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Projects Updates for place: Campus Instructional Facility

  1. Collection Containers to Increase Recycling Efforts

    Associated Project(s): 
    Indoor Bin Update
    Zero Waste iCAP Team

    As part of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s effort to improve sustainability, new recycling and landfill collection containers have been distributed to buildings on the Urbana campus. Eventually, more than 20 buildings will have the containers, which feature three top openings with easily-identifiable and color-coded labels for either “landfill,” “paper,” or “bottles & cans.”

     

    Collection Containers to Increase Recycling Efforts

     

    Pete Varney . Facilities & Services

  2. New Collection Containers to Help Increase Recycling Efforts

    Associated Project(s): 
    Indoor Bin Update

    Click here to see this online

    As part of Illinois’ effort to improve sustainability, new recycling and landfill collection containers have been distributed to buildings on the Urbana campus.

    This first set of containers can be found in Gregory Hall, Lincoln Hall, English Building, Henry Administration Building, Wohlers Hall, and the Physical Plant Service Building. By fall 2019, 113 containers will be deployed across campus, primarily in first-floor hallways to divert recycled products away from the landfill.

    The containers feature three top openings with easily identifiable and color-coded labels for either “landfill,” “paper,” or “bottles & cans.” The acquisition and distribution of the new collection containers was coordinated from the office of the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center, the F&S Waste Transfer Station, and by Pete Varney, associate director of Operations, Maintenance & Alterations, Transportation & Automotive Services.

    “We are striving to add consistency to receptacles across campus,” said Varney. “We’ll continue to increase the number of containers over time, but we want to get a big impact out there now. We want to start someplace where they will be seen, they will be noticed, and they will have an impact.”

    The containers will help continue to raise awareness about the importance of recycling on campus, according to Shawn Patterson, transportation manager.

    “What we see is, ‘Just throw it in the trash can and [F&S] will recycle it,’ and that is something that sets a bad example for us, for the students, and for everybody especially going forward. We need everyone’s help to make sure we are recycling the right things, and these containers will make it easier for students, faculty, and staff members to help us accomplish the university goal of an increased recycling rate.”

    The Waste Transfer Station diverted 26.2 percent to recycling in FY2019, with a goal set by the Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP) of 30 percent by 2020 and 35 percent by 2025.

    For more information about the program, contact Associate Director of Operations, Maintenance & Alterations, Transportation & Automotive Services, Pete Varney pvarney@illinois.edu, 217-333-7583.

  3. SSC funds Recycling Pods

    Associated Project(s): 
    Student Sustainability Committee (SSC)
    Recycling Bins at the Illini Union
    Indoor Bin Update

    The Illini Union has purchased 6 outdoor recycling units and 7 indoor units to address the growing need for recycling centers in and around the Union. This project will add an additional 10 recycling bins to the current initiative. In doing so, recycling efforts will increase around the Union, iCAP objectives will be implemented, recycling will be promoted across campus, strides towards waste reduction will be made – among just some of the positive impacts.

    Attached Files: 

  4. Final project reports for Fall 2017

    Associated Project(s): 
    CEE Project Based Learning (PBL)
    Sustainability Minor
    Independent Student Projects
    Energy Dashboard Project
    Develop Local Foods Network
    Biomass use on Campus
    Smart Grid for Campus
    Retrocommissioning (RCx)
    Rain Gardens on Campus
    Solar Power on Campus
    Green Roofs on Campus
    Methane Capture on Campus
    Reduce Foodwaste

    The CEE 398 Project Based Learning and the Sustainability Minor's ENVS 492 Capstone students completed their nine fall 2017 reports.

    There were five projects completed for capstone partners:

    1. Energy Dashboards for Accenture
    2. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for Johnson Controls
    3. Food Hub Study for The Land Connection
    4. Sensors and Green Buildings for CERL
    5. Biomass Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) for Chip Energy

    There were four other projects completed by CEE students:

    1. Rain Garden Design
    2. Solar and Green Roofs Analysis
    3. Food Waste to Energy
    4. ADA Sidewalk Repair Cost Analysis
    Attached Files: 

  8. Fall 2015 project proposals

    Associated Project(s): 
    CEE Project Based Learning (PBL)

    There are six projects, as follows:

    1. Hot n Cold: This group is interested in reducing HVAC energy demand through review of occupancy rates for certain buildings.  They are still finalizing the buildings and methods for collecting the data, but it will likely include Newmark Civil Engineering Lab (NCEL) and measure occupancy, temperature, and energy usage. 
    2. Natural Gas for Campus Fleet: This group is interested in studying the potential to run campus vehicles using compressed natural gas obtained from the UC Sanitary District.
    3. Engineering Quad pathways: This group is seeking to study the pathways of students who do not use the Bardeen Quad paved paths.  They believe that the pathways on the Bardeen Quad are not optimal, and they plan to make recommendations for changes.  They will use a video recognition program per one of the engineering faculty, which will count the people during class change times. 
    4. Turf Field Water Fountains: This group believes we need additional drinking water fountains at the turf fields on campus.  They intend to focus on the health aspects of being hydrated and the high occupancy rates of the fields. 
    5. Arboretum rainwater irrigation: This group is interested in proposing a rainwater capture system for the Hartley Gardens. 
    6. Solar Pavement: This group would like to bring Solar Roadways technology to campus.  They plan to recommend a location for installing the solar roadway cells on campus, perhaps as a sidewalk near an engineering area.  They also intend to compare the traditional pavement plans on Green Street through the MCORE project to the Solar technology option.

  9. course description - previous project entry

    Associated Project(s): 
    CEE Project Based Learning (PBL)

    Many students aren’t exposed to the broad and detailed aspects of CEE until a summer intern opportunity or it could be as late as their senior level course work. There is a great desire by faculty and among our students to bring more meaningful experiences, exploration, and context to CEE in the Freshman and Sophomore curricula. There have been recent changes to CEE195 to engage our entering student more into thinking about the different disciplines of CEE through invited speakers and selected case studies. CEE research and professional practices have traditionally been based on observation and then explanation through theoretical models. The goal of this new course would be an extension of the introductory CEE195 class with more emphasis on exploring CEE through presentations on current challenges and innovations in CEE, field trips to various area CEE infrastructure facilities giving students context about what civil engineers build, operate, and maintain, and sensing and experimental measurements of civil engineering quantities. A semester, team project will also be part of this new course which will be designed around providing students with several real problems facing the University of Illinois campus and allowing them to propose solutions. This project and experiment-based learning approach are integral to student connecting the importance of engineering fundamentals and experimental measurements and observations with solving future challenges in CEE.

    Course Vision

    The purpose of this course is to primarily give our freshman/sophomore level CEE students the opportunities to learn through hands on laboratory experimentation and field measurements, field trips to local infrastructure facilities, and lectures on current problems and innovative solutions facing civil and environmental engineering. Due to the many societal and infrastructure challenges in CEE, we want to motivate the next generation of engineers to solve these grand challenges, e.g., NAE Grand Challenges, through a project and experiment-based learning environment.

    Course Genesis

    The development of this course first began with a conversation with Dr. Jack Dempsey of F&S, who was interested in offering a campus-wide course to students of the challenges facing campus infrastructure especially as it relates to sustainability as well as F&S connecting faculty and students who could propose and possibly offer solutions to some of these challenges. After a few meetings, it was obvious that most of the topics in this course would be most applicable to civil and environmental engineers and it could find a permanent and thriving home in the CEE department, and be an excellent class for freshmen/sophomore level students.

    Course Objective

    This course will expose and instruct the students about the broad areas of CEE disciplines through lectures, experimental measurements, and field trips and link them with challenges facing the civil infrastructure on the University of Illinois campus and in the local community. This course is a follow up course to CEE195 to provide further insight into the practical application of multi-disciplinary civil engineering themes through lectures, project and experiment-based learning, and field trips. This course complements other key courses in the CEE department and will strengthen student’s idea of challenges in civil engineering to assist society and the environment, foster interdisciplinary work during the undergraduate experience. Collaboration with the University of Illinois Facilities and Services Division will further strengthen this class as a living, learning laboratory with relevant problems to solve, data to collect, measurements to make, and the need for interdisciplinary experts.

    Course Format and Implementation

    The long-term course goal is to provide a bridge class for freshman/sophomore students in CEE linking the introductory CEE195 class to the introductory courses in the various CEE specialty areas such as structures, transportation, materials, hydrology, sustainability, etc. This course will engage our undergraduate students during a sensitive time in their education in order to retain, inspire, and motivate (or even attract) them so that they can make a large impact on societal infrastructure challenges. It is anticipated that this course would become a permanent, required class for freshman/sophomores, i.e., CEE203 in the Fall 2015. This 2-hour course will be fully implemented over a 3-year period starting with limited enrollment in the Fall 2013 as a one hour class, a 2-hour restricted enrollment class in the Fall 2014 with the laboratory and field sensing/ measurements content being added, open enrollment in Fall 2015 for all CEE students, and mandatory enrollment in Fall 2016 for all CEE freshman or sophomore. A fixed number of class slots will be reserved for other engineering and campus disciplines to further broaden and promote the interdisciplinary nature of solving future CEE challenges. The following subsections provide a brief description of the course evolution.

     

  10. Final CEE 398 Fall 2014 reports

    Associated Project(s): 
    CEE Project Based Learning (PBL)
    Independent Student Projects
    • Evaluation of Implementing Low-Flow Toilets in University Buildings and Associated Economic and Environmental Benefits
    • Feasibility Study of Green Walls at the University of Illinois
    • Evaluating Greywater Usage at the BIF in Replacement for Potable Water in Toilets
    • Powering Up E-14: A Feasibility Study on Implementing Solar Panels as Parking Coverage
    • Feasibility of Introducing LEED Lab at the University of Illinois
    Attached Files: 

  12. Strategic Instructional Improvement Program (SIIP) pre-proposal

    Associated Project(s): 
    CEE Project Based Learning (PBL)

    The primary objective of this project-based learning course is to develop critical thinking and engineering problem solving skills by identifying and proposing solutions to current civil and/or environmental engineering problems facing the University of Illinois campus community. The class also includes several site visits to local engineering infrastructure facilities and multiple discussion driven case studies, which expose and deepen students understanding of current engineering facility operations and challenges. Additionally, students will understand more intimately what civil and environmental engineers do as well as the various fields of specialization and prepare them for opportunities for summer internships. Through working on a team project, reviewing other team projects, and receiving feedback from the course instructors, students will also develop necessary professional skills such as communication (written and oral) and project management. The course is primarily for sophomores and junior transfer students with a focus of engaging them into the broad spectra of challenges and contemporary issues in civil and environmental engineering, especially with regard to sustainability, design, and multi-disciplinary teamwork.

  13. message from Jack Dempsey

    Associated Project(s): 
    CEE Project Based Learning (PBL)

    _____________________________________________
    From: Dempsey, John Garrett
    Sent: Friday, February 14, 2014 11:01 AM
    To: Roesler, Jeffery Raphael; Mestre, Jose; Johnston, Morgan B; Schideman, Lance Charles; Schmidt, Arthur R; Liu, Liang Y; Somaratna, Jeevaka I
    Cc: Stratman, Allan; Andrechak, Michael J; Wise, Phyllis M; Adesida, Ilesanmi
    Subject: RE: CEE398

    I want to thank each of you for allowing me to be part of the first offering of CEE398. I have learned so much from each of you and developed an real appreciation for the work faculty do. I only wish I had made the connection between F&S and the academy earlier.

    Jeff’s presentation yesterday about the second offering this fall and the discussion surrounding it demonstrated just how far he has brought the concept in such a short time. There is no doubt that with Liang’s leadership, Jeff’s hard work, Al’s support and Morgan’s involvement this CEE initiative will continue to blossom. In fact, during a conversation with Ben McCall yesterday, it appears that what you have done is directly translatable to a course being developed by Prof. Madhu Khanna for iSEE. I have asked Morgan to introduce her to the team when appropriate.

    As my time here is short, I need to focus on some remaining projects so I will not be attending the bi-weekly course planning meeting, but leave you in Morgan’s capable hands.  Again, thanks for letting me be a part of this.

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