University of St. Thomas
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

In 2021, the Sustainable Communities Partnership (SCP) collaborated with the Biology department to develop a fully illustrated Native Tree Guide that shares information about native trees on campus and with the Biology Department and the St. Thomas Medicinal Garden to develop a fully illustrated guide that shares information about medicinal plants grown on campus. The Garden Apothecary Guide can be viewed at: https://www.stthomas.edu/_media-library/_documents/sustainable-communities-partnership/garden-apothecary-compressed-stthomas.pdf
The Native Tree Guide can be viewed at: https://stthomastrees.files.wordpress.com/2022/02/treeguide.pdf

The University of St. Thomas Sustainable Communities Partnership, the Mississippi Watershed Management Organization, and the Natural Heritage Project collaborated on a research project and public, community art exhibit, “Mississippi River Stories,” based on University of St. Thomas student research about people’s experiences of the Mississippi River. This exhibit, curated by the Sustainable Communities Partnership and hosted by the MWMO, features a collection of visual artwork by 16 different artists. Each piece is inspired by a river story collected around the Twin Cities, including the University of St. Thomas campus. University of St. Thomas students transcribed the stories and analyzed the data, which were the basis for the public exhibit. The exhibit consisted of both an in-person exhibit and a virtual exhibit, both free and open to the public. The public exhibit ran from April 18, 2022 – June 6, 2022 at the Mississippi Watershed Management Organization’s Stormwater Learning Center (MWMO). An “Artist Open House” community event to meet the artists and learn about student research was held at the MWMO on April 23, 2022. The virtual exhibit of artwork can be viewed at: https://www.mwmo.org/learn/visit-us/exhibits/mississippi-river-stories/

Additionally, the following two outreach and engagement projects, in addition to campus engagement, are also intended for public engagement and learning through our campus grounds: In 2021, the Sustainable Communities Partnership (SCP) collaborated with the Biology department to develop a fully illustrated Native Tree Guide that shares information about native trees on campus and with the Biology Department and the St. Thomas Medicinal Garden to develop a fully illustrated guide that shares information about medicinal plants grown on campus. The Garden Apothecary Guide can be viewed at: https://www.stthomas.edu/_media-library/_documents/sustainable-communities-partnership/garden-apothecary-compressed-stthomas.pdf
The Native Tree Guide can be viewed at: https://stthomastrees.files.wordpress.com/2022/02/treeguide.pdf

The St. Thomas Center for Microgrid Research, based in the School of Engineering, is dedicated to improving the reliability and resiliency of our electric grid. At the Center for Microgrid Research both undergraduates (beginning as early as their first year at St. Thomas) and graduate students help develop technology and are trained to shape the evolution of energy in the face of climate change. The vision for Center for Microgrid Research is to be one of the premiere applied engineering research centers in the area of distributed energy resources and microgrids enabling a secure, resilient and carbon-free electric grid for the 21st century. This is one of the only student-focused microgrid research facilities in the nation. More information about the Center for Microgrid Research is available at: https://engineering.stthomas.edu/industry/microgrid-research-center/

Dining Services at the University of St. Thomas seeks to educate the campus community on sustainable dining options and operations. One component of this is outreach and education about the impacts of food waste and strategies to reduce food waste on campus. In Spring 2023, Dining Services partnered with Psychology for Sustainability students to advance progress on this goal, focusing specifically on food waste reduction at two of our dining facilities, The View and the Northsider. Students in Psychology for Sustainability collected data about why food waste was occurring and developed messaging and behavior change strategies for students to reduce food waste, informed by their research and theories of behavior change.

The University of St. Thomas has a Pollinator Path and Stewardship Garden, both through the Department of Biology, that serve as living laboratory resources for students. The University of St. Thomas' Sustainable Communities Partnership has partnered with the Pollinator Path to develop course-based projects in other disciplines that add ecological and educational value to the Pollinator Path, while at the same time providing students from other disciplines the opportunity to engage with the Pollinator Path on campus. Course projects with the St. Thomas Pollinator Path from 2021-present included: Reimagining Processes for Pollinator Counts on the St. Thomas Pollinator Path (ENGR 100, Introduction to Engineering Design) and Marketing for the Pollinator Path (MKTG 340; Marketing Research).

The St. Thomas Stewardship Garden integrates teaching and student research projects across several academic departments, directly impacting >200 students each year. Founded in 2011, the garden currently covers 3/4 acre of land on the St. Paul campus. The garden serves as a research site for undergraduate-faculty collaborations, engaging around 8-10 undergraduate researchers per year, and currently supports classroom or lab activities that have been developed for many courses including: Genetics, Ecology, and Evolution (220 students/year); Introduction to Environmental Science (20 students/year); Environmental Problem Solving (16 students/year); Soils, Science, and Society (10 students/year); Emerging Infectious Diseases (12 students/year); Intensive Writing (10 students/year); and the Environmental Sustainability Theme-Based Learning Community (150 students/year).

The Stewardship Garden is also the basis for a $700,000 CAREER grant from the National Science Foundation awarded to Dr. Chip Small to study the effects of urban agriculture expansion and climate on nutrient cycling and loss in urban ecosystems. This is an on-going project, which began in Spring 2017. The following is a summary of this project to date (Nov 2023):
This project investigated the fate of nutrients applied to urban gardens in the Twin Cities Metro Area (TCMA), documenting rates of recycling, accumulation, and export as leachate and runoff. The project’s Intellectual Merit focused on applying a mass-balance approach to nutrient recycling from compost addition in urban agriculture. Specific findings include: (1) TCMA gardeners and urban farmers apply on average 40x more phosphorus (P) compared to crop uptake; (2) Compost application to urban gardens constitutes one of the largest P inputs to urban landscapes, despite gardens constituting <0.5% of urban land area; (3) garden soil P loss through leachate increases over time due to application of compost P, with accumulation documented in native soil below garden plots; and (4) evapotranspiration is the dominant fate of water from supplemental irrigation, whereas rainfall inputs generate leachate and associated nutrient export. Broader Impacts included training for a postdoc, >60 undergraduate research students, 15 high school student researchers, and 2 K-12 science educators. Research findings have been shared through podcasts, a publication for K-12 educators, presentations to stakeholder groups (e.g., Ramsey County Master Gardeners, Minneapolis Food Council, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Minnesota Compost Council). Products include 10 papers published to date (including 6 with undergraduate co-authors). Data have been archived through, and highlighted by, Environmental Data Initiative.

One component of waste reduction efforts at St. Thomas is reducing food waste on campus. In Spring 2023, Dining Services partnered with Psychology for Sustainability students to advance progress on this goal, focusing specifically on food waste reduction at two of our dining facilities, The View and the Northsider. Students in Psychology for Sustainability collected data about why food waste was occurring and developed messaging and behavior change strategies for students to reduce food waste, informed by their research and theories of behavior change.

In Spring 2023, Art for Social Justice students researched the stream that runs underneath our campus and its connections with the Mississippi River and with environmental justice. Students designed and constructed an arts exhibit in our library to share their research with campus.

In Spring 2023, the Environmental Science Capstone course also researched the stream underneath campus by experimenting with a way to monitor groundwater flow beneath the UST Campus using Mayfly Dataloggers.

Course projects contributed to our University's planning and participation in the Laudato Si' Action Platform and our Laudato Si' Action Plan. The Laudato Si' Action Platform is an initiative of the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, which "supports participants to develop tailored Laudato Si’ Action Plans to accomplish one purpose: Concrete actions to protect our common home." (For more information about the Laudato Si' Action Platform see https://laudatosiactionplatform.org/) In Spring 2022, students in Theology and the Environment (THEO 459) collected feedback from students across campus about their thoughts on our University's sustainability goals and other background research to contribute to this planning work. Also in Spring 2022, students in Psychology for Sustainability researched students' perceptions and responses to climate change that also have informed our planning.