Campus as a Living Lab Program Vision
Embodying sustainability begins on our campuses, in the spaces and environments where we live, learn, and work. Collaborations allow researchers, instructors, students, and staff to test sustainability solutions, while using JHU’s physical campuses for learning and discovery.
Developed by an interdisciplinary working group of the Sustainability Leadership Council alongside the Office of Climate & Sustainability, the program harnesses JHU’s identity as the nation’s leading research institution while utilizing our campuses to inform solutions at the local and global scale. The program manifests this vision in diverse ways, cultivating invaluable connections through applied course projects, collaborative research endeavors, and award funding opportunities.
The Campus as a Living Lab program aims to advance sustainability practices, research, and teaching that support the priorities outlined in the university’s Climate Action and Sustainability Plan. Championing JHU’s mission for global impact and discovery, the Campus as Living Lab program fosters collaborations and propels the university forward in advancing sustainability priorities across the following themes. 
Whether through innovations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, address climate resilience, establish new zero waste approaches, or influence consumer purchasing and transportation practices—there are countless ways research and teaching can support JHU’s goal to advance healthy, just, and sustainable environments in our communities and around the world.
Check out the Campus as a Living Lab projects below:
Researchers
Faculty, scientist, and post-doctoral researchers awarded up to $50k to seed sustainability research projects on JHU campuses.
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. Click here for more information.
Awardees: Ciaran Harman, Associate Professor, Environmental Health & Engineering & Earth Planetary Science, Whiting School of Engineering
Staff Partner: Randy Widomski, Grounds Manager
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.
Awardees: Ruggero Rossi, Assistant Professor, Environmental Health & Engineering, Whiting School of Engineering; Sarah Preheim, Associate Professor, Environmental Health & Engineering, Whiting School of Engineering
Staff Partner: Thomas J Rosson, Associate Director, Engineering & Utilities, Facility Operations
Instructors
Faculty, adjunct, and doctoral instructors awarded up to $12k to incorporate applied sustainability projects into courses.
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.
Awardee: Hunter Gehlbach, Professor, School of Education
Staff Partner: Julian Goresko, Director of Sustainability
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.
Awardee: Alissa Burkholder Murphy, Senior Lecturer, Whiting School of Engineering
Staff Partner: Graham Browning, Dining Sustainability Manager
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, in order to teach students about design approaches to stormwater management.
Awardee: Nusaybah Abu-Mulaweh, Senior Lecturer, Whiting School of Engineering
Staff Partner: Randy Widomski, Grounds Manager
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.
Awardee: Jerry Burgess, Associate Teaching Professor, Earth & Planetary Sciences, Krieger School of Arts & Sciences
Staff Partner: Randy Widomski, Grounds Manager
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.
Awardee: Saraniya Tharmarajah, Instructor, Health, Behavior & Society, Bloomberg School of Public Health
Staff Partner: Claire Runquist, Senior Sustainability Specialist for Engagement & Community-Building
Students
Undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students awarded up to $10k to lead campus sustainability research projects.
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.
Awardee: Rose Weeks, DrPhD Student, Bloomberg School of Public Health
Faculty mentor: Dr. Daniel Ali, Public Health, Bloomberg School of Public Health
Administrative partners: Amy Page, Director Travel & Expense Programs, Procurement; Beth Blauer, Associate Vice Provost for Public Sector; Christopher McCullough, Senior Administrator, BPSH
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.
Awardee: Ziting Huang, PhD Student, Whiting School of Engineering
Faculty mentors: Benjamin Hobbs & Mahdi Mehrtash, Whiting School of Engineering
Staff partner: Bena Zeng, Energy Engineer, Facilities & Real Estate
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.
Awardee: Melanie Alfonzo Horowitz, MD Student, School of Medicine
Faculty mentor: Nick Dalesio, School of Medicine
Staff partner: Moriah Barr, JHHS Sustainability Project Manager
