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Projects Updates for EPA RainWorks Challenge

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  1. Proposal for Creation of a Team

    Associated Project(s): 
    EPA RainWorks Challenge

    Art Schmidt from Civil and Environmental Engineering, reached out to faculty and students urging them to create a team made up of individuals from different disciplines/departments for the Rainworks Challenge. UIUC won this design competition in 2017 and Schmidt credits this success to the fact that the winning team was made up by many disciplines across campus. Schmidt explains that he is willing to serve as a faculty advisor for this challenge. 

    Brent Lewis, Brian Chaille, CEE students and other individuals expressed great interest in creating this team. Associate Professor in Landscape Architecture, Mary Pat McGuire asked the following questions:

    How can we use the competition to advance actual implementation of GSI here on campus? Do we need to identify funding to support implementation? Should we start a campaign for alum donations for implementation of projects? Can we revisit the 2015 2nd place winning master plan to explore the viability of that plan, and to add to it? Can we revisit the 2017 1st place winning design and explore the implementation of that proposal? What does a future 2022 winning proposal want to achieve for our campus that is new or different from those previous wins - and how can we get everyone on board with implementation?

  4. Data Regarding EPA Campus Rainworks Challenge

    Associated Project(s): 
    EPA RainWorks Challenge
    Rainwater Management

    Yuhze Zhang, leader of the Master plan team in EPA Rainworks Challenge 2021, asked Brent Lewis, UIUC's campus landscape architect, for some data for the challenge. Data asked for includes campus storm peak runoff, existing green infrastructure, turf lawn irrigation.

    More information regarding the data can be found in the email chain attached below.

     

    Another participant of the EPA Rainworks Challenge, Matthew Rodriguez, also requested data.

    This email chain is attached below.

     

    The Water Reuse Handbook is also attached below (attachment from both email chains).

     

    Attached Files: 

  5. EPA's 10th Annual Campus Rainworks Challenge

    Associated Project(s): 
    EPA RainWorks Challenge

     

    “Dear Faculty Members,

    I hope you and your students are enjoying a safe start to the academic year.

    EPA is pleased to launch its 10th annual Campus RainWorks Challenge, a green infrastructure design competition for American colleges and universities that seeks to engage with the next generation of environmental professionals and showcase the environmental, economic, and social benefits of green infrastructure practices. Stormwater pollution is a problem that impacts public health and water quality in communities across the country. The Campus RainWorks Challenge invites today’s students to be part of the solution.

    To learn more about Campus RainWorks check out the official 2021 Campus RainWorks Challenge Competition Brief. The brief contains details on the challenge's design categories, submission requirements, and rules for participation.

    Calendar

    Registration: September 1 – October 1, 2021

    Deadline for Entries: December 10, 2021

    Winners Announced: Spring 2022

    Please share this announcement with college students and faculty in your networks. If you have questions about the Campus RainWorks Challenge please direct them to RainWorks@epa.gov.

    I hope that you and your students will consider participating and help celebrate 10 years of Campus RainWorks.”

    -Matt King

     

     “Good afternoon: several of you were involved in an email chain about establishing a interdisciplinary student chapter of the IAFSM, others were involved in the USEPA Campus Rainworks Challenge in previous years, others have been part of the ISEE Land & Water SWATteam.  I am writing to see if we can coordinate among our disciplines/departments and help interested students put together a team for this challenge. 

    As you know, in 2017 UIUC won this design competition with a team that represented many disciplines across campus.  I strongly believe that our success in 2017 was directly related to the many disciplines/perspectives of the team.  I have forwarded the announcement for this challenge to students in my classes and already have a few that are interested.  I am hoping that this year we can help our students from our different disciplines connect for this challenge. I am willing to serve as a faculty advisor; I think it would be great if we could have advisors representing our different areas.  Please let me know your thoughts/interest in this.

    Thanks for your consideration.”

    -Art Schmidt

     

    “Hey Professor Schmidt,

    Thank you so much for working at this!  Sorry for not responding right away.  We are interested and I just asked the group if they would like to meet with you (web meet) next week.  I figure they will, but it’s nice to ask.  What is your availability?  Did you get much feedback from other campus sectors?  Rolph Pendall seemed very interested.”

    -Brian Chaille (09/14/2021)

     

    “Hi, Brian:

    Really good to hear from you.  I would love to meet and see what can happen. I had about half dozen CEE students express interest.  Eliana Brown said that she would be happy to help.  No response yet from anyone else.  I wonder if some other groups/areas are already doing a team by themselves or more likely my email got buried in all the beginning of semester emails.  I really hope that we can get a cross-disciplinary cohort of students interested in this.  I’ve copied many of the people from the original email in case this did get lost in the shuffle.”

    -Art Schmidt (09/14/2021) 

     

    “Hi all, especially faculty/instructors:

    To back up Prof. Schmidt's comments in his original email, I strongly encourage the CEE students to work together with LA and UP students on the Campus RainWorks Challenge. For obvious reasons, it makes the project stronger, the solutions better, and helps the students gain an experience of the working world and appreciation for the skills, knowledge, and talents across campus. Other disciplines would enhance the project further.

    What's the easiest way for the CEE students to meet potential collaborators outside of their disciplines? Back in 2017 while guest lecturing for LA 452, I invited the CEEs to pitch the project for 5 min and they did the rest. Could be as simple as that. As Art mentions below, that team won first prize. 

    I added Bridgette Moen, current LA 452 instructor, to this email. And Prof. Andrea Faber-Taylor as her students in HORT 344 Biodiversity and Aesthetics may be interested too.”

    -Eliana Brown (09/15/2021)
     

  6. FY22 competition launched

    Associated Project(s): 
    EPA RainWorks Challenge

    EPA is pleased to launch its 10th annual Campus RainWorks Challenge (Links to an external site.), a green infrastructure design competition for American colleges and universities that seeks to engage with the next generation of environmental professionals and showcase the environmental, economic, and social benefits of green infrastructure practices. Stormwater pollution is a problem that impacts public health and water quality in communities across the country. The Campus RainWorks Challenge invites today’s students to become part of the solution.

    To learn more about Campus RainWorks check out the official 2021 Campus RainWorks Challenge Competition Brief (Links to an external site.). The brief contains details on the challenge's design categories, submission requirements, and rules for participation.

    Calendar

    Registration: September 1 – October 1, 2021

    Deadline for Entries: December 10, 2021

    Winners Announced: Spring 2022

     

    Please share this announcement with college students and faculty in your networks. If you have questions about the Campus RainWorks Challenge please direct them to RainWorks@epa.gov.

  8. Water005 Rainworks Design Lot F4 recommendation - Successful

    Associated Project(s): 
    iCAP Working Group (iWG)
    Water and Stormwater Recommendations Summary
    EPA RainWorks Challenge

    Director of Parking at the University of Illinois, Marty Paulins, responded over email to Ximing Cai (iSEE Associate Director for Campus Sustainability) in support of the recommendation:

    "Parking supports the recommendation to do a feasibility study for Lot F4, incorporating the green infrastructure from the conceptualization completed by the students in the award winning rainworks challenge."

    For future updates on this project, please visit EPA RainWorks Challenge.

    See the iWG Assessment of Water005 Rainworks Design Lot F4 here.

    See the SWATeam Recommendation Water005 Rainworks Design Lot F4 here.

  10. Water005 Rainworks Design Lot F4 recommendation - Assessment started

    Associated Project(s): 
    Water and Stormwater Recommendations Summary
    iCAP Working Group (iWG)
    EPA RainWorks Challenge
    Rainwater Management

    The iCAP Working Group (iWG) met on May 10, 2018, to discuss and start the discussion on SWATeam recommendation, Water005 Rainworks Design Lot F4. The iWG's draft comment on the recommendation was:

    "Do a feasibility study for lot F4, incorporating the green infrastructure from the conceptualization completed by the students in the award winning rainworks challenge. Potential funding could be requested from the Student Sustainability Committee (SSC)."

    See SWATeam recommendation Water005 Rainworks Design Lot F4 here.

  11. Water005 Rainworks Design Lot F4 recommendation - Submittal

    Associated Project(s): 
    Water and Stormwater SWATeam
    Water and Stormwater Recommendations Summary
    Rainwater Management
    EPA RainWorks Challenge

    The Water and Stormwater SWATeam submitted a recommendation, to the iWG, stating, "The appropriate campus units (Parking, Facilities and Services) should begin the process of implementing the award winning green stormwater redesign for parking Lot F4."

    See attached the SWATeam recommendation, Water005 Rainworks Design Lot F4, complete with comments from all the Water and Stormwater SWATeam members.

    Also, attached are the two supporting documents as submitted by the SWATeam.

    Attached Files: 

  15. RainWorks Challenge - call for participants

    Associated Project(s): 
    Green Infrastructure
    Independent Student Projects
    EPA RainWorks Challenge

    We are currently looking for more members for the EPA's Campus RainWorks Challenge. We will be looking into green infrastructure projects that could be implemented on campus.

    "The Campus RainWorks Challenge seeks to engage with undergraduate and graduate students to foster a dialogue about responsible stormwater management and showcase the environmental, economic, and social benefits of green infrastructure practices."

    We have a interdisciplinary team of faculty advisers. Our primary faculty adviser will be  Professor Arthur Schmidt from Environmental Hydrology and Hydraulic Engineering.

    We are also hoping to have an interdisciplinary team, so all majors are welcome, as long as you have a passion for the project. 

    Teams will be finalized on September 30th. If you're interested in joining or have any questions, please contact Jessica Wiegand at jmwiega2@illinois.edu or Cindy Chen at cchen161@illinois.edu.

  16. RainWorks Challenge announcement

    Associated Project(s): 
    EPA RainWorks Challenge

    From: King, Matt [mailto:King.Matt@epa.gov]
    Sent: Monday, September 11, 2017 3:25 PM
    Subject: Registration is open for the sixth annual Campus RainWorks Challenge

     

    Greetings,

     

    I’m an Illinois alumni at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). I want to make sure my fellow Illini are aware of an environmental design challenge that may be of interest to them. Any assistance you could provide in spreading the word within the U of I communication network would be greatly appreciated.

     

    EPA just launched its sixth annual Campus RainWorks Challenge, a design competition that is open to colleges and universities across the country. Through Campus RainWorks EPA seeks to engage with students to foster a dialogue about responsible stormwater management, and showcase the environmental, economic, and social benefits of green infrastructure practices.

     

    Registration for the 2017 Challenge is open from September 1st through the 30th. Student teams must register in order to submit their entries by December 15th. Winners will be announced in the Spring of 2018. Each first-place team will earn a student prize of $2,000 to be divided evenly among student team members and a faculty prize of $3,000 to support green infrastructure research or training. Second-place teams will win $1,000 for student teams and a $2,000 faculty prize.

     

    Water pollution associated with stormwater runoff requires infrastructure solutions that are innovative, resilient, and affordable. Today’s scholars are tomorrow’s design professionals. The Campus RainWorks Challenge will harness their creativity and knowledge to jointly advance the agency’s mission to protect public health and water quality. 

     

    Learn more at:  www.epa.gov/campusrainworks

     

    Thank you for your consideration!

     

    Matt King

    U.S. EPA

    Office of Water

    Green Infrastructure Program

    202-564-2871

     

    Attached Files: 

  17. Water005 Rainworks Design Lot F4 recommendation - Transmittal

    Associated Project(s): 
    iCAP Working Group (iWG)
    Water and Stormwater Recommendations Summary
    EPA RainWorks Challenge

    The iCAP Working Group transmitted the Water SWATeam recommendation to do a feasibility study for implementing the award winning RainWorks Challenge student design in parking lot F4 on campus.

    See attached iWG assessment.

    See SWATeam recommendation Water005 Rainworks Design Lot F4 here.

    Attached Files: 

  18. Parking Lot F-4 potential site

    Associated Project(s): 
    Green Infrastructure
    EPA RainWorks Challenge

    Parking Department facility manager, Mike Wise, shared the following information.  "I will be submitting the resurfacing project for lot F4 as a FY19 Project in June/July of 2018. Then an Architect will be selected and design begins. Bidding and Construction will follow. Ideas can start now though so that we can vet them and include a finalized Program with the project request."

  19. RainWorks Challenge

    Associated Project(s): 
    Green Infrastructure
    Boneyard Creek Management
    EPA RainWorks Challenge

    Tawab Hlimi is serving as faculty advisor for the 2014 EPA Campus Rainworks Challenge. The team is composed of graduate students from Landscape Architecture, Architecture, Civil Engineering, Environmental Economics, and Ecology. They have begun a green stormwater infrastructure study for the UIUC campus and have selected the channelized extent of Boneyard Creek as site for a demonstration project.