance related to conservation of riparian areas. In part, this is due to the complexity of issues related to drafting a riparian ordinance. Capstone students collaborated with the City of Cottonwood Heights to learn which agencies and other resources need to be consulted in the process of drafting a riparian ordinance and packaged this information into a ‘toolkit’ document in hopes the toolkit can be of use to other city planners around the state.
Project Type: Undergraduate Capstone
Partners: City of Cottonwood Heights
Jordan River Environmental Protection with Unsheltered Populations
Populations of unsheltered people are increasing in the Salt Lake Valley. Many are utilizing the Jordan River Parkway for housing (i.e., tents). Some encampments are far from restroom facilities, which also are closed in the winter as they lack weatherizing. As a result, access to safe disposal of human waste is a problem and fecal matter sometimes is dumped into the Jordan River, which already is impaired by abundant E. coli populations that come from effluent inputs (but E. coli abundance in effluent has yet to be measured), avian populations, and other non-point sources of pollution. Poor water quality, in turn, is a health risk to unsheltered populations. Furthermore, unmanaged camping in the riparian corridor impairs plant communities and exacerbates erosion, leading to bank destabilization and high levels of total suspended sediments. A diversity of stakeholders in the community want to address these water quality and erosion problems in an equitable manner. Students interviewed stakeholders to understand myriad perspectives and determine the scope of possible components to address these challenges. Students also created a pamphlet describing ways to minimize impacts on the Jordan River corridor and services available to people experiencing homeless. This pamphlet is being distributed by River Rangers working with Salt Lake City
Project Type: Undergraduate Capstone (Air, Water, Health)
Partners: Salt Lake County Watershed Planning & Restoration, UT Department of Environmental Quality, Division of Water Quality, Salt Lake City Corporation, Housing Stability Division
Increased Access to Air Filtration Masks
Throughout the winter the Wasatch Front experiences some of the worst air quality in the country. Unfortunately, many citizens do not have the means to protect themselves from this harmful air. Therefore, a Sustainable Campus Initiative Fund (SCIF) grant was proposed to purchase reusable air filtration masks from Vogmask for the University of Utah Community. Vogmask graciously provided a generous discount and with the funds from SCIF these masks were sold for five dollars. Additionally, all proceeds went back to purchase more masks. The ultimate goal of the project was to spread awareness and increase accessibility to air filtration masks. Overall, this project was a success and we were able to provide 801 masks to individuals across the University campus.
Project Type: Undergraduate SCIF
Author(s): Sydney Boogaard
Adviser(s): Dr. Jennifer Watt
Social Media Campaign: Active Transport
This social media campaign seeks to educate about the physical and environmental benefits to utilizing active transport.
Project Type: Undergraduate Capstone
Author(s): Mikayla Howitz, Erika Melville, Uyen Hoang
Adviser(s): Dr. Jennifer Follstad Shah
Sustainability Pledge
This project created a Sustainability Pledge that graduating seniors and University faculty and staff have the opportunity to commit to. The pledge asks signatories to explore and take into account the social and environmental consequences of their individual and workplace decisions and to urge them to work towards improving these aspects to the best of their ability. Individuals who commit to this pledge will be provided a green cord to wear at graduation to signify the commitment they have made to environmental and social responsibility and sustainability. Additionally, during the College of Social & Behavioral Sciences’ convocation the Dean, Dr. Cynthia Berg will recognize all those who committed to this pledge. Lastly, these cords are returned to the Environmental & Sustainability Studies (ENVST) program to be used in the future graduation ceremonies.
Project Type: Undergraduate Capstone
Author(s): Sydney Boogaard, Emily Jones, Emily Martin
Adviser(s): Dr. Jennifer Follstad Shah and Dr. Jennifer Watt
University of Utah Football Game Carbon Footprint
Author(s):Abby Ghent, Sam Bagge
Adviser(s): Dr. Jennifer Follstad Shah
Water Filtration Devices
Author(s):Carrie Marsh, Amanda Pearl-Orantes, Tessa Scheffler, Molly Sheridan
Adviser(s): Dr. Jennifer Follstad Shah
2018 and earlier
Earth Tones Journal
Four ENVST Capstone students, Shaela Adams, Aubrilyn Guevara, Hannah Nelson, and Madison Skinner created a literary journal, Earth Tones Journal devoted to the human experience within Utah's diverse landscapes and environments.
Project Type: Undergraduate Capstone
Author(s): Shaela Adams, Aubrilyn Guevara, Hannah Nelson, & Madison Skinner
Adviser(s): Dr. Jennifer Follstad Shah
Lighting Retrofit for Special Collections section of the Marriott Library
Sierra Govett, Dillon Seglem and Yinhuan Huang secured a Sustainable Campus Initiative Fund (SCIF) revolving loan to retrofit the lighting in the Special Collections section of the Marriott Library. The loan was for $40,000, which paid for the installation of the new lighting system over the summer. The loan fund is specifically used for energy and money saving ideas proposed by students, faculty and staff for energy conservation, renewable energy production and water conservation projects. A Rocky Mountain Power wattsmart incentive grant helped off-set some of the project’s cost. The library will repay the loan over 13 years, using money from utility cost savings. But the impact — both monetary and in preservation of its collections — will be ongoing. Ultimately, this project will save the university $56,000 in energy costs and 600 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions over twenty-two years, while extending the lifespan of priceless archives.
Project Type: Undergraduate Sustainable Campus Initiative Fund (SCIF)
Author(s):Sierra Govett, Yinhuan Huang, Dillon Seglem
Adviser(s): Dr. Jennifer Follstad Shah
Citizen Lobbying Video
Matt Woodman, Alex Veilleux, Connor Estes, Nick Litizzette, Alyssa Jains, and Ian McMillan created a video to introduce individuals to citizen lobbying. This video is a great source for all those that want to get involved but are not sure where to begin. This was a community engaged learning project accomplished with the assistance of HEAL Utah.
Project Type: Undergraduate Community-Engaged Learning
Author(s):Matt Woodman, Alex Veilleux, Connor Estes, Nick Litizzette, Alyssa Jains, Ian McMillan
Adviser(s): Dr. Adrienne Cachelin
Daily Utah Chronicle
Jonathan Park interned with the Daily Utah Chronicle to develop and promote Environmental Issues.
Project Type: Undergraduate Internship
Author(s): Jonathan Park
Living Plant Wall
The Living Wall grew out of the Fall 2014 Environmental and Sustainability Studies Capstone Course at the University of Utah. A group of students sharing the common interest of green infrastructure and air quality improvement got together to build a vertical garden on campus. After receiving a grant through the Sustainable Campus Initiative Fund, they were able to make it happen. The Living Wall will serve as a symbol of sustainability for years to come, and we hope this project will inspire students to continue making progress toward a more sustainable future.
Project Type: Undergraduate Capstone
Author(s): Jonathan Park
Adviser(s): Dr. Jennifer Follstad Shah
For more examples of student research projects, visit the 'Projects' section of the SPARC Environmental Justice Lab website.