Sustainability Teaching, Application, and Research Grant Recipients
2024 Fall Faculty Recipients
John F. Cavitt (Zoology), "Bird-Safe Ogden - Empowering Latino Youth as Conservation Leaders"
Bird-Safe Ogden: Empowering Latino Youth as Conservation Leaders tackles the critical conservation issue of bird-window collisions, a major but preventable source of avian mortality responsible for an estimated 1 billion bird deaths annually in the United States. This mortality disproportionately affects migratory bird populations, which have already seen devastating declines—nearly 3 billion birds lost over the last five decades, a 29% reduction that threatens ecosystems and biodiversity. These alarming trends underscore the urgent need for action to address this crisis and protect bird populations from further declines.
This project will empower 20 Latino middle school students from Ogden as Bird Safe Ambassadors, equipping them with skills in scientific research, leadership, and community engagement. By participating in hands-on STEM activities, students will monitor bird-window collisions, collect and analyze data, and develop solutions to reduce avian mortality. They will also advocate for bird-friendly designs and share their findings with peers, families, and policymakers, fostering a community-wide commitment to conservation.
The Weber State University (WSU) Bird Banding Station will serve as the scientific hub of the project. It will introduce students to avian ecology and conservation science, offering opportunities to observe and participate in bird banding demonstrations and learn about migration patterns. Data from the station will guide collision monitoring efforts and help identify periods of heightened risk for migratory species. Through workshops and mentoring, WSU faculty and students will provide critical support to develop the ambassadors’ research, problem-solving, and communication skills.
This initiative not only aims to reduce bird collisions in Ogden but also to inspire a new generation of conservation leaders. By connecting underserved youth with the natural world and empowering them to take meaningful action, Bird-Safe Ogden, creates a powerful synergy between ecological stewardship and community empowerment.
Randy C. Hurd (Engineering, Applied Science and Technology), "Understanding showering behavior settings to inform sustainable engineering design"
Many products are advertised as being green or supporting sustainable practices, but if these products aren't designed with the associated human behavior in mind they are less likely to be widely accepted. Randy Hurds, goal for this project is to gain sufficient knowledge of showering behavior to inform the process of engineering design. This approach will identify opportunities to envision and create a showering system that supports actual showering behavior while also encouraging conservative water and energy usage.
Sarah Grunnah (Theatre), “MELT: Ice-based Performance in the Climate Crisis”
Sarah Grunnah is continuing her multidisciplinary performance project which explores the climate crisis through movement-based theatre on ice. She will integrate original music, poetry, and ice skating movement to tell the story of the rapidly declining glacial formations of North America. The project will culminate in a public performance at the Weber County Ice Sheet on February 8, 2025.
2024 Spring Faculty Recipients
Vincent Bates & Sara Gailey (Education), “Stories of the Land”
This project focuses on storytelling, live and in-person, as a culturally, socially, and materially sustainable “counter-environment”—a way for young people to find meaning and fulfillment in a way that involves modest (if any) material consumption. The 2025 WSU Storytelling Festival will include a focus on environmental sustainability through (1) a new festival theme, Stories of the Land; (2) a one to two-hour Storytelling Symposium for WSU faculty and staff led by Darren Parry, former chairman of the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation, whose work centers on environmental sustainability; (3) adding in-service training for elementary teachers to our standard festival services, which will be aimed at teaching storytelling as counter environment; and (4) providing sustainability-themed storytelling outreach concerts to local schools (in addition to current outreach). vincent Bates and Sara Gailey plan to increase attendance at the main festival on the WSU Ogden campus by funding transportation to the festival for some of the elementary schools, particularly Title I (low-income) schools.
James I. Cohen (Botany & Plant Ecology), “The flora of northern Utah: Let’s explore it together!”
The composition of plants continues to change throughout northern Utah. It is important to understand the ways in which our flora shifts over time so that we know when new plants enter an area, plant abundance decreases (or increases), plants shift their seasonal processes, etc. One of the best ways to understand flora is to get outside, collect plants, and deposit these specimens in an herbarium (a repository for preserved plants). During the course of the summer, James Cohen and collaborators will visit various places around northern Utah to collect plants, and they will enter the data in WSU's Mary Carver Hall Herbarium's database to make the information about the specimens widely available. During the fall, the community will be invited to an event to help prepare the plants to be stored in WSU's herbarium creating archival plant specimens. This will ensure that the plant specimens serve as a moment-in-time capturing the botanical diversity and processes during the summer of 2024.
Jessica Greenberg (Theatre), “Luminous Waters: Illuminating the Great Salt Lake Ecological Crisis”
The Great Salt Lake is facing an unprecedented ecological crisis due to declining water levels and increasing salinity. To raise awareness about this critical issue and inspire action for conservation efforts, Jessica Greenberg proposed the creation of a light art installation titled "Luminous Waters." This installation will aim to draw attention to the ecological significance of the Great Salt Lake while engaging and educating the public about the urgent need for preservation.
"Luminous Waters" will be a large-scale temporary light art installation on the shores of the Great Salt Lake. Through a combination of dynamic lighting effects and shapes, viewers will be invited to contemplate the interconnectedness of water, wildlife, and human impact on the environment. The lasting impact of this installation will be through the resulting photography. The installation will be captured by a professional photographer, and the images will be presented in a gallery display.
Sarah Grunnah (Theatre), “MELT: Ice-based Performance in the Climate Crisis”
"MELT: Ice-based Performance in the Climate Crisis" is a multidisciplinary performance project that explores the climate crisis through movement-based theatre on ice. Integrating original music, poetry, and ice skating movement, MELT tells the story of the rapidly declining glacial formations of North America. This project engages both artists and athletes, as well as Weber State students and Ogden community members in the development of a brand-new movement-based performance piece that not only draws on folklore and geographical icescapes but also reaches into the future by engaging artistically with issues surrounding the climate crisis. As scientists and activists work in the field to slow the rapid demise of the planet’s icescapes and glacial formations, art has the potential to engage the general public in conversation. The project will culminate in a public performance at the Weber County Ice Sheet on February 8, 2025
Sarah Herrmann (Psychological Science), “Examining the Effect of Plants in the Classroom on College Student Mental Health and Academic Experiences”
Indoor plants benefit mental health, stress, and performance. Additionally, past research demonstrates the connection between increased mental health and well-being, and academic performance. However, no research has investigated whether indoor plants can increase academic performance for college students as a function of improving mental health and well-being. This project addresses this gap and investigates the impact of indoor plants on college students’ mental health, perceptions of college (i.e., growth mindset, academic self-efficacy), perceptions of their courses, and academic performance. Sarah Herrmann and Taylor Evans, a student collaborator, will utilize a between-subjects field experiment to test the effect of two indoor plants in half of the classrooms of Lindquist Hall on student mental health, growth mindset, academic self-efficacy, nature relatedness, demographic variables, course evaluations, and course grades. They hypothesize that students in classrooms that have plants will have higher satisfaction with the course and better performance compared to those in classrooms without plants. Additionally, we analyze moderation by demographic variables (i.e., ethnicity, college generation status) to investigate differential benefits to historically minoritized students. Implications include a benefit to students and a better understanding of the effect of exposure to indoor plants on student academic performance, which may contribute to more widespread use of plants in classrooms.
Demetrios Pagonis (Chemistry & Biochemistry), “Updating Chemical Waste Management for Sustainability and Safety”
This project will overhaul the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry stockroom's approach to the classification, characterization, and disposal of chemical waste. By more systematically sorting hazardous from non-hazardous waste Demetrios Pagonis and collaborators expect to reduce the amount of hazardous chemical waste generated by the chemistry teaching laboratories.