- Students
- October 23, 2013
From the sustainability@BU October 2013 Newsletter:
Facilities Management on the Medical Campus welcomed its first sustainability intern this month. Ryan McLaughlin, already part of the sustainability@BU team, will spend part of the week working on the Medical Campus advising Facilities staff on sustainability related issues.
Facilities Management already incorporates sustainable practices into their projects, but bringing a dedicated intern on board will help the department make a bigger impact on the campus’ carbon footprint. Some of the efforts that Facilities has undertaken in the past include the installation of light timers and motion sensors in offices and hallways across campus, installing low-flow fixtures in bathrooms, installing bottle filling stations, and most recently the construction of the LEED registered Medical Student Residence.
“What I am looking for in this role is to get into the trenches and to get some possible solutions,” says Executive Director of Facilities Management, John Barton.
Barton says he is excited to have a fresh set of eyes that can look at issues in ways he and his team might not.
“It’s important to have a student who is trained to deal with data to review it and put a report together to give to my team to review it,” says Barton.
McLaughlin agrees, and he already has plenty of ideas of how to implement change on the Medical Campus.
“I think that with my facility operations background there’s a lot of help I can provide the Medical Campus. With my sustainability experiences over the summer working with Dennis [Carlberg, sustainability director], I have gained additional insight into some projects and programs that we can work on.”
Dennis Carlberg noted, “Ryan’s experience with data collection and reporting for the University’s STARS (Sustainability Tracking Assessment & Reporting) process and managing the Green Office Certification program on both campuses gives him Medical Campus familiarity and the foundation to take on these responsibilities at the BUMC.”
Some of the main priorities for McLaughlin include Green Office and Green Department Certification and analyzing the recycling program to improve efficiency and usability.
“A lot of people feel like it’s the right thing to do, they just need the opportunity or more convenience,” says McLaughlin.