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FROM WHAT WE EAT and drink to the ways we share ideas for a sustainable world, the projects funded in the first round of a new $25 million grant are smart, green, and all over the map.

Portland State intends to become a regional, even national, touchstone for sustainability education, and it has the 10-year James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation matching grant—the largest gift in the University's history—to help it get started.

The call went out early this academic year for projects seeking to share in the sustainability dollars. The students' proposals caught the attention of the University's new president, Wim Wiewel, who was impressed and doubled the funding to nearly $70,000. Fourteen student projects were selected from 34 proposals. The selection process was even more rigorous for the 99 faculty submissions; only 21 were chosen and should be complete by the end of spring term.

Many of the grants have appeal beyond campus and are attracting partners and funding from outside sources. Others are setting the stage for work in later years. What follows is a look at a few of the first winning projects. Read more about them as well as second-round winners at www.pdx.edu/sustainability.

TAKE BACK THE TAP Portland's water is good and disposable water bottles are not, according to students in the Environmental Club. They are using Miller funds to educate students about the source and quality of Portland's public water and purchase at least 500 reusable water bottles. They plan to sell the bottles to purchase two water filtration centers for installation at key locations on campus.

BAMBOO BVOC That lacy grove of bamboo in your backyard or outside your office may be helping or hurting Portland's air quality. Some bamboo species emit isoprene, a biogenic volatile organic compound (BVOC) that leads to high ozone levels on hot, windless days. BVOCs are commonly overlooked when analyzing city air quality, according to one student's project. Funding will allow the student to survey emission rates and produce a list of low-emitting bamboos for use by urban planners and horticulturists.

BIKES TO BORROW With donated and refurbished bicycles, students are creating a fleet of VikeBikes, which other students may borrow for a term or maybe longer. The students's goal is to make bicycle travel accessible and affordable. VikeBikes will come equipped with the essentials: helmet, lights, U-lock, and fenders. Education on rider safety and bicycle maintenance is also part of the package.

WORMS + FOOD SCRAPS = COMPOST A knowledgeable student will teach the basics of vermicomposting to several faculty and a group of students. Each person, in turn, is expected to share the know-how with two other people. Before you know it, everyone in the state may have rich, brown compost from their own worm bin.

LET'S TALK ABOUT IT Kim Stanley Robinson, an award-winning science fiction author, spoke on campus during spring term giving his vision of a future where permaculture replaces our carbon-burning lifestyle. Robinson and scholars in anthropology, history, literature, and philosophy were brought to campus through the Humanities Sustainability Research Project, a Miller-funded grant initiated by English and philosophy faculty.

RAIN APPRECIATED The PSU Engineering Building at SW College and Fourth uses 40 percent less water than similar buildings. Some of it comes from a rainwater reclamation system that collects water on the rooftop and pipes it to a room on the second floor. There the water is stored in a 1,000-gallon tank, filtered through carbon, and zapped with UV light before it is pumped to toilets on the first floor. It's pretty interesting, if you know about it, but many people don't. Engineering faculty are making sure students understand the process by turning the water filtering room into a teaching laboratory. FOOD FOR THOUGHT If you graduated before 2002, you may not know that there is a student-run café in the basement of Smith Memorial Student Union that serves meals mostly made from local, organic, and sustainably grown food. Food For Thought Café serves up buckwheat pancakes for breakfast and vegetarian lasagna for lunch, to name just a few of its dishes. Students, who want to spread the word and the tofu, received Miller funding to make Food For Thought Café a "living laboratory" for campus research and teaching, while improving sustainable practices throughout PSU's food system.

COOL DATA FOR COOLING DOWN Large data centers with hundreds of computers can consume about the same amount of power as a small city. Decisions such as what racks and nodes to use can minimize power consumption and optimize cooling efficiency. A computer science professor plans to integrate this knowledge into system software, creating a novel approach to potentially reduce the power and cooling burdens for large labs and data centers.

DAMMED IF YOU DO Roslyn Lake is gone and some Sandy residents are angry. A few understood too late that with the removal of the Marmot and Little Sandy dams in 2007 and 2008, the lake would drain away. PSU students learned of the residents's consternation from surveys they conducted as part of a Miller-funded project. The students shared their results with community partners, including the U.S. Forest Service, which will use the findings in future dam removals. Students and faculty from business, economics, environmental sciences, geography, sociology, and urban planning looked at the environmental, social, and economic impacts of removing two dams. With use of their research, they expect similar projects will lead to more sustainable results.

GREEN BUILDING LAB A proposal to establish a Green Building Research Laboratory at PSU not only received Miller grant funds, it also attracted $300,000 from outside sources, including the Oregon Built Environment and Sustainable Technologies Center. Faculty from engineering, urban studies, and architecture are creating a lab that can test everything from green roofs and window glazings to interior moisture levels and a building's surface temperature.

LOOKING TO EACH OTHER With so many sustainability projects on campus, it would be easy to miss what a colleague down the hall or a student in the basement is doing. Two faculty members who specialize in helping PSU faculty succeed received Miller funding to hold a retreat spring term that will enable faculty to share information about the green things they're doing. The pair is also using grant dollars to develop a video showcasing PSU sustainability teaching and research for campus newcomers.