Written by Lacey Jo Braun & Madeline Giefer

Sustainability Studies hosted the 2013 Sustainability Symposium on Friday April 5. This event showcased over forty research and creative projects from students across all colleges. Presenters prepared posters, lightning talks, and pieces of creative word, competing for top honors in each individual category and the overall symposium winner. The winner in each category received an Amazon gift card and the overall grand prize was an iPad Mini. After the symposium presenters, judges, and guests met in the commons for refreshments and awards.

The largest category within the symposium was the poster presentation. Research topics ranged from Housing and Residential Life’s Live Green Games to Fast Fashion vs. Slow Style to work being done abroad. Each poster presenter spoke with judges about the research conducted, why they conducted the research, and what they were going to do with this information. Becky Alexander won this category with her poster Integrating Experience & Performance Driven Design.

Seven graduate and undergraduate students gave five-minute lightning talks about their research, most of which addressed sustainability in agriculture and the growing global demand for food. Others discussed the importance of collaboration and citizen engagement in solving environmental problems, as well as ways to encourage public cooperation. All speakers demonstrated genuine passion and dedication to their research. The winner of this category was Emily Cassidy with Meat-ing Future Food Demands, a critical look at the environmental impact and waste involved in livestock agriculture.

Creative works entered in the symposium exhibited the most diversity. Watercolor, video, and clay are a few examples of the media represented in this category. Presenters had examples of their work, with several of them being interactive. The winner of this category was Hally Turner with Pure Pots, a project designed to implement a sustainable and economic water filtration system in India.

The overall winner of the symposium was Julia Eagles with her video Energy Efficiency to Net Zero Feasibility in Minnesota.

The Institute on the Environment and Sustainability Education would like to thank all of their partners for helping to make this year’s symposium such a success.

Check back soon to view the posters from the event in the digital conservancy.