Spreadsheet: 00f02a61-a7e5-460b-81d7-b87cb2aa2dd9
Sheet: Sheet1

Student Name | Title | Abstract | Faculty Mentor | Faculty Deparment
2013
Dominque Bain | Comparing and [NAME] for Doney Park | This project will build on previous work done in the Sustainable Energy Solutions group. Using the computer programs WindPro and [NAME], this research will be investigating their predictive accuracy in relationship to known wind speeds. The two computer programs will be compared and contrasted. The goal of this project is to understand which of the programs produces the best predictions of wind speed and how to maximize the accuracy of those predictions. This information may be used in the future to pick the best locations for wind turbines in Doney Park. It may also be used to inform utility companies like APS when looking for new renewable energy projects and sites. If the information is not used specifically for Doney Park, the information gathered about the two computer programs can be applied to any other wind modeling project. | [NAME] | Mechnical Engineering
[NAME] | S.N.A.I.L. Garden | To further support sustainability efforts on campus the S.N.A.I.L. (Students Nurturing Alternatives In Landscaping) Garden will convert a lawn on north Campus into a space were students who are passionate about local food systems, gardening, and sustainability can express these interests. Once converted, this space will be divided into defined plot areas which can be rented by students who will have agreed to a one season contract and paid a small fee. The expectations of each student, especially pertaining to overall tidiness, will be included. One plot will be a community plot were all those renting a space will have the opportunity to grow together and donate what is produced to the Flagstaff Family Food Center. We, and all those involved, want this area to be an integral part and a place of pride for this institution; a highly-visible area that could be used as a physical manifestation of all of the sustainability efforts on campus, an exemplar for recruitment of future students. | [NAME] | Biological Sciences
[NAME] | Greenhouse Gas Inventory for Criollo Latin Kitchen and NAU's 1899 Grill | It is generally accepted by scientists of the global community that the causes of climate change are directly connected to the activities of human civilization. The fossil fuels we burn for electricity and transportation contribute the majority of the emissions now polluting our atmosphere. Greenhouse gases (GHG) are the main driver in the rising temperature over that last 100 years. We can stop this trend by monitoring our GHG emissions from our buildings and associated operations. This is why I am proposing to perform a GHG inventory for Criollo Latin Kitchen and NAU’s 1899 Grill. To help the owners add to the sustainability practices already at work there, I will measure and report the emissions and provide recommendations for increasing efficiency while reducing emissions. | [NAME] | SESES - Environmental Sciences
[NAME] | Morphological Variables in the Chub Complex | Throughout Arizona, the imperiled chub fishes are at risk due to damming, predation by nonnatives, and habitat degradation. Current management strategies for Arizona’s native chubs are costly and ineffective. Arizona has yet to reestablish sustainable populations into the chub’s native waterways. The goals of this study are to examine the effects of temperature and flow on the development of some chub species and their hybrids. By examining body form and aspects of performance I will be able to make inferences about the sustainability of the stocked populations in their current habitat. I will also be examining the current definition of a species as it relates to the chubs, based on the fact that hybrid chubs produce viable offspring, a clear violation of the definition of a species. As a result it could be a more successful management alternative to reduce the hybrids to morphotypes and manage them as a larger “chub complex” creating an all-encompassing strategy. | [NAME] | Biological Sciences
[NAME] | Local FARE Municipal-Scale Compost Research | This proposal requests funding to support research on large-scale composting at Northern Arizona University that will result, among other outcomes, in an informed plan for continued implementation of complete and comprehensive composting of food waste on the NAU campus. Research includes analysis of waste streams, bio-physical methods of composting, and networks/markets of distribution. Benefits include reduced carbon emissions, solid waste diverted from landfill, and sustainable production of an organic soil amendment. | [NAME] | Sustainable Communities
2012
[NAME] | Greenhouse Gas Inventory for Center for International Education | Earth’s inhabitants face environmental problems of a magnitude that have never before been experienced by modern society.  Global climate change threatens the natural world we know and upon which we depend in ways that are almost inconceivable. The threat of climate change can be limited by reducing GHG emissions from human activity. In line with the University's commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2020 and the Global Learning Initiative's emphases of Global Education and Environmental Sustainability, I propose to conduct a GHG inventory of the Center for International Education’s (CIE) operations. Based on the results of the inventory, I will make recommendations for the department to reduce its GHG emissions, and develop educational tools for both CIE staff and the students that the CIE serves. This project will set an example for the University community of what is possible. | [NAME] | Biological Sciences
Corinne Cusker | Sustainable Education in our Residential Communities | A goal of the NAU’s Carbon Neutrality Climate Action Plan 2010 is to encourage student engagement. A responsible party listed for accomplishing this goal is Residence Life. A need exists for more consistent and continual messaging to educate our residential students to have a better understanding of the impact (positive or negative) an individual can have on the environment, specifically in their residence. The proposed program will provide peer to peer education and outreach on issues related to sustainability with a focus of promoting behavior change in our residential student populations. Currently, NAU does not have a program that directly facilitates this type of direct peer to peer interaction, so the goal is to provide outreach to our residential students and close the gap between what students are learning and discussing in the classroom and their residential experience. | [NAME] | Residence Life
[NAME] | Off-Grid Power Quality: Impact, Analysis, and Solutions | Off-grid electrical systems are frequently used in remote locations where constructing transmission lines to the utility grid is prohibitively expensive, or where blackouts and brownouts are relatively common. Several areas near Flagstaff fit this description.  There are hundreds of off-grid homes near Sunset Crater, hundreds more along Highway 180 between Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon, and the Navajo Nation contains thousands. The families in these homes depend upon photovoltaic solar panels, wind turbines, batteries, etc., to operate their household devices. Unfortunately, many off-grid systems suffer from poor power quality (e.g., transients and noise), which can destroy electronic devices.  The objective of this study is to analyze this problem in off-grid systems near Flagstaff, including at least one traditional [NAME] home, to identify the causes of the problem and to recommend and test solutions. The results will be valuable to off-grid systems worldwide. | [NAME] | Electrical Engineering
[NAME] | Ecological Impacts of Biosn on Riparian Vegetation of [NAME] and Ponds | One of the great challenges facing land managers of the American West is balancing intensive land use with the preservation of valued habitats and species diversity. Along these lines, the proposed research will serve an important role in both the conservation of a population of American [NAME], a priority species and a symbol of the American West, and the conservation of rare and sensitive riparian plant communities of Grand Canyon National Park. This study will examine the ecological impacts of an introduced population of [NAME] on riparian vegetation and soil characteristics of the Kaibab Plateau, Arizona. The results will inform managers as to whether the impacts occuring on the Kaibab Plateau represent an impairment of resources and if a bison population can be sustainably managed in the region. | Tad Theimer | Biological Sciences
[NAME] | The Influence of Nutrients on Native and Exotic Plants in the Restoration of Picture Canyon | Managing soil nutrient availability may influence the species composition of restored plant communities. Invasive exotic plants tend to dominant when soil fertility is high, and native plants dominate when soil fertility is low. Use of reclaimed wastewater that is rich in nutrients may encourage exotic weeds, while application of nutrient-absorbing soil amendments may encourage the growth of plant species that are native to Northern Arizona. Water quality and exotic and native plant abundance will be tested at Picture Canyon, Flagstaff, Arizona. | [NAME] | SESES
[NAME] | Effects of Environmental Flows on Native Verde River Fishes and Habitat | The Verde River is one of Arizona's few free-flowing, perennial rivers. It is home to several native species of fish, which have all shown signs of decline in recent decades. Arizona law does not recognize groundwater and surface water as connected entities, and so current groundwater pumping plans by the city of Prescott are a major threat to the surface flows of the Verde River. This would also have a large impact on organisms living in connection with the Verde. Native fish species are adapted to highly varied flow regimes characteristic of the arid Southwest. When flows are decreased natives may no longer have the large cobble substrate, or deep pools, necessary to sustain their populations. I aim to look at the effects various natural flows have on in-stream habitat and native fish preferences for these habitats. This project will be done in collaboration with U.S. Geological Survey and The Nature Conservancy. | [NAME] | SESES
2011
Alek Herrick | Simple Solar Heat Exchange | The simple solar heat exchanger is previously tested, low cost, and easy to install. This simple energy system prototype will be installed in a currently inefficient building on the NAU campus.  It has the potential to renovate notoriously energy inefficient buildings into those with at least one major carbon-reducing feature.  The NAU property surplus building is the project site; the system uses many salvaged materials including a fan to blow air into the collection bladder on the outside of the building.  Estimated costs savings to heat the building are approximately $265 per month. | [NAME] | Civil Engineering
[NAME] | [NAME] | The purpose of this project is to establish a course that is available to all tribal departments, and Bureau of Indian Affair agencies within the [NAME] reservation, or neighboring agencies such as Bureau of Land Management from Kingman, Arizona.  This course will be available to individuals or departments for developing their skills in use of a compass to measure or follow direction, and pacing for measuring distances over terrains covering a variety of slopes.  This measurements course will included a guide of how to use a compass, pacing, and map reading. This guide will contain definitions (types of compass, use of a compass, magnetic declination, pacing horizontal distances, mapping, coordinate systems, and contour lines) (LeBlanc).  Understanding ground measurements is essential in the forestry field whether it is from a silviculture, timber, or a fire perspective, as all of them require skills in orienteering. | Denver Hospodarsky | Forestry
Paloma Ibanez | Lumberjack’s Stewardship of Place: True Blue on Our Way to Green | This project focuses on Northern Arizona University’s (NAU) campus sustainability initiatives. Our goal is to produce an educational and fun film that will inform new students about NAU’s current efforts to create a more sustainable campus; we also hope that this film will inspire future and more ambitious developments in NAU’s sustainability plan. The 5-minute film, titled Lumberjack’s Stewardship of Place: True Blue on Our Way to Green, will be for new Lumberjacks’ as their first introduction to NAU’s efforts to create a campus culture of sustainability. | [NAME] | SESES
[NAME] | Impact of River Diversion on Physical, Chemical and Biological Components of the Verde River | The Verde River is a perennial stream generally flowing from northwest to southwest. The total length of the Verde River is approximately 160 miles. The five diversions along the Verde River this study is going to focus on lie between the gaging station on Verde River near Clarkdale and the gaging station on Verde River near Camp Verde.  The objectives of this study are (1) to determine any changes in stream morphology above and below the river diversion, particularly with respect to impacts on backwaters and aquatic habitats; (2) to determine whether there is any difference in physical, chemical and sediment characteristics in stream water and stream channel above and below the river diversion, and at the return flow from the  gricultural field; (3) to document the abundance of Cottonwood-willow above and below the river diversion prior to any efforts to line these diversions; and (4) to make management recommendations for river diversion that maintains sustainable stream characteristics and stream ecosystem. | [NAME] | Geology
[NAME] | Student Sustainability: A Study of the Motivational Factors Involved in Electricity Consumption Habits of NAU Students. | One major component of a university is the communal living or dormitories. We propose that university dormitories can lead to increased use of energy consumption for two reasons. First, students living in dormitories typically bring luxuries such as microwaves, refrigerators, and televisions when they attend college. Second, students who live in dormitories are not directly paying for their actual energy use. This leaves students with little sense of responsibility towards their daily energy use. Taking steps to improve the habits of students living in these building could go a long way in making NAU a greener and more sustainable campus. The goal of the current study is to do just that – to motivate students to take the first steps in reducing energy use. In the spirit of NAU’s goal to become “a Sustainable Institution for the Future,” we will develop a strategy to decrease electricity consumption of NAU college students living in dormitories. We will conduct both a short- and long-term assessment of dormitory level electricity assessment to examine whether education and competition are viable strategies to decrease college student energy use. | [NAME] | Psychology
[NAME] | Leave Green:  Students for Sustainable Living | This purpose of this project is three fold. The first part is to examine the tendencies of student’s waste placement during move-out week. The second is to divert unnecessary waste from going into the landfill -items such as clothing, non-perishable food, and miscellaneous amenities can all be reused or resold. The third and final purpose of this project is to educate and give back to the NAU campus and greater Flagstaff community. All items collected will be donated to various non-profit organizations.  Posters, flyers, and websites will promote the use of the donation bins to raise awareness of where waste is going and how to reduce this. These will be used as promotion in the weeks prior to move-out, and specifically at the Earth Day Celebration. An examination of the waste placement will be performed in cooperation from the Municipal Recovery Facility and the City of Flagstaff’s automated trash system so that a comparison can be done between the amount of trash, recycle, and donation material collected during the week of May 2-8, 2010 | [NAME] | Sustainable Communities
2010
[NAME] | NAU Campus Community Garden | Landscapes are a part of the campus learning environment.  Throughout the Spring and Summer of 2008, I created a highly visible, interactive, and educational demonstration garden, devoted to teaching students, faculty, and the Flagstaff community at large that it is possible to grow organic food in our local environment.  This on-campus garden project was a living laboratory, one that makes use of the campus landscape as a living-learning environment.   The NAU Campus Community Garden will continue to showcase native, heirloom variety plants, appropriate to the Colorado Plateau.  The garden will serve as a lab site for courses that teach about food systems.  It will include interpretive signage so that anyone who visits it will learn about the practice and benefits of locally grown foods.   This is a project that takes the LEEDS mission to the land, providing a pedagogy of landscape and lessons in local sufficiency. | [NAME] | Anthropology
Sara Gamble | Northern Arizona University Container Gardens | As Northern Arizona University progresses toward our vision of a sustainable, educational campus, one integral part of the process is involving and educating the campus community.  Already, the university has attracted national recognition with projects such as the Applied Research and Design building, the campus community garden, and the most recent incarnation of the campus composting program.  We have successfully integrated sustainable design techniques and practices into our classrooms, dining halls, and public spaces.  The next step is to support sustainability in residence life.  The NAU Container Gardening project will be a pilot program for organic container gardening in NAU’s Family Housing. | [NAME] | Humanities, Arts & Religion
Clairisse Nash | Native Seed Collection and Vegetation Monitoring in the Walnut Creek Restoration Area of the Prescott National Forest | This project will aid in the restoration of riparian meadows adjacent to Walnut Creek by establishing a native seed bank with targeted species needed for planting in restoration areas.  The goal is to choose appropriate native plant species and establish a seed bank that can be used to replant degraded watersheds such as those in the Upper Verde River Valley. The two students conducting this project will study 12 species, collect and store seeds from less degraded areas within and around the Walnut Creek restoration site. They will test the viability of seeds collected with a series of controlled germination experiments in a greenhouse and within experimental garden transects at Walnut Creek.  The results of the germination trials and seed bank will then be used by others in restoration of the riparian meadows in the Walnut Creek drainage. | [NAME] | Biological Sciences
[NAME] | An Examination of Attitudes towards Sustainable Transportation Habits | The purpose of the current research proposal is to examine why people choose the modes of transportation that they do. We will investigate the attitudes of people, specifically NAU students and Flagstaff residents, towards different forms of transportation. Specifically, we will assess why individuals choose to drive, use public transportation, or walk/bike as their primary method of transportation. Through our findings we hope to provide insight on how to increase one pro-environmental behavior, that is, the usage of the NAU shuttle and the counties’ NAIPTA bus services. | [NAME] | Psychology
[NAME] | Campus Energy Challenge | Public awareness is extremely important for sustainability because not only is energy consumption invisible, but the solution to the problem is also hard to see. Studies have shown that since the amount of energy consumed in homes is visible only in terms of the costs (and only after the energy has been used), it is hard for people to find an incentive to lower their use.  Our proposed work will set up new feedback systems to promote energy conservation in the home and on the NAU campus. Our proposal has two goals: 1) to enhance a program we have already begun (NAU Visible Energy Challenge) that promotes faculty and staff home energy conservation, and 2) to design and launch a new program (Campus Energy Challenge), to use real-time feedback and social norms that promote energy conservation in the dorms. | [NAME] | Biological Sciences
2009
[NAME] | Adaptable Wind-Powered Filtration System for Rural Water Treatment | This is a project to design and build a simple, low-maintenance, inexpensive water purification system using wind energy to manually pump water from shallow wells into a gravity fed filter for purification.  The system will be designed, constructed and tested at NAU for implementation through NAU's student chapter of  Engineers without Borders in Ghana in 2008.  The water purification system will also have application to sites in the southwest and Mexico. | [NAME] | Mechanical Engineering
[NAME] | Greening the Revolution | This project will result in a  50-minute documentary film examining the globalization of food systems and illustrating community efforts around the world to create alternative food systems. | [NAME] | Religious Studies; MA in Sustainable Communities Director
[NAME], [NAME], & [NAME] | The Psychology of Sustainability and Sustainable Behavior | This project will develop a teaching module and materials on sustainability and psychology, including a bibliogrpahy on key psychological concepts relevant to understanding climate change. | [NAME], [NAME] | Psychology
[NAME] | Establishing Carbon Offsets for NAU | This project will evaluate a climate offset program in cooperations with the School of Forestry, Engineers without Borders, and a non-profit tree planting organization. I will evaluate the feasibility of carbon offsets through collaboration with a tree planting effort in Ghana, in hopes that the project will help NAU become a model for universities seeking solutions to reduce their carbon footprint. | [NAME] | Religious Studies; MA in Sustainable Communities Director
Jessica McGrath & Ian [NAME] | Edible Landscaping: Pilot Garden Plot for NAU | This project will create a pilot garden on campus to formally and informally teach the NAU community about growing food locally.  Showcasing native and heirloom species appropriate to the Colorado Plateau, the garden will serve as a lab site for courses that teach about food systems and will include interpretive signage about the practice and benefits of locally grown foods. | [NAME] | Anthropology
[NAME] | Edible Landscape Project | I will work with students in the Indigenous Youth Coalition of Pinyon on the [NAME] reservation to plant native shrubs and trees in water catchment basins, teach the benefits and stories of native plants, and hold trainings in food preparation and wool dying with native plants. | [NAME] | Anthropology