Student Initiatives for a Greener Society

Campus Organizations

Following are the names, websites and contact information for campus organizations involved in sustainability and environmental issues:

SMU Environmental Society
President - Will Snyder - wmsnyder@smu.edu
VP - Caroline Langley - clangley@smu.edu
Treasurer - Tom Chapline - tchapline@smu.edu
PR - VeeVee Lichty - vlichty@smu.edu

Students for a Better Society (SBS) - Environment Committee
David De La Fuente, committee chair, ddelafuent@smu.edu

Big iDea Proposals

SMU's Big iDeas program, held annually under the sponsorship of the Office of the Provost, offers research grants for student-proposed ideas to address the challenges facing the Dallas area. Following are proposals related to sustainability:

2011:

• Health Literacy Dallas, a continuation of a Big iDeas project that seeks to improve interactions between doctors and patients.
  – Proposed by Mary Corey (junior; mechanical engineering), Austin Prentice (junior; chemistry and biology), Matthew Gayer (junior; public policy and political science, with minors in biology and economics), Michael Hammack (junior; finance and economics), Stephen Armstrong (junior; engineering), Vanessa Mavec (junior; anthropology), Patrick Probst (junior; biology) and Vincent Rossi (junior; biology)
      
• “Power of a Nation,” which seeks to design an energy-efficient multipurpose workout machine that generates electricity.
  - Proposed by James Matthew Parker (senior; marketing major, with a Spanish minor), Connor Smith (first-year; mechanical engineering), Joseph Esau (junior; electrical engineering), Seth Dennis (junior; management), Robin Hood (junior; mechanical engineering), Zewen Qu (first-year; advertising), Brett Legrow (junior; mechanical engineering), and Corbin Swagerty (junior; electrical engineering)

2010:

• “Solar Energy on Campus,” an investigation of the feasibility of using solar energy to generate electricity and heat SMU’s buildings and water; presented by sophomore Huanlu Chen.

2009:

• "The SMU Geothermal Project" - Requests funding to complete a multidisciplinary comprehensive study evaluating the geologic, engineering, and financial feasibility of establishing a binary-cycle geothermal power plant on the SMU Campus. Binary-cycle geothermal power plants produce clean, reliable, emission-free base-load energy, while having a small physical footprint. Read the proposal.
   
• "Real Fuel on Campus" - Examine the feasibility of reducing emissions at SMU by using an on campus processor to convert SMU food service waste vegetable oil to biodiesel. Read the proposal.
   

2008:

• "The Dallas Application of Responsible Transportation" - Examines how can public transportation systems can work effectively for a city subject to urban sprawl. Read the proposal.

Community Garden

The SMU Community Garden is maintained by Perkins School of Theology and the Facilities Management and Sustainability Department (formally CPPO). Professor Elaine A. Heath, the McCreless Assistant Professor of Evangelism, requested the garden be built for the students in one of her classes.