This Week @ UCSD
divider
divider
divider
divider
divider
divider
divider
divider
divider
Top Stories Print this story Print Forward to a Friend Forward

10 Individuals, Groups, Recognized for Sustainability Efforts

| April 25, 2011

Share |

Chancellor Marye Anne Fox recognized five individuals and five departments Friday at The Loft for helping advance UC San Diego's sustainability goals during the campus's 2011 Sustainability Awards, which are part of Earth Week. The campus aims to make sustainability part of UCSD's ongoing education, research, planning, operation and outreach programs. Here is a list of the award winners and a brief description of their accomplishments.

Weston

Outstanding Undergraduate Student: Allison Weston
Allison Weston is a Sustainability Program office lead intern and a teaching assistant for the environmental studies Department. As a volunteer intern, Weston has worked over a year on UC San Diego's Sustainability Tracking Assessment and Rating System survey and has helped to plan this year's Earth Week celebration. As a teaching assistant, she has helped to organize hikes and camping trips for students. She also volunteers weekly on an organic farm in North County and helped plan and speak at the Food Justice Forum. Her dedication and passion are truly admirable and inspiring, officials said.

Outstanding Graduate Student: Andrew Markley
Andrew Markley, a sixth-year doctoral student, is the current organizer and director of the Coast Apartments community garden and compost facility. Through his work with the Coast Apartments, Markley has introduced nearby residents to gardening, locally grown food and composting. He is also working to set up a mechanism to divert the reusable freezer packs used in shipping from landfills. His work on these projects shows his high level of dedication to sustainability at UCSD and the local community.


Bharadwaj

Outstanding Faculty: Prashant Bharadwaj
Prashant Bharadwaj is a professor in the economics department who encourages students and fellow professors to adopt more sustainable attitudes. His multiple nominations highlight his emphasis on the study of the environment in his economics courses. He also engages in environmental issues in his own research. Through his enthusiastic attitude and strong knowledge of sustainability, Bharadwaj has cultivated an increasing interest in s
ustainability in our community.

Kristin Hansen

Outstanding Staff: Kristin Hansen
Kristin Hansen's passion lies in sustainable business practices and creating shared value. As an advisor to 13 unpaid student interns, the leader of the Sustainability Program Office efforts at the Sustainability Resource Center and a champion for sustainability at UCSD, Hansen does much more than her official title of sustainability analyst would suggest. She has been an integral part of campus sustainability efforts including updating the Climate Action Plan and completing national sustainability surveys. She has also helped many students find sustainability internships and jobs. Hansen is currently completing her MBA. Her dedication to education, outreach and planning is invaluable for the success of sustainability efforts at UCSD.

Housing Dining Hospitality

Outstanding Department: HDH Food Scrap Recycling Program
In August 2010, Housing*Dining*Hospitality kicked off the Food Scrap recycling program. This innovative program diverts preconsumer food scraps from dining hall kitchens to the City of San Diego Greenery food scrap-recycling program. On average, the program diverts four tons of food scraps per week. Since its inception in 2010, the program has diverted more than 63 tons of materials. Through extensive education and hands-on training, Housing*Dining*Hospitality staff has worked to greatly reduce the amount of preconsumer food scrap waste that UC San Diego is sending to the landfill.


Own Your Impact

Outstanding Student Group: Own Your Impact
The Own Your Impact campaign represents the collaborative efforts of the Sustainability Resource Center's marketing team in partnership with the Student Sustainability Collective. The Own Your Impact campaign is designed to help UCSD students, staff, faculty and community members to own their impact on food, water, waste, transportation and energy. The pledge encourages individuals to make small changes in their daily habits to help create larger collective environmental change. With 2,000 pledges to date, the team has made great strides. Through the Own Your Impact Campaign and their outstanding collaboration, the Sustainability Resource Center's marketing team has helped spread the message of sustainability throughout the community.


UCSD Triathlon Team

Outstanding Student Group : UCSD Triathlon Team
Three years ago, the UCSD Triathlon Team pledged to become the first carbon neutral triathlon team in the nation. To keep their carbon footprint at zero, the team held the first third-party certified 5K and Triathlon race in Southern California. The race is now in its second year. The UCSD Triathlon Team's efforts have inspired the Cal-Poly SLO Triathlon Team to host their own carbon neutral triathlon event this year. The UCSD Triathlon Team has helped to make triathletes more sustainable on campus and promote sustainable fitness in the community.


Media Services

Outstanding Academic Group: Media Services
Media Services has developed a recycling program for batteries used in wireless microphones in classrooms and lecture halls on campus. With the help of Environmental Health & Safety, Media Services has recycled more than 2,200 nine-volt batteries. The group is currently looking to transition to rechargeable batteries for microphones as soon as they find the most reliable batteries for the job. In addition to recycling batteries used in microphones, Media Services also works to recycle old cables and other equipment as e-waste. The group is committed to finding sustainable technological solutions for UC San Diego.


Sharmila Krishnamurty

Outstanding Individual: Sharmila Krishnamurty
Sharmila Krishnamurty is an outstanding champion for sustainability both in her personal and professional life. She works tirelessly to advance sustainability efforts here on campus as an unpaid intern working for Building Commissioning and Sustainability. As a master's student at Arizona State University, Krishnamurty has dedicated more than 2,000 hours to UCSD's sustainability efforts. She has done amazing work with the university's Climate Action Plan tracking UCSD's waste and recycling efforts and examining how the campus can achieve its goal of zero-waste by 2020. There are not too many people in the world like Krishnamurty who are willing to volunteer thousands of hours in order to help a local university's sustainability efforts, officials said. She is an inspiring example of selfless leadership and sustainability championing, they added.


Sustainability Resource

Outstanding Collaboration:
Sustainability Resource Center

UCSD students, staff, faculty and more than two dozen organizations collaborated to create the Sustainability Resource Center. The LEED Gold certified space highlights sustainable building materials and serves as a one-stop shop for all things related to sustainability here on campus. The Sustainability Resource Center now houses recycled wood flooring, furniture made of recycled materials and the nation's first DC-to-DC lighting system that utilizes solar power. As a result, this green space is now home to more than 20 green student groups, the Student Sustainability Collective and the Sustainability Program Office. The innovative collaborative efforts of these organizations and groups have helped to reaffirm UC San Diego's position in the local green movement, officials said.


Want to keep up with what is happening at UC San Diego?
Subscribe to This Week @ UCSD. It's free!




 
spacer
Subscribe Contact Us Got News UCSD News
spacer

UCSD University Communications

9500 Gilman Drive MC0938
La Jolla, CA 92093-0938
858-534-3120

Email: thisweek@ucsd.edu