Research Projects
Campus Climate Lab projects seek to harness Boston University’s campuses as testbeds for innovative climate solutions. Efforts can range from science and engineering to health and communications.
Apply→ Fall 2022 Campus Climate Lab Projects Announced
Project Spotlight
Influence of Landscape Management Practices on Urban Greenhouse Gas Budgets
Winner of the 2021 Campus Sustainability Research Award in Undergraduate Research from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education!
Research: Professors Lucy Hutyra (Earth & Environment, CAS) and Pamela Templer (Biology, CAS) brought a team of students together to investigate how much biological fluxes contribute to the campus CO2 budget. The team measured biological carbon uptake and loss processes from the ecosystems across BU’s campus. The team then digitized the university land cover to scale the results and merged estimates of BU’s fossil fuel emissions.
Findings: The team was surprised to learn that the lands that comprise BU’s campus were a net source of CO2 emissions.
Implementation: The research team met with BU Facilities Management & Operations to share these findings. As a result, in collaboration with the Hutyra Research Lab, BU will pilot changes to its landscape management practices to reduce emissions.
Next steps: The next phase of the project will evaluate how much difference these landscaping changes make to our emissions and community responses. In addition to putting their research to practical application, the team also submitted a scientific paper reporting their findings for peer review.
Citation: Hundertmark*, W.J., Lee*, M., Smith, I.A., Bang*, A.H.Y., Chen*, V., Gately, C.K., Templer, P.H., Hutyra, L.R. Influence of Landscape Management Practices on Urban Greenhouse Gas Budgets. Carbon Balance and Management, 16: 1 (2021).
* denotes undergraduate students
Ongoing Campus Climate Lab Projects
Establishing sustainable laboratory practices and standard operating procedures that offset waste production in biomedical research
Carly Golden (PhD student, MED)
Dr. Angie Serrano (Vascular Biology, MED)
Saylor Williams (Serrano Lab Manager)
Greg Miller (CReM Lab Manager)
Timing: Awarded Fall 2022.
This project aims to evaluate the effectiveness of different waste management schemes and sustainability assessments targeting the unavoidable waste produced in biomedical research practices. Team members Carly Golden (Ph.D. student), Saylor Williams (Lab manager), Angie Serrano (PI mentor), and Greg Miller (CReM Lab Manager) will implement several recycling services and sustainable practices, such as Kimberly Clark Right Cycle program, My Green Lab, Polycarbin, and energy usage monitoring of large equipment, which will allow them to track their overall impact on the environment. A second goal of this project is to establish standard operating procedures for sustainable practices that can be easily incorporated into everyday research tasks and adopted by the wider BUSM community when addressing their waste production in research labs.
Student Presentations:
January 27, 2023. Slide deck.
Evaluating the Efficacy of Extreme Weather and Climate Preparedness Across Boston University Campuses
Quinn Adams (PhD student, BUSPH)
Neil Singh Bedi (medical student, BU School of Medicine)
Katharine Teigen (MPH student, BUSPH)
Dr. Amruta Nori-Sarma (Environmental health, BUSPH)
Dr. Gregory Wellenius (Environmental health, BUSPH)
Timing: Awarded Fall 2022.
Extreme weather events are expected to become more frequent and severe with continued climate change. This project aims to critically review Boston University’s existing extreme weather preparedness plan (EWPP) and evaluate community needs by assessing perceptions, utilization, and critiques of ongoing extreme weather preparedness activities across BU’s Charles River and Medical Campuses. Through a qualitative investigation, we hope to identify opportunities for increased accessibility to the services provided by the EWPP, particularly among vulnerable groups within the BU community. Our team consists of PhD student, Quinn Adams; medical student, Neil Singh Bedi; MPH student, Katharine Teigen; and professors Amruta Nori-Sarma and Gregory Wellenius, all affiliated with the Department of Environmental Health at the School of Public Health.
Student Presentations:
January 27, 2023. Slide deck.
Fostering diversity in sustainability at BU: An assessment of undergraduates’ perceived barriers to and experiences with sustainability educational opportunities
Research team: Alice Scollins (CAS)
Mya Briones (CAS)
Dr. Anne Short Gianotti (Earth & Environment, CAS)
Dr. Abigail Sulivan (Earth & Environment, CAS)
Lisa Tornatore (BU Sustainability, Sustainability Director)
Previous team members: Gabriela Boscio Santos (BU Sustainability, Fall 2021)
Timing: Awarded Fall 2021. Renewed Spring 2022, Fall 2022.
This project investigates how undergraduate students at BU perceive, decide to engage with (or not), and experience sustainability-oriented educational opportunities at BU. The final steps of our project will include focus groups with both student groups and sustainability faculty, which is enhancing our survey research that was previously compiled during the Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 semesters. The research activities will be conducted by Alice Scollins, a Political Science undergraduate student, and Mya Briones, an Environmental Analysis and Policy undergraduate student. Mentorship and collaboration will be provided by Earth and Environment professors Anne Short Gianotti and Abigail Sullivan, and BU Sustainability Director Lisa Tornatore. Ultimately, the goal of the project is to contribute to BU’s efforts to ensure “every undergraduate [is] touched in some way” by sustainability and climate education (as outlined in section VII of BU’s Climate Action Plan).
Student Presentations:
May 16, 2022. Video (@ 6:41). Slide deck.
January 27, 2023. Slide deck.
Boston Medical Center: Climate Change Impacts & Mitigation Strategies
Jiaoxue Liu (MS Candidate, Applied Business Analytics, MET)
Yujue Tan (MS Candidate, Applied Business Analytics, MET)
Dr. John Maleyeff (Supply Chain Management, Enterprise Risk Management, MET)
David Weidman (Enterprise Risk Management, MET)
Timing: Awarded Fall 2022.
This project addresses how climate change will impact the ability of the Boston Medical Center to effectively serve its patients and aims to recommend mitigation strategies that create resiliency to confront these impacts. Climate-related risks that will affect both patient demand and the medical center’s supply chain will be identified and their likelihood and severities quantified. The project will be supervised by BU Metropolitan College faculty members John Maleyeff and David Weidman, who offer their expertise in supply chain and emergency management. The work will be performed by two master’s degree students (Yujue Tan and Jiaoxue Liu), who are studying enterprise risk management and applied business analytics.
Student Presentations:
Coming soon.
Design of a Building Integrated PV system (BIPV) with Energy Storage for Providing Sustainable Energy as a transition to Decarbonize the BU Campus
Michael Crowley (graduate student, ECE)
Woud Alsadoun (undergraduate student, ECE)
Sana Almarzooqi (graduate student, SE)
Georges El Alam (graduate student, MSE)
Yu Guo (graduate student, ECE)
Christian So (undergraduate student, ECE)
Matthew Shulman (graduate student, MSE)
Dr. Malay Mazumder (ECE, MSE)
Dr. Daniel Cole (ME)
Timing: Awarded Fall 2022.
The goal of this project is to design a building-integrated solar power system with bifacial PV modules with diffuse reflectors and energy storage that can provide up to 30% more power output compared to that of traditional PV installations. The project will estimate the renewable energy production capability of the new system output that can replace a substantial fraction of the fuel-based energy used in the BU campus. Following the design, team members will construct a pilot plant in the lab for evaluating the performance of the new system. This project aims to work with the vice president for Sustainability at BU and the director of the planned maintenance and engineering of the campus buildings for selecting rooftops for outdoor evaluation of the new solar power systems with battery storage for safe and sustainable operation and perform a financial analysis. This research will be performed by a team of graduate and undergraduate students, and Michael Crowley, Dr. Malay Mazumder and Dr. Daniel Cole will serve as project mentors.
Student Presentations:
Study demand/grid implications of all electric building for heating system and potential solution of thermal/electric storage
James Roberts (Mechanical Engineering, ENG ’25)
Dr. Michael Gevelber (Mechanical Engineering, ENG)
Timing: Awarded Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024.
The newly completed Center for computing and Data Sciences presents an excellent opportunity to study the real electricity demands of a 100% decarbonized heating systems throughout the heating and cooling seasons. Such all-electric systems presents new challenges in terms of peak electrical demand and its impacts both in terms of operational costs (peak demand charges) as well as grid stability (as a greater number of buildings
are fully electrified). This project will evaluate the new electrical peak demand, as well as the possible impact of using different energy storage methods to reduce this demand (both through batteries and thermal storage).
Student Presentations:
Coming soon.
Nudging Sustainability Conscious Behavior: Data Driven Incentive Framework for Zero Waste
Alfonso Meraz (MS Candidate, Electrical and Computer Engineering ’23)
In Young Park (MS Candidate, Biomedical Engineering ’24)
Ziba Cranmer (BU Spark!, Director)
Timing: Awarded Spring 2023.
Indirect emissions through improper waste disposal continue to be a problem for many organizations including BU. As waste disposal is primarily driven by the behavior of individuals, a true zero waste status will be attainable only by engaging students and faculty on campus. Leveraging real-time live waste intelligence data, Meraz (ECE, ’23) and Park (BME, ’24) apply data science and machine learning to analyze waste contamination and disposal patterns and propose optimal strategies to nudge sustainability-conscious behaviors on campus. The work is supervised by Ziba Cranmer (Director, BU Spark!) who offers expertise in innovation and sustainability.
Student Presentations:
Coming soon.
Promoting environmental conservation attitudes within and beyond the BU community through understanding of biological evolution
Lizette Pizza Becerra (Doctoral candidate, Psychological and Brain Sciences)
Sophie Zimbler (Communications and Psychological and Brain Sciences)
Dr. Deborah Kelemen (Psychological and Brain Sciences)
Timing: Awarded Spring 2023.
Amidst the environmental crisis, promoting climate concern through education should be a priority. This intervention project explores whether learning about the mechanics of biological evolution (e.g. common descent) alters people’s beliefs about their relationship with nature (e.g., the belief that humans are superior to other living things) and promotes climate mitigation actions among the BU community and more broadly. Our team will examine the impact of an innovative narrative-based curricular approach on our focal outcomes using pre- and post-test surveys. The goal of our project is to provide BU and other institutions with an intervention that can be integrated into their curricula to promote sustainability.
Student Presentations:
Coming soon.
Feasibility study for the future of a more walkable and climate friendly Cummington Mall
Zakaria Elkawa (Pardee School of Global Studies, CAS ’23)
Zain Ahmed (ENG, ’25)
Rejwan Himel (ENG, ’25)
Dr. Nathan Phillips (Earth and Environment, CAS)
Timing: Awarded Spring 2023.
People-oriented city design is the only way cities can achieve sustainability goals in ways that make the city a more just and community-oriented environment. Our project aims to develop a feasibility study that assesses how Boston University can re-design and further integrate Cummington Mall with its surrounding streets and buildings. The project will be the first phase of the feasibility study, utilizing tactical urbanism as a framework to explore simple and effective measures that can make the area more dynamic, sustainable, and inviting to all members and commuters of the Boston University community. The first phase will also create a rendering to visualize how the area would look if such measures were implemented. The aim of the project is to allow for space to further improve our design in the future, all in the service of helping Boston University become a more people-oriented campus. Our team includes two Mechanical Engineering students (Zain Ahmed and Rejwan Himel) and is led by a CAS International Relations and Anthropology student (Zakaria Elkawa).
Mentorship and collaboration will be provided by Earth and Environment professor Nathan Phillips, Assistant Director of Transportation Demand Management and Planning Carl Larson, and Campus Planning and Operations.
Student Presentations:
Coming soon.
Aquaponics, art, and indigenous food sovereignty
Matthew Manberg (Earth and Environment, CAS)
Natalie Erb (Earth and Environment, CAS)
Claire Gardner (School of Theatre, CFA)
Dr. Salvatore Genovesse (Natural Sciences and Mathematics, CGS)
Dr. Nathan Phillips (Earth and Environment, CAS)
Timing: Awarded Spring 2023.
This project will display multi-media paintings on recycled materials of Wampanoag peoples and their traditional food sources mounted on two tanks. The tanks will come from a study aiming to extract data from the potential of algae growth. In the Art Exhibit, this team will work with the Wampanoag nation utilizing an interview with interdisciplinary artist and activist Siobhan Growing Elm Brown to investigate methods of combating environmental racism through the affirmation of indigenous sovereignty and food sovereignty.
Student Presentations:
Coming soon.
Living Faithfully in the Anthropocene
Rachel Barton (MA Candidate, School of Theology)
Dr. Rebecca Copeland (School of Theology)
Timing: Awarded Spring 2023.
This project will gather faith leaders and groups across campus to develop faith-based responses to Climate Change. By bringing leaders from across different faith traditions into dialogue across differences and conversations centered around environmental justice, this project seeks to galvanize faithful commitments to care for the Earth into inter-faith actions that support a more just and whole campus and community at BU.
Student Presentations:
Coming soon.
Vehicle Energy Harvester
Jainil Surelia (Mechanical Engineering, ENG ’23)
Hoshing Lau (Mechanical Engineering, ENG ’23)
Easus Jimenez Y West (Mechanical Engineering, ENG ’23)
Ryan Indarto (Mechanical Engineering, ENG ’23)
Dr. Anthony Linn (Mechanical Engineering, ENG)
Timing: Awarded Spring 2023.
The Vehicle Energy Harvester project harvests electricity from vehicles passing on a road. The prototype will be installed on the surface of the road. The project would rely entirely on Mechanical and Electrical principles to achieve the desired results. From the Mechanical Department, 4 students and a faculty mentor are involved in the designing and execution of the project.
Student Presentations:
Coming soon.
Bicycle Mounted Air Pollution Monitors
Benjamin Pedi (Mechanical Engineering, ENG)
Lorenzo Barale (Mechanical Engineering, ENG
Dr. Emily Ryan (Mechanical Engineering, ENG)
Timing: Awarded Summer 2023.
This project aims to design a sensor pack that could be mounted on a bicycle to measure local pollution levels around the city. Air pollution is a general public health issue and also strongly tied to equity and justice issues in Boston and other major cities. Developing a sensor pack that is able to collect data around the city can help in determining public policy connected to transportation, green space, public housing, and more. In this project a sensor pack will be prototyped, and the data analyzed to understand the accuracy of the data and how the data varies during different times of the day.
Student Presentations:
Coming soon.
BU Wind Data Analysis and Curriculm Development
Chaitanya Giridhar (MS Candidate, Mechanical Engineering, ENG)
Dr. Emily Ryan (Mechanical Engineering, ENG)
Timing: Awarded Summer 2023.
BU receives data from 97 turbines from a wind farm leased by BU in South Dakota. This data includes temperature, direction, wind speed, rotor speed, power, and operating state for each turbine every 15 minutes throughout the year. This leads to a large amount of data that is going underutilized by BU’s community. In this work codes for automatic data analysis will be developed and used to develop curriculum to teach the BU community about the wind farm and BU’s efforts to address climate change.
Student Presentations:
Coming soon.
Previous Campus Climate Lab Projects
Warren Rooftop Mini-Garden
Sidney Hare (CAS ’22)
Stella Dzialas (CAS ’24)
Dr. Curtis Woodcock (Earth & Environment, CAS)
Lisa Tornatore (BU Sustainability, Sustainability Director)
Dennis Carlberg (BU Sustainability, Associate Vice President for University Sustainability)
Timing: Awarded Summer 2021. Renewed Fall 2021, Spring 2022.
The Warren Garden is going into its second growing season, led by Stella Dzialas (CAS ’24) and Dr. Curtis Woodcock (Earth & Environment). After a successful pilot season in Summer 2021, the project is now expanding production and getting more BU students involved. The goals of this project are to promote sustainable agriculture, create a productive green space on campus, and provide fresh produce to students & the community. This work will engage the Boston University community and help increase the amount of green space on campus.
Student Presentations:
September 9, 2021. Video (@ 54:26).
October 28, 2021. Feature in BU Today.
January 28, 2022. Video (@ 55:22). Slide deck.
Rain Gardens on Cummington Mall to Support Resilient Infrastructure on Boston University’s Campus
Amir Wilson (CAS)
Ysabel Wulfing (CAS)
Tessa Keeney (CAS)
Rachel Koh (CAS)
Lisa Tornatore (BU Sustainability, Sustainability Director)
Dr. Nathan Phillips (Earth & Environment, CAS)
Timing: Awarded Spring 2022.
This project will study the feasibility of implementing rain gardens on BU’s campus. Rain gardens provide a beautiful and cost-effective way to mitigate future flooding risks and sewage overflows. The team consists of students studying business strategy, sustainable energy, earth & environmental science, environmental policy, and journalism. The faculty have background in plant physiology, natural gas infrastructure, and directing BU Sustainability projects.
Student Presentations:
May 16, 2022. Video (@ 32:21). Slide deck.
Natural Dyes & Pigments Garden @ BU
Emily Manning-Mingle (MFA, Painting)
Sohyoung Park (MFA, Sculpture)
Minju (River) Kim (MFA, Painting)
Leah Naxton (MFA, Sculpture)
Sasha Nemi Lato (MFA, Costume Production)
Evan Petrow (MFA, Costume Production)
Jonathan Pinchera (BFA, Graphic Design)
Jayna Mikolaitis (BFA, Graphic Design & Painting)
Lily Fine (BFA, Printmaking)
Breehan James (Assistant Professor of Painting)
Richard Raiselis (Associate Professor of Art & Painting)
Denise Wallace-Spriggs (Lecturer of Costume Crafts)
Dana Clancy (Director, School of Visual Arts; Associate Professor of Art, Painting)
Timing: Awarded Summer 2022.
Student Presentations:
Coming soon.
Zero Waste on the Charles River Campus: Development of a Recyclopedia App to Increase Student Accuracy and Confidence in Waste Sorting (Phase One)
Research team:
Allison Chodes (Psychology, CAS ’23)
Muhammad Essa Tabish Chawla (Economics, CAS ’22)
Keeley Bombard (Environmental Analysis and Policy, CAS ’22)
Dr. Rebecca Kinraide (CAS)
Timing: Awarded Summer 2021.
This project came out of the BU HUB Cross-College Challenge Zero Waste course (XC 433), which tasked students with creating a campus initiative to help Boston University reach its goal of zero waste by 2030. Team members Allison Chodes, Muhammad Essa Tabish Chawla, and Keeley Bombard, advised by Professor Rebecca Kinraide, will work closely together to continue the necessary research to develop an app to help students sort waste effectively and confidently. This project plans to shape the Recylopedia resource, available on the Sustainability@BU website, into an application to help improve waste management on Boston University’s Charles River Campus. This research team will use its Campus Climate Lab funding to continue the work previously started through the Zero Waste course to create a successful Recyclopedia application that helps Boston University meet its zero waste goals.
Student Presentations:
January 28, 2022. Video (@ 45:11). Slide deck.
Urban Heat Island Effect: A Study of Various City Surfaces and Their Impacts
Research team:
Abhi Lingareddy (BUA, ‘22)
Dr. Dan Li (Earth & Environment, CAS)
Victoria Perrone (Chemistry, BUA)
Timing: Awarded Spring 2021.
The goal of our project is to measure the impact of various surfaces found in an urban setting on local temperatures using sensors placed in several locations of interest on the BU campus. The main focus will be on the existing solutions to the urban heat island effect: white roofs, green roofs, and landscaping. Our research will quantify how effective solutions are at reducing temperatures in comparison to more typical surfaces found throughout the campus, and this will aid in the decision to invest time and money into converting existing surfaces into more sustainable ones. This research will be done by BUA student Abhi Lingareddy, BUA’s Chemistry Instructor and Director of Student Life Victoria Perrone, and Assistant Professor in the Earth & Environment Department Dan Li.
Student Presentations:
April 20, 2021. Video (@ 10:08). Slide deck.
Mapping Noise Pollution at Boston University and Other Boston Locations Before, During, and After the Pandemic with a Goal to Reduce Noise Pollution
Research team:
Alyssa Helmling (CAS ’22)
Dr. Richard Primack (Biology, CAS)
Timing: Awarded Summer 2021.
This research project will investigate how noise pollution—which is a concern for both human health and wildlife health—has changed as the global COVID-19 pandemic drastically altered sources of noise, such as road traffic, airplanes, and grounds maintenance. This study focuses on four locations: the Boston University campus, the Longwood medical area, Harvard Square, and the area of East Boston near the airport.
With the SPLnFFT mobile sound meter app, the Primack Lab has been collecting sound measurements before and during the pandemic, and these areas will be re-measured after pandemic restrictions end. These data will be used to make detailed sound maps, identify key sources of noise pollution, and make recommendations on how to reduce noise pollution and greenhouse gas emissions on the BU campus. Dr. Richard Primack is a conservation biologist and a Professor in the Biology Department; Alyssa Helmling is a senior Biology major and research assistant in the Primack Lab.
Student Presentations:
September 9, 2021. Video (@ 30:12).
Quantifying Scope 3 Emissions Associated with Employee Travel at Boston University
Olivia Henning (Environmental Analysis and Policy, CAS ‘22)
Lucia Vilallonga (Statistics and Computer Science, CAS ‘22)
Dr. Jacqueline Ashmore (Institute for Sustainable Energy, Executive Director; Earth & Environment; Mechanical Engineering)
Timing: Awarded Fall 2020. Renewed Spring 2021.
As a team of Questrom MSMS students tackles the business-related aspects of offset purchasing programs in partnership with A Better City and BU Sustainability, our research team will assist in providing a scientific background and data science skills to the project to help align with the goals of BU’s Climate Action Plan. Our fall 2020 Campus Climate Lab research found that employee air travel emissions are very significant, and survey results suggest that employees expect to continue traveling as much as before the pandemic once recovery is achieved. These findings suggest that both offsets and reduction programs will play important roles in BU reaching its net-zero emissions goal. Once the MSMS project concludes, we will reevaluate this prior work and propose further behavior change programs to reduce flights in the future to work in tandem with the MSMS offsets program. Both students on this team are interns at BU Sustainability.
Student Presentations:
January 29, 2021. Video (@ 9:39). Slide deck. Final Report.
April 20, 2021. Video (@ 12:20). Slide deck. Final Report.
Article in WBUR.
Impacts of closure periods on BU CO2 Emissions and local CO2 concentrations
Lexia Cicone (Chemistry/Earth & Environment, CAS ‘22)
Dr. Lucy Hutyra (Earth & Environment, CAS)
Timing: Awarded Summer 2020. Renewed Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Summer 2021.
This research team is assessing the influence of changes in campus occupancy on local CO2 concentrations, emissions, and Boston University (BU) energy use. In previous phases of research, a substantial increase in per capita electricity and gas use at BU was found during the COVID-19 shutdown period. Continued research will investigate how changes in building usage resulting from the lockdown will affect energy use, as well as make a comparison between BU-specific changes, and Massachusetts-wide changes in energy use. Ultimately, the goal of this research is to identify opportunities for BU energy use reductions associated with changing occupancy and behaviors.
Student Presentations:
September 9, 2020. Slide deck.
January 29, 2021. Video (@ 18:20). Slide deck.
April 20, 2021. Video (@ 32:36). Slide deck.
September 9, 2021. Video (@ 45:44). Slide deck.
Analysis of willingness to adopt personal care and cleaning products refill habits by undergraduate students living in BU dorms
Guillermo Gallego (Questrom, MBA ‘22)
Dr. Remi Trudel (Marketing, Questrom)
Timing: Awarded Spring 2021.
This project aims to assess undergraduate student willingness to adopt refill habits by using vending machines as a way to stop single-use plastic waste generation stemming from personal care and cleaning products. This research will be sponsored by Professor Remi Trudel, whose research agenda is driven by a desire to understand consumer decision-making in three substantive areas – sustainability, health and diet, and personal finance – so as to provide consumers, marketers, and policymakers with the means to make better, more sustainable decisions for themselves, society, and the environment.
Research will be conducted by Social Impact MBA student Guillermo Gallego, who has significant experience introducing environmentally friendly electronic technologies in new markets with the 500-Fortune company ABB. Dr. Trudel has published in the top academic journals including the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, and the Journal of Consumer Psychology, and his research has been covered by NPR, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Scientific American, The Atlantic, The Globe and Mail, Science 2.0, Harvard Business Review, and many other regional news outlets.
Student Presentations:
April 20, 2021. Video (@ 7:46).
The power of art to communicate sustainability, build community and achieve system change
Valerio Iannucci (PhD Student, Questrom Management & Organizations)
Talya Havivi (Sociology, CAS ’23)
Nikki H. Huang (Sociology, CAS ’23)
Timing: Awarded Fall 2022.
Performance art (in its various forms) is among the oldest and most meaningful expressions of human empowerment, but has long been underlooked as means to foster awareness and involvement. Social movement activists have instead relied on embodied art to achieve inclusion and scale. This project is lead by Questrom PhD student Valerio Iannucci (mentor) and CAS Sociology students Talya Havivi and Nikki H. Huang. They aim to triangulate artifacts and manuscripts from archives across the nation with an ethnographic observation of climate change activists in Boston in an effort to understand how public display of art can foster collective engagement on the issue of sustainability and equitable futures.
Student Presentations:
January 27, 2023. Slide deck.
Post-Consumer Waste Reduction Machine Learning Program
Muntasir Meah (CAS)
Ziba Cranmer (BU SPARK!, Director)
Alexandra Raczka (BU Dining Services, Sustainability Director)
Timing: Awarded Spring 2022. Renewed Fall 2022.
This project pilots a machine-learning image classification model available on TensorFlow to classify images of post-consumer plate waste into categories of commonly wasted meals and determine the most common sources of post-consumer waste at Boston University’s dining halls. The improved identification process will allow university dining managers to better understand the most wasted menu items and modify menus to reduce post-consumer food waste. Undergraduate student Muntasir Meah serves as a Sustainability Intern for Boston University Dining with Alexandra Raczka, the Sustainability Director of BU Dining Services and is advised by Ziba Cranmer, the Director of BU SPARK! who has several years experience in sustainable business and innovation. This project will be implemented to discover the most commonly wasted meals to modify menus, recipes, and/or portion sizes and thereby reduce Scope 3 carbon emissions generated in the supply chain of food production thus assisting Boston University in achieving Zero Waste targets as part of their Climate Action Plan.
Student Presentations:
May 16, 2022. Video (@ 13:15). Slide deck.
January 27, 2023. Slide deck.
Evaluation of Alternative Sensors to Minimize HVAC Energy Use in BU Buildings and Ensure Indoor Air Quality
Jakub Zolkos (ENG)
Vladimir Pyltsov (ENG)
Mertcan Cokbas (ENG)
Dr. Janusz Konrad (Electrical and Computer Engineering, ENG)
Dr. Michael Gevelber (Mechanical Engineering, ENG)
Timing: Awarded Spring 2022.
HVAC systems account for 40-60% of BU’s energy use in its large buildings, and this is primarily driven by the amount of airflow called for by building automation systems. While passive infra-red (PIR) sensors are being used in many newer classrooms and offices, they are only on-off and do not provide information to modulate airflow at intermediate levels. The proposed research aims to evaluate two alternative sensing approaches to “right-sizing” airflow based on the level of occupancy. One approach uses overhead fisheye cameras and AI algorithms, while the other system uses CO2 sensors and a mathematical model to infer occupancy from CO2 levels. The goal is to compare accuracy of both approaches in determining occupancy in large classrooms and open offices, and to provide an estimate of the potential savings offered by such technologies in several buildings with different room types. Our research team consists of undergraduate student Jakub Zolkos, PhD candidate Mertcan Cokbas and Professor Janusz Konrad, all from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, who will work on the camera-based approach, as well as undergraduate student Vladimir Pyltsov and Professor Michael Gevelber, both from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, who will focus on the CO2- based approach and the estimation of potential energy savings.
Student Presentations:
May 16, 2022. Video (@ 25:24). Slide deck. :
January 27, 2023. Slide deck.
Developing Heating Electrification Strategies to Decarbonize Boston University's Charles River Campus
Previous team members: Dr. Nathan Phillips (Earth & Environment. Summer 2021),
Keeley Bombard (Earth & Environment, CAS ’22. Summer 2020 – Fall 2020),
Gayatri Sundar Rajan (Mechanical Engineering, ENG ’22. Summer 2020 – Spring 2021)
Sabrina Dilig (Mechanical Engineering, ENG ’23)
Cathy Cheng (Mechanical Engineering, ENG ’23)
Amanda Baumann (Mechanical Engineering, ENG’24) Christopher Lambert (Mechanical Engineering, ENG ’24) Anjena Daswani (MS)
Dr. Michael Gevelber (Mechanical Engineering, ENG)
Timing: Awarded Summer 2020. Renewed Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Summer 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022.
In 2017, the Boston University Climate Action Plan established the goal for the university to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040. To reach this goal, it is critical to develop a solution to heating from fossil fuels — which represented 40% of BU’s emissions prior to December 2020. In the first phase of research (Summer 2020), the team of Gayatri Sundar Rajan, Professor Michael Gevelber, Keeley Bombard, and Professor Nathan Phillips developed a preliminary strategy to electrify the majority of Boston University’s fossil-based heating energy use, identified system design requirements, and evaluated alternative technologies including GeoMicroDistrict (GMD).
In the second phase, Gayatri Sundar Rajan, Sabrina Dilig, Cathy Cheng, and Professor Gevelber reviewed phase 1 findings with industry experts and BU facilities staff, developed an in-depth HVAC and electrical demand analysis for several key building candidates, developed solutions to limit electrical load increase, and determined the cost and corresponding carbon reduction of alternative strategies.
In the third phase of the project, we investigated key technical issues to implementing the retrofit electrification strategy on 17 key buildings through assessing the compatibility of the electrification strategy with buildings on our campus steam loops, validating the performance of low-temperature air source heat pumps, and evaluating buildings’ electrical capacities.
In Phase 4, we will continue the detailed building-by-building analysis, with an emphasis on the steam loops, how summer reheat loads can be met, estimating potential energy-saving measures to reduce peak electrical loads and GHG emissions, and updating financial plans. Our current research team consists of student researchers Cathy Cheng (ENG ’23), Sabrina Dilig (ENG ’23), and faculty advisor Professor Michael Gevelber (ENG), and builds on the work of student researcher Gayatri Sundar Rajan (ENG ’22).
Student Presentations:
September 9, 2020. Slide deck.
January 29, 2021. Video (@ 27:17). Slide deck.
April 20, 2021. Video (@ 42:06). Slide deck.
September 9, 2021. Video (@ 36:00). Slide deck.
January 28, 2022. Video (@ 1:01:42). Slide deck.
May 16, 2022. Video (@ 19:38). Slide deck.
January 27, 2023. Slide deck.