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The 6th Annual Student Sustainability Symposium

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Apr 122013

Well folks, we’ve hit 6 (and PittEnvironmental has blogged about 4 of them). This morning, we’ll hear from the founding dean of Chatham’s School of Sustainability, and a Pitt panel on green initiatives around the university. Throughout this article, the term ‘susty’ is used in place of ‘sustainability’.

9:15 In opening remarks, Ward highlighted the lack of comprehensive education around climate change, but also mentioned the UHC’s new program to bring more climate change speakers to the campus in an effort to give all students such a background. The first of those events is next week’s Joe Romm lecture on the 17th.

Keynote: David Hassenzahl

Wants to talk about sustainability in the two places that he’s worked – UNLV and Chatham. Emphasized that it’s easy to get discouraged, but that as long as day-to-day actions are moving us forward, we should not do that.

Susty as an organizing principle:

Chicago School: ‘Everything is by definition sustainable, because of resource replacement and economics’
‘An awkward and ugly word’, ‘Susty is a technical requirement, not an aspiration’
Standard triple bottom line variants.
Not impeding future generation (Brundtland, seven generations out)
Different aspects: facilities, academics, campus life, community. All require focus at a university.
Four principles:
- Process, not endpoints (‘Don’t get caught up in goals or measurements’)
- Needs to be preferred to status quo for success (‘How does what you’re doing make lives better?’)
- Systems perspective
- Appropriate knowledge (rather than multi- or trans- disciplinary)

9:32 Assessment:

Without measurement, importance and quality and progress are lost
Assessment systems (STARS) can push us to do specific things that may or may not move us towards sustainability
In contrast, systems like the Living Building Challenge emphasize endpoints rather than specific methods
Certifications are nice, but tradeoffs require analysis and thought
Mention of SWPA Susty Business Compact

9:36 Las Vegas as a Susty Everytown (argument that LV faces the same issues as many other places)

It will take a long time to cycle through infrastructure – 10 years for cars, longer for buildings. We don’t often think about suburban LV, but it is often full of cinder block walls. Like other places, developments are built not for walking between houses, but for driving, and with houses facing away from the street and towards the backyard. How do we plan communities that inhibit or encourage interactions?

9:40 Exponential population growth, but we’re building infrastructure designed to discourage people from forming actual communities, or doing anything but drive. (IMO, Phoenix is still more ridiculous). Terrain is flat in the valley, but surrounded by mountains. Back in the 1970′s, started having runoff from higher residential exterior water use, creating wetlands in the desert. By 2008, the LV Wash runs 365 days a year with heavy flow. He uses the phrase ‘Suburban Drool’, which is not his, but is excellent. Year round wetlands in the desert (in neighborhoods as well as the wash) is a wacky concept.

9:49 With all that standing water, mosquitoes are now endemic to LV – new ecosystems, and new diseases. Swimming pools are a problem as well, particularly with the housing downturn. This comes back to the idea of systems thinking and unintended consequences.

Lawns are decreasing, but those that remain still use a lot of fertilizers and herbicides. There is also lots of dog waste. Because rainfall is short and intense, all of that washes into Lake Mead right above where freshwater intakes are. This all requires more energy to clean up drinking water for consumption (Systems again).

Schools generally have kids driven to school, then playing ‘on a blacktop, with still air, surrounded by 10 ft walls, with lots of vans idling’ (the respiratory emissions are awful). Emphasized difference between driving and walking to school – totally different interactions with built environment, but the environment isn’t the final determining factor. He came back to health and the environment, and noting obesity, diabetes, and pollution as well as disconnection, and that quality of life is higher (though how do we measure that?).

9:53 Shift towards the ‘we can do things better’ part of the presentation (which I’m not going to write about as much). Notes the ‘green line’ for wine that loosely follows the Mississippi.

9:59 On to Chatham: have a master plan for the Eden Hall Campus for 1200 students with net-zero all sorts of things (we could question net-zero, but it’s a reasonable goal). The campus is at the top of two watersheds, and so has impacts on everyone below them (though is eventually diluted, and with negligible impacts the next town down will be a bigger impact. Susty on rivers is a problem of agriculture and towns, not net-zero campuses.)

First phase will focus on food and energy, aiming for initial set of buildings by October. Aiming for 70% lower energy use, to enable 100% renewable energy. Putting heat pumps in everything (expensive but good – is it maintainable?). All buildings will be LEED Platinum, with full time monitoring (maintenance?). Questioning whether to grow all the food or trade with local farmers.

10:02 Overall Chatham susty efforts – STARS Gold, all the rest of the standard awards, USNWR set of 4 schools going beyond normal efforts.

Conclusions – susty is a process, and needs to be where you are. Campuses need to be living labs to try things out. Think about appropriate knowledge to collect, and how to influence peers, and what behaviors to adopt now (those will be around in 20-30 years). Finally, town-gown relations can help impact susty.

Panel Discussion

Participants:

Susanna Leers, Head of the PUPC of the University Senate.
Dan Marcinko, Univ. Susty Coordinator (head of FM’s team)
Kit Ayars, CSSD
Pat Heffley, Upper-campus housing building manager
Susan Fukushima, Sodexho manager on campus

Head of PUPC discussed the dissolution of the SuSC, and the [slow] work on a replacement – and that many susty-oriented practices are now common place.

10:15 Mr. Marcinko notes that many things are happening, highlighting building efforts. Five LEED certification projects ongoing, with Chevron and BST3 12th floor recently finished. Looking at the branch campuses as well – Greensberg and Johnstown. Nordenberg Hall (the new dorm) is currently tracking Silver. Looking at other points, but thinking about whether those points are sensible places to spend money (not necessarily cost-wise, it seems). Emphasis on water efficiency (silly for this region, but w/e). New website section for FM with more usability and weekly updates. New carbon emissions inventory coming out soon, shout-out to MCSI. Sustainability report in progress, release in fall.

10:21 Ms. Ayars emphasized that people really do care. CSSD focuses on power, paper waste, and partnerships with others (they are limited in direct impacts). Working on virtualization of servers to reduce power usage in network ops center – significant reductions. Lab computers power down after 30 mins. A lot of efforts around paper weren’t possible 3 years ago – self service, software distribution, etc. Much of this has been student-pushed, and several million sheets have been saved this school year. 30000 discs saved from downloading software rather than getting disc. Sidenote: The plastic bags for printing pickup are 100% recyclable, and purchased from a manufacturer that uses renewable energy. Overall printing is down. Reasons here would be interesting – I’d guess that tablets and phones are related. Lots of work with the GFAB. The Susty Handbook was part of the orientation USB key. Welcomes new partnerships – call the helpdesk.

10:28 Mr. Heffley discussed his history with HM as the lead person for susty efforts in housing. Started with trashroom bins, then worked on motion sensors throughout dorms. Hydration station in Sutherland, working on Panther and PA, already in Nordenberg (though not accessible yet). Did lighting retrofits in Sutherland and Forbes, saving $40,000 per year (40-50% more efficient). Next big project is the entrance area for Sutherland Hall (with a mention of permanent exterior recycling bins!).

10:34 Ms. Fukushima emphasized Sodexho’s overarching plan. Wants to work on reducing water use, local/seasonal products, and social responsibility (fair trade and sensibly grown products). Follow Monterrey Bay Aquarium seafood system. Use energy-efficient equipment. Participates in Global Susty Supply Chain Code of Conduct – a nice thing to see for its long-ranging impacts. Recently signed agreement with Real Food Challenge, which is a goal of 20% from locally grown sustainable food. Here at Pitt, partnerships have worked well. Cardboard is recycled, grease is used for biodiesel. Trayless dining has reduced a lot of impacts.

Question: Biggest accomplishment and biggest challenge

Mr. Marcinko: Building Automation System, for both control and metering. Challenge is in utilizing the dollars that we have wisely.

Ms. Ayars: Dislikes picking favorites, but notes that cleaning chemicals for labs are now green (she has chemical sensitivities, so this matters a lot). Challenge is in balancing needs and wants.

Mr. Heffley: Agrees with Mr. Marcinko on the Automated Building System. More for HM, recycling mattresses is a big deal. Company can teardown and recycle/reuse mattresses, or Sutherland’s were taken to Jamaica (was this a useful point of aid?). Challenges focus around the demand from students and the time it takes to actually install things.

Question: What is top-down support for susty like?

Ms. Leers: Admin is supportive, but cites the traditional need for a ‘loyal opposition’ from faculty and staff.

Question: How do you communicate with students about efforts?

Mr. Marcinko: Increased website use for documentation, and the idea of producing a susty report.

In conclusion, Mr. Marcinko also presented initial results from REcyclemania, 33rd in Grand Challenge, 11/357 in Gorilla, 64/355 per-capita (3rd BE), 50% waste utilization 18/158 paper, 27/165 cardboard (both 1st BE). Notes that hydration stations were a student effort that are now part of building standards.

Break for booths and snacks – thanks for reading through all of this discussion!

Engineering for Humanity Course Still Active!

Campus, How Pitt is Green, Opportunities, Projects, Science 1 Response »

Apr 032013

T/H, 9:30am-10:45am

One key course missing from the recent Fall 2013 sustainability course list was ENGR 1060, Engineering for Humanity, which was developed by Dr. Bhavna Sharma and piloted in the Fall of 2012. This course, I am pleased to announce, will be continuing this Fall and taught by [Dr.-to-be] Alexander Dale.

The course will retain its format of discussing engineering as one part of a broader set of sustainability issues, and its multidisciplinary projects. The central focus will, however, shift from social entrepreneurship and product design to complex and wicked problems, with social entrepreneurship as a key model. It will be tied in with ESW-National’s Wicked Problems in Sustainable Engineering initiative – case study to be determined.

The course is still in the catalog (T/H, 9:30-10:45am), and will cover some large scale important topics, allow direct engagement with local issues, and generate some external engagement with professionals and other schools! If this sounds interesting, you should register today!

Fall 2013 Sustainability Course Options + Credit for Mentorships!

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Mar 252013

It’s that time of the semester again – time for course registration (and for the first time, I don’t have to do so!). Here are some suggested courses with some serious sustainability chops:

New this fall! Any of CS 1950, CEE 1996, ENVSTD 1499, or IL 2098. If you are in a science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) major, and want to help teach k-12 students about sustainability, you can now get 1-3 credits for doing so! The SUSTAINS (Students Teaching Adolescents Innovation and Sustainability) program is a collaboration between several Pitt departments, and offers the ability to work with local schools and organizations to help teach the next generation of STEM majors. You can learn more about the program in general here.
CEE 1210/2210 – Engineering and Sustainable Development. If you want one overarching course that touches on all technical parts of sustainability, this is it. The course covers climate change, energy, water, food, urban planning, and more esoteric things like critical materials and the water-energy nexus, and is an excellent choice for anyone interested in the subject.
CEE 1209 – Intro to Life-Cycle Assessment. More for engineers, LCA is a phenomenal sustainability tool to have in your kit, and this class is a great introduction – Pitt is one of the leaders in undergrad education in this field.
GEOL 1332 – Management of Environmental and Non-profit Organizations. For anyone who wants to go into the NGO or activist side of sustainability, this class will teach you how to deal with all the administrative tasks that you won’t realize are critical until they’ve buried you. It will also introduce you to a great network of Pgh non-profits that you can use for future volunteering or beyond!

Pitt & Port Authority: New Agreement, New Metrics

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Nov 302012

Pitt and the Port Authority have signed a new five year contract, with one really important shift. Because our IDs are ‘smart cards’ (RFID tags), detailed ridership tracking is possible, so the new contract shifts from a lump sum payment to $1.25 a ride. Last year, at one of the Sustainability Subcommittee meetings, the administration was still hesitant to move towards this model because of concerns about accuracy – clearly those have been ironed out (and certainly, the system works well, with the odd nuance that cash-payers hold up the line a lot more now).

The new contract limits Pitt’s payment to $5.9M this year, with an expectation of a significant increase next year (woo! say I). To do some quick math and put this in perspective:

$5.9M will cover 4.7M rides at $1.25, and Pitt has ~29k students and 10.5k faculty and staff (Source). Assuming people come back and take one bus each way (not a totally valid assumption, but reasonable for this), that amounts to 60 trips per person per year, or just over one a week. For most undergrads, that makes some sense (and the $180/year transportation fee is set at about this level). For faculty and staff, I don’t know how large ridership is – my perception is increasingly that professors live outside the city and drive in, including many of the environmentally aware ones. Much of this is a lack of good transit access to the richer suburbs.

For graduate students, that student fee seems quite low. Many of us live in Sq. Hill or Shadyside (or further out), and commute by bus – 5 trips a week or more. And to put everything together, if we assume the whole graduate student population commutes (some of them don’t, but some undergrads do), and 30% of the faculty/staff population does, that’s roughly 9.1M rides annually, with annual costs around $11.4M. And that’s at half price. Clearly, if we were previously paying lump sums around $5.9M, we were paying only a quarter of the (publicly subsidized) rate.

What does this all come out to? Well, I see it as helping to prove my point that Pitt students, and graduate students in particular, should be paying much more for our transportation fees. I’d happily accept a raise in fees to $300/year, particularly if it came with a guarantee that the 28x would stick around. In any case, the increase for next year means that we will be doing quite a bit more to maintain our (failing but potentially excellent) public transportation system. With public shortfalls of $64M last year, Pitt’s increase could account for just under 10% – not the entirety, but an important long-term funding increase. That being said, the ongoing failure of our state government to deal with this topic remains the make-or-break issue. And much of that comes down to artificially low taxes/fees as well – just on gasoline rather than ridership.

We can discuss appropriate salaries and health care contributions for union employees, but in aggregate the only way US public transit works is with state (rather than federal) assistance – and our state government isn’t getting it done. We can also look at numbers on ridership and energy usage per passenger mile (the T is one of the worst light rail systems in the country on that metric), but shutting down these systems now would be incredibly short-sighted in the face of peaking oil supplies – the smarter approach is to build up access and communities around existing transit so that more people use existing systems and make them worthwhile. And in any case, one of the things I notice most when visiting other towns is their public transit – as a visitor, I don’t know all the roads, and often don’t have a car, so public transit makes a huge difference in my opinion of the city. Pgh’s increasing film and convention businesses and stream of awards mean more visitors, and a larger need for public transit for a good opinion – including to and from the airport.

Free the Planet Represented at ALCOSAN Storm Water Hearing

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Oct 252012

Free the Planet member Nikki Luke represented Pitt and environmental concerns at the recent ALCOSAN hearing over the city’s new storm water management system.

From the PPG:

“…More than 100 people who jammed into Alcosan offices on the North Side on Friday. About two dozen people spoke, urging the agency to push for green upstream policies that would slash the amount of stormwater that enters sanitary sewer pipes. Those measures could include such things as rooftop gardens, detention ponds, permeable parking lots and water barrels to catch and slowly release stormwater.

“More environmentally friendly methods of dealing with stormwater have drawn support from three of the county’s top elected officials. Charles Martoni, president of county council, told Alcosan officials on Friday that a green plan for handling stormwater would produce new jobs and improve the appearance of neighborhoods.”

5th Annual Student Sustainability Symposium

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Apr 112012

The annual Student Sustainability Symposium is here and BIGGER THAN EVER! This year it’s going to be all-day long and feature Councilman Bill Peduto as a keynote speaker, feature a panel of Pitt’s administration, an eco-jobs panel, and a visioning session at the end!

There will be FREE breakfast and lunch!

Due to the recent bomb threats on Pitt’s campus, this year it will take place at CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY in the University Student Center at 5032 Forbes Avenue in the Rangos Ballroom. Directions are below.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:
8:30 – 9:00 a.m. Sign-in/Sustain-a-Bowl
9:00 a.m. Opening Remarks – Mark Collins, Environmental Studies Coordinator
9:10 – 9:45 Keynote Address – Bill Peduto, Councilman (District 8), City of Pittsburgh
9:45-10:30 Administrative Panel
10:30-10:50 Break/Sustain-a-Bowl
10:50-Noon Student Presentations
Noon-1:00 p.m. Sustainable Lunch
1:00 – 1:30 p.m. Student Presentations – Pitt Environmental Studies
1:30-3 p.m. Eco Jobs Panel
3-4 p.m. “Where Do We Go From Here?” visioning session

Sustainability Classes You Can Take!

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Nov 032011

It’s registration time again! I’ve always forgotten, but I want to post up a list of courses you can take next semester that are related to sustainability – and while there’s a very large list on the forums, I want this to be a list of courses people actively recommend for eco-minded folks. With that in mind, I’ve got three – if you’ve got others (aka, I spend no time outside of Benedum, and so know nothing about liberal arts), post a comment and I’ll add them. This post is likely to be reposted once a year, hopefully growing each time.

Engineering:

CEE 1217 – Green Building Design and Construction – A great introduction to green buildings, and a thorough background in LEED

CEE 1218 – Design for Environment – Think Design for {Reuse, Repair, Longevity, Lightweight, Human Health, Carbon Footprint}. The course focuses on techniques, strategies, and hands-on activities as examples. Excellent for anyone who will ever be near product design.

GEOL 1333 – Sustainability – Ward Allebach’s famed sustainability-on-campus projects course. Come learn how to plan, actualize, and present an effort to make Pitt a better place (and add your piece to our projects library!), as well as hearing from a bunch of great speakers from various walks of life.

If there’s something you think should be on here, let me know.

Pitt’s First Rain Garden

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Jul 192011

Pitt has its first student-driven piece of green infrastructure!

Over July 9-10, students from ESW got together to implement the rain garden which was designed over the previous few months. It is ~150 square feet and located in the northwest corner of the Petersen Events Center lawn, where it will help to absorb runoff from both the terraced hillside and the concrete stairs.

The project was funded by the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation (MCSI), and the team is indebted to SEEDS program manager Barton Kirk, Pitt Facilities Management, and Pitt Geology Professor Daniel Bain for all their help along the way.

Saturday was consumed by initial excavation of the site by the landscape service that manages the lawn (cons: fossil fuel burned. pros: significantly faster), as well as mixing compost and sand into the clay which masquerades as soil. The garden’s basic shape is an oval with a high berm around the edge to catch extra water, with a covered drain at one end leading to a deeper sump for excess runoff, located about 25 feet away.

Armed with rakes, shovels, and 5 gallon buckets, half the team worked on finishing the berm to give it a shallower slope, as well as increasing the height of the overflow channel and moving some of the river rock to the upper inflow channel.The team picked up native plants from Sylvania Natives in Squirrel Hill on Sunday morning, where they were grown organically, without a greenhouse, and using rainwater for irrigation. Kathy was a huge help, and is excited to see the project succeed! The other half adapted the initial plant plan to the slightly different shape of the real garden and marked all the locations with plant stakes, clustering similar plants together in groups of 3. As the landscapers finished, the first planting took place with the service-berry tree, and worked outwards from there. An hour or so later – with many helping hands – all of the plants were in place.

Following the application of 10 large bags of mulch, and an initial watering, the team broke for pictures, pizza, and conversation about the upcoming school year. Daily watering will continue every day for the next month or so, except when the drenching thunderstorms appear. After two of these, the garden seems to be holding up well, though some of the taller plants have fallen over and will be getting supporting stakes soon.

4th Annual Student Sustainability Symposium Recap

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Apr 232011

The 4th Annual Student Sustainability Symposium was yesterday. Moving away from live-bloggin the talks (which, for all that it has a certain interesting tone, is more sensible if people are reading it live), we present instead this recap of the various presentations, many of which are projects which will end up in our library for those interested in the details.

The morning opened with a lot of networking as various groups and projects arrived to set up their booths, and a lot of noise and calamity as ESW proceeded to build a pallet hut in the middle of it all using hammers and electric drills (We apologize to everyone). Other booths included a table full of tools, burlap sacks, and plants for Plant to Plate and an old umbrella redone to look like a spotted mushroom, and featuring a pile of mycological trivia at FtP.

The first speaker was Sustainability Coordinator Dan Marcinko, introduced by Vice Chancellor Jim Earl. Both provided an excellent recap of facilities numerous efforts and some of the partnerships that have formed as a result of some of these efforts, as well as the creation of the Sust. Coordinator position and Sust. Team in FM. Dan’s talk told the story of how the Carillo Steam Plant came to be, including working with the company to get the emissions to the ultra-low standards they had promised. Expect a grand opening when that plant comes fully online and Pitt is no longer getting steam from the Bellefield plant!

The second speaker event was the administrative panel, made up of representatives from Student Life, Housing/Dining services, Sodexho, and Facilities, and moderated by SuSC Chair Buck Favorini. After some brief introductions to what the departments have done, the floor was opened to questions, many of which focused on the possibility of certain projects, or the various groups working more closely with students. (If anyone has more details to contribute to this overview, let me know.)

After a brief break, the student presentations started.

Commit Pitt worked on (originally) getting Pitt to sign onto the American Colleges and Universities Presidents’ Climate Commitment, arguing that it would be a big PR step and that we’ve already done several of the initial requirements, including the GHG inventory (which will be getting updated this year). Though they petitioned and got support from several student groups, including a unanimous statement from SGB, they ended up working on other issues, such as the creation of the Environmental Leaders Council (who I still haven’t written a post about. soon.)

The Reducers worked on reducing Pitt’s waste streams, focusing on plastic bags and ….

Sustainable Seven worked on education about sustainability issues around campus, culminating in the creation of the Freshman Sustainability Handbook, which includes a rating guide to sustainable restaurants.

MCSI Groups:

Café to Farm Composting worked with restaurants and farmers in Canonsberg (which is easier than Pittsburgh because of health codes) to set up a compostable collection system that farmers could use on their farms. The group analyzed the life-cycle impacts of the system as well as creating signage and some logistics for both the front-end and back-end of the restaurant.

Biofuels on Marginal Lands – A research project from SGD, this group worked with GTECH to determine whether sunflowers (a biodiesel feedstock) planted on vacant lots around the city were effective at removing heavy metals from contaminated soils. Often these were from either demolished houses and tools or former industrial tenants. Results are mixed for almost all the metals, though a few show a fairly clear decline – though a lack of bioremediation makes the crop better for biofuels, if not as good for community gardens.

Student Groups:

Free the Planet wrapped up last year by starting the pilot of the Green Fund (see more below). This year, they once again held their Fair Trade Cafe event, and added a locally-themed PA Cafe in the Spring. The big push was to create an Eco-Reps program, which should hopefully start in the fall. They also helped send a large contingent of students to PowerShift this month.

Engineers for a Sustainable World continued their efforts with Vandergrift, redesigning a floor of apartments to be high-efficiency spaces for seniors, and testing a new prototype and design philosophy for hydrokinetics. They also branched out into the local projects space, putting together one of the first Green Fund proposals, for educational permanent signs in dorms, and teaching 6 2-hr classes with the Kingsley Association (check out the Library for more).

Plant to Plate had their first full year of farming, and is now firmly ensconced on an Oakland Ave. plot of land. They have a dedicated core of students, increased capacity, and are growing their outreach efforts.

Green Fund/SGB Environmental The Green Fund pilot spawned the Student Sustainable Projects Committee, which was closely affiliated with SGB Env. this year. They received ~10 project proposals during the fall (over half from ESW!), and managed to get 5 of them completed – aerators in Tower C sinks, a composter for Plant to Plate, publishing the Freshman Sustainability Handbook, outdoor recycling bins near dorms, and ESW’s permanent educational signs for dorms. Hopefully next year we’ll see the return of this program and some more projects beyond the dorms.

Pittsburgh Student Environmental Coalition has been working on several campaigns over the last year, primarily around the Marcellus Shale. They work on education and outreach with a strong activism streak, and were founded by students from Pitt, Duquesne, and Chatham, though they now have membership from CMU, Point Park, and IUP as well!

If you have details to add to this recap, I’m happy to add them – leave them in the comments!

Pitt’s First Rain Garden

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Apr 192011

A group of Pitt students led by ESW is teaming up with MCSI, Pitt’s Facilities Management, a non-profit organization called SEEDS, and Dr. Dan Bain of Pitt’s Geology Department in order to bring a community rain garden here to Pitt’s campus. A site on the northwest corner of the Pete Lawn has recently been chosen (and approved) for the project. The rain garden will serve to capture rain water, and hold it in a shallow pond-like garden structure, until in can naturally infiltrate the soil thus reducing the amount of run-off that floods both Pittsburgh’s sewer system and the grass on the Pete Lawn.

Members of the project team, which consists of active ESW and FtP members, will be responsible for all phases of the assessment, design, and construction of the rain garden. The assessment phase is set to begin in early May, just after finals have been completed. Upon receiving the necessary information from these tests, the design phase will commence in mid-May, with construction expected to be finalized by the end of June.

The project team is excited to not only deliver something beautiful and functional to the Pitt campus, but also to raise the awareness of sustainability in the Pitt community by posting explanatory signs at the rain garden site.

For more information, or if you’d like to get involved, please contact project leader David Palm at dwp12@pitt.edu.

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