By Ada Popham, Holland Springer, and Emerson Andrews
During the 2025–2026 academic year, the Sustainable Campus Initiative Fund (SCIF) awarded $281,000 in green grant funding to 29 projects proposed by students, staff, and faculty. This is the largest amount of funding awarded in one year and reflects strong interest from our campus community to advance sustainability solutions and reduce the University’s carbon footprint.
From advancing sustainable food systems and improving campus landscapes to reducing waste and expanding environmental education, these grant awards support projects that showcase how students, faculty, and staff work together to create meaningful change.
Below are brief descriptions of small, medium and large grant awards in the 2025-2026 academic year:
Small Grant Awards
Blueprints for Pangaea: $1,000.00
Project Executive(s): Lane Whitaker | Project Advisor: Laura Bellaire
“Blueprints for Pangaea” is a student-led nonprofit addressing medical supply waste and lack of access to basic medical resources in underserved communities. This project collected surplus medical supplies from University Hospitals and Clinics – that would otherwise be discarded – and redistributed those supplies to clinics in need. This project provided students with real-world experience in global health, supply chain management, and community service.
Ecoute la Mer: $1,000.00
Project Executive(s): Julia St. Andre | Project Advisor: Emily Mkrtichian
“Écoute la Mer” is a student-directed documentary that followed marine ecotoxicologist Dr. Anaïs Remilli as she studied the effects of ‘forever chemicals’ on orcas in British Columbia, Canada. This project made a distant environmental issue tangible for Utah audiences through a campus screening and live Q&A with Remilli and the filmmakers.
Educational Support for LEED: $1,000.00
Project Executive(s): Timothy Adekunle | Project Advisor: Timothy Adekunle
This project paid for LEED certification training and the cost of the exams for 10 College of Architecture students, helping to give students the tools to become future global sustainability leaders.
Helper Dark Skies: $1,000.00
Project Executive(s): Kate Magargal | Project Advisor: Kate Magargal
This project is a part of an ongoing collaboration between the City of Helper and the University of Utah’s Nightscapes course (CMP/ASTR 3851) to help maintain the city’s Dark Sky designation. Students traveled to Helper for a weekend to conduct community outreach and support Helper’s work in preserving their dark skies as part of long-term planning efforts.
Our Planet Our Health Convention Watch Party: $1,000.00
Project Executive(s): Alexis Lee | Project Advisor: Alexis Lee
This project facilitated a campus ‘watch party’ for the virtual sessions of the 2026 “Our Planet, Our Health” convention hosted by the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health in Washington DC. The watch party event increased access and helped establish a community around the issue without the need to travel to the convention, supporting a ‘Green Team Social Hour’ to network and discuss what attendees learned during the convention.
Medium Grant Awards
LEED for ARCH Students: $2,600.00
Project Executive(s): Timothy Adekunle | Project Advisor: Timothy Adekunle
The elective course ARCH 4872 (Green Building Certification) prepares students interested in sustainable design or architecture. Over the course of a semester, students explored sustainability rating systems and certifications that buildings and communities must meet to achieve sustainable building status. The collaboration between this project and the elective course highlights the interface between applied learning and curricular study, a result of multiple SCIF grants, and an overwhelming success rate of certification.
Natural History Museum of Utah Fungarium Sustainability: $2,905.97
Project Executive: Kendra Autumn | Project Advisor: Joshua Steffen
This project will enhance the long-term scientific value of fungal specimens at the Natural History Museum of Utah. Undergraduate students will conduct molecular analyses to reconstruct the evolutionary history of the mushroom-parasitizing fungus Hypomyces, designing a public-facing mini exhibit highlighting the importance of fungal collections and biodiversity research.
U of U Re-Usable To-Go Containers: $3,000.00
Project Executive(s): Kaylee Alger | Project Advisor: Ethan Foley
This project is a first phase of a campus wide initiative to replace single use plastic usage with a reusable to-go project at all food locations on campus. The project will collect and analyze data to develop a comprehensive cost estimate and logistical outline for a Reusable To-Go program.
Meltwater: $3,500.00
Project Executive(s): Cait Quirk | Project Advisor: Jessica DiCarlo
“Meltwater”, an ephemeral art installation, explores how people relate to melting landscapes. This project urges students and community members to not only think about the health of their water sources but also feel a connection to them.
Lassonde Community Library: $3,700.00
Project Executive(s): Logan Bogesvang | Project Advisor: Allyson Mower
The Lassonde Community Library promotes reuse, education, and social connection by encouraging students to circulate resources rather than purchase new ones. The library connects academic and creative reading communities and demonstrates how sustainability extends beyond infrastructure to human engagement. Funding provides initial book donations, labor, ongoing storage, and faculty oversight.
Reimagining the Origins of (Un)Sustainable Development in the West: $5,081.00
Project Executive(s): Evan Mahler | Project Advisor: Danielle Endres
This immersive theater performance reimagines John Wesley Powell’s 1869 Colorado River expedition to explore how histories of sustainability, settler colonialism, and Western development have reshaped the present. The project promotes collaboration with Environmental Humanities, Theatre, and Design programs on campus while engaging with the community.
Clay Reclaim Program: $5,123.75
Project Executive(s): Susan Flores | Project Advisor: Ernest Gentry
The Clay Reclaim Program collects clay scraps from students and mixes them with raw materials to create reclaimed clay. The project provides informal education to students regarding how to reclaim clay and how to implement sustainable behaviors in the art studio.
Planetary Health Curriculum Audit in the College of Pharmacy: $5,170.00
Project Executive: Alexis Lee | Project Advisor: Joey Mattingly
This project strengthens sustainability education by integrating planetary health concepts into the College of Pharmacy curriculum. Funding supports a two-hour planetary health module and the college’s first Planetary Health Report Card Pharmacy curriculum audit to identify strengths, gaps, and opportunities for improvement.
Edible Campus Garden Soil Conditions & Environmental Monitoring Network: $6,097.00
Project Executive: Brock Ellis | Project Advisor: Shad Roundy
This project improves the sustainability and productivity of the Edible Campus Garden by developing a low-power environmental monitoring network that collects real-time soil moisture, temperature, pH, and air temperature data. Students will design, build, install, and maintain the system to optimize irrigation, improve crop health, and support year-round food production while creating a long-term dataset for student research.
Eco-Acoustic Field Recorder: $6,160.00
Project Executive: Samuel Bellows
This project will develop and validate a modular, low-cost eco-acoustic field recorder capable of monitoring campus soundscapes. Undergraduate students at the University of Utah Asia Campus will design, prototype, test, and validate the system, gaining experience in sustainability-focused engineering. The resulting open-source data will support future planning, improve understanding of campus soundscapes, reduce noise pollution, and enhance environmental quality.
Building Hemispheric Connections Among Saline Lake Communities: $6,296.50
Project Executive: Christine Rumsey | Project Advisor: Brenda Bowen
This project brings conservation leaders from Argentina and the Mono Lake Committee to the University of Utah for workshops, discussions, and a Great Salt Lake field experience for high school students. The project supports participation in the Great Salt Lake Issues Forum, strengthening partnerships to protect saline lake ecosystems across the Americas.
Evaluating Hydroponic System Efficiency: $6,500.00
Project Executive(s): Amaya Aranda | Project Advisor: Tony Butterfield
This project evaluates and compares five hydroponic systems on campus to provide data for a larger-scale, sustainable hydroponic installation. By collecting environmental, water, and plant health data, this project identifies the most suitable and efficient system for water conservation.
Micro Cooling Vest: $6,712.56
Project Executive(s): Brent Edgerton | Project Advisor: Tianli Feng
The “Micro Cooling Vest” project supports the development of a wearable long-term cooling device that can be equipped to Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for firefighters, welders, forgers, construction workers, police forces, surgeons, radiologists, and others. By cooling workers rather than entire spaces, the Micro Cooling Vest reduces energy consumption and excess CO2 emissions.
Beyond Sustainability – $9,250.00
Project Executive: Clara-Jane Blye
“Beyond Sustainability” explores how regenerative tourism can enhance and support community well-being, environmental stewardship, and visitor experience. Students work alongside community partners to facilitate workshops, coordinate volunteer events, collect data, and evaluate impacts on visitors, while strengthening community resilience and collaboration.
Indigenous Walking Tour: $9,500.00
Project Executive: Joaquin Lopez-Huertas | Project Advisor: Kate Magargal
This project expands the University of Utah’s Indigenous Walking Tour into an interactive, self-guided mobile app. Developed in partnership with the Center for Native Excellence and Tribal Engagement (NETE), the app will provide an accessible, place-based learning experience that highlights Indigenous histories, perspectives on land stewardship, food systems, ecological knowledge, cultural continuity, and community resilience.
Continuation of On Campus Indoor AQ Monitoring: $9,904.00
Project Executive(s): Fiona Hopewell | Project Advisor: Kerry Kelly
This project builds on previous work analyzing air-quality measurements from the 2024 wildfire season by updating and evaluating the University’s wildfire smoke mitigation plan for the 2026 season. The plan includes coordinating with facility teams, replacing MERV- filters in buildings prior to wildfire season, monitoring wildfire smoke events in the Salt Lake Valley, and alerting HVAC operators to reduce outdoor air flow during a wildfire smoke event.
Sustainable Curriculum Design for University Housing and Facilities: $10,000.00
Project Executive(s): Brian Parrott | Project Advisor: Brian Parrott
This project develops a sustainability-focused curriculum, for the English Language Institute’s (ELI) English workplace English as a Second Language (ESL) program. The curriculum embeds environmental literacy, energy efficiency, green cleaning, and recycling into English instruction for Limited English Proficiency (LEP) employees in two departments.
Designer Support Program: $10,000.00
Project Executive(s): Anna de Guzman, Emma Barlow | Project Advisor: Mark Crowley
The “Designer Support Program” helps remove financial barriers for student designers’ participation in Fashion in Business events. Funding provides support for sustainable design, expands access, promotes creativity, and inclusive community engagement.
Large Grant Awards
Comfortable and Safe Active Transportation: $10,062.00
Project Executive(s): Nawshin Tabassum | Project Advisor: Redi Ewing
This study explores the University of Utah students’ perceptions of active transportation modes, and reviews strategies employed by other universities. Insights support university policymakers and practitioners in implementing projects and policies that promote the use of safe, comfortable, and sustainable transportation networks on campus.
Pajcha Penas Water Distribution: $12,700.00
Project Executive(s): Daxton Robbins | Project Advisor: Swomitra Mohanty
In collaboration with Engineers Without Borders, this project provides sustainable clean water solution for Pajcha Peñas, Bolivia. Students design solutions to provide clean water, meeting Bolivian, World Health Organization, and EPA standards while supporting long-term community self-sufficient by using locally sourced materials, implementing reinforced infrastructure, and providing required maintenance training.
Reusable To-Go Containers: $29,580.00
Project Executive(s): Alexis Lee | Project Advisor: Alexis Lee
This project pilots a deposit-based reusable container system at the University of Utah’s Helix Café. The pilot offers a scalable, cost-effective solution to reduce single-use waste in healthcare dining services and models institutional leadership in sustainability.
Edible Campus Gardens Re-Imagined: $32,372.00
Project Executive(s): Brinley Stover | Project Advisor: Gabrielle James
The Gardens Reimagined project improves the Edible Campus Gardens through standardizing garden rows and pathways, improving the irrigation system, reintroducing fruit trees, and establishing productive hedgerows. This project increases yields, classroom and lab efficiency, and supports garden-based education, urban food production, environmental stewardship, community resilience, and belonging on campus.
Mitigating 3D Printing Waste: $36,400.00
Project Executive(s): Eden Yau | Project Advisor: Chen Wang
This project focuses on establishing and maintaining a PLA recycling pipeline on campus and developing a filament 3D printing system that does not generate waste support materials.
Campus Wildlife Watch: $42,982.82
Project Executive(s): Kaylee Meyers, Annalise Wood, Tyler Ard | Project Advisor: Austin Green
Campus Wildlife Watch trains students and volunteers to install and monitor approximately 75 camera trapping sites on and off the University of Utah campus. The project analyzes biological corridor use and evaluates how different types of human activity on a college campus influence the wildlife behaviors in biological corridors, contributing to community science and campus conservation research.