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Projects Updates for key objective: No name

  1. iCAP Portal Admin Meeting - February 13, 2026

    Associated Project(s): 

    Agenda

    • Update: Quinn cleaned up permissions for a number of old users! 🥳
    • Metric graphs - testing out PowerBI
    • Long text field formatting - should we slim down the allowed formatting options?

    Discussion

    • Metric graphs - Michael demonstrated a sample Power BI visualization pulling data from CSV files in our Teams channel.
    • Long text field formatting
      • Decided to slim down formatting options for consistency and simplicity
      • Clarification on decision not to share emails
        • Don't post private emails/correspondence - can post summary of decisions
        • Ok to post public emails
        • Not just posting link because links break over time
        • Future discussion: what should/shouldn't be posted in iCAP Portal; make decision tree & guidelines for Project info & Project Updates

    TODOs

    • Michael will continue investigating Power BI for charts
    • Discussion for next meeting: clarify what types of things should/shouldn't be posted in iCAP Portal; make decision tree & guidelines for Project info & Project Updates
  2. Land and Water Team February Monthly Meeting Minutes and Notes

    This month, the Land and Water iCAP Team met on Teams on February 4th, 2026, at 9:00 AM for the team's monthly meeting. In the meeting, the team discussed future goals and potential projects for students to work on throughout the semester. Some of these goals/topics include sustainable landscape improvements, green infrastructure/indigenous plantings, monitoring and cleaning the C9 parking lot for permeability, monitoring the growth of milkweed plantings across campus, measuring water use for irrigation, and furthering the goal of future use of gray water. Additionally, upcoming team-related events were discussed. Attached to this update are the agenda and notes for the meeting. 

  3. Transportation Team Meeting 2/3/26

    The Transportation Team met on Teams, 2:00 - 3:00pm on Tuesday, February 3rd.

    We heard from Xingrui Pei about the usage of Level 2 EV chargers on campus in the year 2024 and the need for expanded EV infrastructure at parking lot B4. Parking is working with a company on an app, hoping to universalize information regarding campus availability and then combine it in the Illinois app, making it easier for people to understand where there are open EV chargers and other parking information.

    We also talked with Matt Brown about partnering with Housing to pilot e-bike chargers at dormitories, which is looking promising. We will be drafting an SSC application over the next month to continue taking steps toward that.

     

  4. iCAP Portal Admin Meeting - January 26, 2026

    Associated Project(s): 

    Agenda

    Discussion

    • Removing inactive users
    • Metric graphs

    TODOs

    • Fix Quinn's permissions for People page
    • Test out Power BI for visualization
  5. Research on Illinois Graywater Laws and Contacts

    A student on the Land and Water iCAP team, Lillian Gilbert, conducted research on Illinois state laws on graywater usage. Currently, in Illinois, the use of graywater is prohibited by the plumbing code, making it impossible to implement a system that saves and reuses water for non-potable uses such as toilet flushing and lawn irrigation. This research project was conducted to review Illinois and other states' laws on the use of graywater in plumbing systems to help us better understand how to implement a policy allowing graywater use in Illinois. Additionally, research was conducted on other institutions across Illinois involved in water conservation issues that could serve as potential partners in changing the Illinois plumbing code to allow the use of graywater. Attached are the products of the research project, including a contact list of other Illinois institutions involved with water conservation, a list of graywater regulations from other US states, and the final research project document detailing the project's findings. 

  6. iCAP Portal Admin Meeting - January 9, 2025

    Associated Project(s): 

    Agenda

    Discussion

    • Metric review
      • [Quinn] New metric types: pie chart and stacked bar chart
      • [Sarthak] New metric display type: line chart
      • [Quinn] New metric grouping idea: display related metrics on a map w/links to each metric
        • Pedestrian/Bike counts
        • Solar, EV charging stations
        • [Michael] this could be part of a planned expansion of metric displays - pull data from multiple other metrics into a combined display (e.g. points on map, stacked bar chart, multiple lines on line chart, summation of data with matching locations on x-axis)
      • [Quinn] Some metrics already have visualizations elsewhere (e.g. pollinator areas, energy dashboard project) - just link to them instead?
        • [Michael] Broader question: should we consider using a different system for creating the visualizations (e.g. PowerBI, Tableau) and just embed them like we do videos?
        • Worth investigating - Michael will look into price/licensing, entry methods, display methods
      • [Quinn] Delete/Archive old metrics
        • Delete: recommend doing this before migration
        • Archive: save the data, decide later how to display it (e.g. CSV file linked from We've Got Data page), then delete metric
      • [Miriam] There is a lot of data that needs to be collected and shared out in other places, e.g. AASHE STARS reports, the SIMAP greenhouse gas inventory, etc. I would recommend we avoid duplicating data points on the portal as much as possible, except maybe for key data points that are very important to highlight. We can point users to other places data is tracked on the “We’ve Got Data” page.
        • Group generally agreed on reducing duplication of data entry
      • [Miriam] All metrics need to have a clear definition that explains how they are measured and sourced. We should also have consistent and clear naming practices. 
        • Important for continuity
        • Metric naming - prioritize for Objectives
      • [Miriam] Distinguishing between metrics that are true metrics in the sense that they provide measures of success toward specific goals, versus other data we want to make available but are not performance measures (like the bike counts at specific locations).
        • Consider what to do with defunct metrics for past objectives
        • Display metrics by associated category, e.g. iCAP plans, bike plan, etc.
  7. iCAP Portal Admin Meeting - December 12, 2025

    Associated Project(s): 

    Agenda

    • Migration question: are revisions important?
    • Remaining duplicate locations to merge (see 2024-12-11 - List of doubled projects in iCAP Portal.docx)
    • (Continue discussion) Discuss metric naming convention - follow-up from Miriam & Morgan's discussion
    • (Continue discussion) New iCAP Team
    • Question from Miriam: creating accessible meeting notes - templates, resources, etc.?

    Discussion

    • Migration question: are revisions important?
      • Ok to eschew revisions in migration
    • Remaining duplicate locations to merge
    • Discuss metric naming convention
      • Review and remove old, unused metrics
      • Review titles of remaining metrics for consistency (different naming conventions for past iCAP eras)
      • Michael will export CSV of all metrics
      • Quinn will review over the break and bring suggestions for changes
    • New iCAP Team (Sustainable Buildings) being formed - discuss what that looks like on the iCAP Portal
      • Wait for official 2026 iCAP to be released to create new group in iCAP Portal
    • Creating accessible meeting notes:
      • Check out learning resources on the Digital Accessibility site:
      • Check out CITL's Accessibility Training Opportunities – you can attend workshops to learn about document accessibility and/or watch videos from past workshops
      • Check out Accessibility Resources by role (e.g. developer, designer, content creator) for checklists and guidelines
      • Try to avoid PDFs when possible, but when necessary, making your document accessible will mean your PDF will start out mostly accessible with only minor tweaks needed (or none, for simple documents)
  8. iCAP Education Team December Meeting

    The iCAP Education Team met on December 5th from 12-1pm via Teams. The group discussed reviving the Levenick Teaching Fellows Program with updated incentives, planning the Green Career Forum for February 18–19, and reviewing findings from the Sustainability Literacy Assessment. They also ran a demonstration of using the automated database for finding sustainability-related courses. The meeting minutes are attached. 

  9. Land and Water Team November Monthly Meeting Minutes and Notes

    The Land and Water Team met for its November monthly meeting on Friday, November 21, from 2:00 to 3:00 PM on Teams. This month, the team listened to a student conducting research on the usage of gray water systems in Illinois and other states and institutions. This research will help the team gain support from other organizations to potentially amend the Illinois plumbing code to permit the use of gray water in toilet flushing systems. The team was also updated on the status of the Florida Orchard Prairie maintenance, which will be taken care of by Red Bison, who is eager to work on this project. The team also discussed the pros and cons of maintaining our Bee Campus USA certification, which requires significant funds and effort to improve pollinator status, a task that is largely already accomplished by various campus groups. Attached are the meeting agenda and notes. 

  10. iCAP Portal Admin Meeting - November 14, 2025

    Associated Project(s): 

    Agenda

    Discussion

    • Christina shared the iCAP Portal mockup in Figma she's been working on
    • Accessibility:
    • Discuss 2025 Objectives dashboard (add in September, start displaying in October) - see "Adding Key Objectives" private file under Sustainability iCAP Portal project
      • Timeline moved back to spring 2025 to allow time for complete review. Hoping for Earth Day reveal.
    • [Moved to next meeting] Migration question: are revisions important?
    • [Moved to next meeting] Remaining duplicate locations to merge
    • [Moved to next meeting] Discuss metric naming convention
    • [Moved to next meeting] New iCAP Team (Sustainable Buildings) being formed - discuss what that looks like on the iCAP Portal
  11. iCAP Education Team November Meeting

    The iCAP Education Team met on November 7th from 12-1pm via Teams. The group discussed reviving the Levenick Teaching Fellows Program with updated incentives, planning the Green Career Forum for February 18–19, and reviewing findings from the Sustainability Literacy Assessment. They also noted progress on creating an automated database of sustainability-related courses. The meeting minutes are attached. 

  12. Grounds for the Garden at Illini Union Bookstore

    Associated Project(s): 

    Grounds for the Garden at Bookstore Starbucks

    The Illini Union Bookstore Starbucks offers the Grounds for the Garden program. Faculty and staff can stop by the Starbucks at the Illini Union Bookstore and pick up FREE five-pound bags of used coffee grounds which you can use to add to your gardens and/or compost pile. Bags are available on a first-come, first-served basis and are placed outside of the Starbucks counter. Stop by any time and any day. If bags aren't available, just ask a barista. Details and why coffee grounds are good for your garden.

  13. iCAP Portal Admin Meeting - October 17, 2025

    Associated Project(s): 

    Agenda

    Discussion

    • Next steps from strategic discussion
      • We'll review what Christina sent and circle back next week
    • Discuss sending message to current iCAP Portal users informing them to avoid posting emails on the iCAP Portal
      • Summarizing email communications is ok, but don't copy-and-paste and don't include email addresses
      • Define "current users" - e.g. accounts created in past few months + anyone who's made an iCAP Portal addition or edit since the beginning of the calendar year?
        • This is part of a larger user permissions review
      • Send email through website or manually?
        • Send emails manually to various groups (e.g. iCAP Clerks, iCAP Working Groups)
    • Discuss metric naming convention (see Discussion about Metrics - May 19, 2025)
      • Morgan has asked Avni to remove objective numbers from beginning of Metric names
      • Still need to come up with naming protocol - Miriam and Morgan to discuss
    • Research programs restructuring/archiving completed!
    • Michael shared some accessibility resources:
    • [Moved to next meeting] Discuss 2025 Objectives dashboard (add in September, start displaying in October) - see "Adding Key Objectives" private file under Sustainability iCAP Portal project
    • [Moved to next meeting] (Continue discussion) New iCAP Team (Sustainable Buildings) being formed - discuss what that looks like on the iCAP Portal

    TODOs

    • TBD
  14. iCAP Education Team October Meeting 2025

    The iCAP Education Team met on Friday, October 3rd from 12-1 pm via Teams. This was the first team meeting of the semester, so we began with introductions of each of the members on the team. Then we reviewed the iCAP charges for the upcoming year as well as the new iCAP pathways. The meeting minutes are attached. 

  15. iCAP Engagement Team October 2025 Meeting

    The iCAP Engagement Team met on Thursday, October 2nd, from 4pm-5pm via Microsoft Teams. First, the team reviewed and refined this year's priorities, then moved into a discussion on ways to share these initiatives with the campus community in a digestible way.

    The meeting minutes are attached.

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