News

This spring, campus will become a testing ground for processing compost, treating wastewater with a living wetland and investigating a new bicycle track—just three of 13 projects selected for funding through the Solutions Generator student award program.

The projects were selected from a competitive group of nearly 40 proposals.

Here are the selected projects:

• A feasibility study for a universal transit pass to encourage students to take mass transportation.
• An educational animation of the water cycle in Portland.
• A dialog series to make sustainability more inclusive across campus, called Sustainability for All.
• A feasibility study for the 12^th Avenue cycle track, a proposed northbound bike route to mirror the southbound route to PSU’s campus.
• Creating a new community garden at Erol Heights Park in SE Portland, a site for future capstone courses.
• A gray water collection system, art installation and educational workshops at the art department gathering space Fieldwork.
• A trial campus composting system using black soldier fly larvae.
• A demonstration living wetland on campus to treat wash water from landscaping equipment.
• Developing hands-on gardening curriculum with a freshman inquiry class, culminating in a community meal.
• Educational displays and workshops in PSU dining areas to raise awareness about farm workers and sustainable food sourcing.
• Transforming a vacant lot into a PSU community fruit orchard.
• Installing a bioswale on a local farm that supplies produce to PSU.
• An exhibition space for sustainable and reused building materials in Shattuck Hall.

Now in its third year, the Solutions Generator offers student leadership awards of up to $1,000 per student to carry out proposals that make campus and community more sustainable. The program is offered by the Institute for Sustainable Solutions at PSU.

View a full list of 2012 projects.