University of Wisconsin–Madison
Michelle Gullickson has always been curious about the role of sustainability in education, first as an educator, then as a graduate assistant at the UW–Stevens Point Office of Sustainability, and now as Green Fund coordinator at the UW–Madison Office of Sustainability. The UW–Madison Green Fund offers financial support for student-led environmental initiatives and, just as …
Re-Wear It, a registered student organization, promotes conscious consumerism and sustainable fashion in the Madison community. They host bi-weekly clothing swaps for campus community members to donate unwanted clothing and pick up a new piece for their closet. By promoting conscious consumerism and creating a circular waste economy, they advance UW–Madison’s zero waste by 2040 …
In the fourth episode of the SustainUW Podcast’s new miniseries, Sustainability Conversations Across the Big Ten, hosts Ren Nickel and Nate Dancer meet with Kate Nelson, John Gardner, Ahnika Seifert, Carley Rice, and Hannah Lauber, representing multiple areas of sustainability from the University of Minnesota, to discuss their zero-waste initiatives, composting, and more. SustainUW members …
In our “Where Are They Now?” series, current student interns interview former students about their experience at the Office of Sustainability (OS), particularly how that experience has helped them since graduation. In the following entry, Tia Gaffney relates her conversation with Olivia Grose, a student who was involved in the Zero Waste Team within the …
Twice a week, the UW–Madison community comes together to share a warm meal. At the front of the room sits a buffet with dishes from cornbread to curry, while chatter-filled tables span the remaining space. Even better, it’s completely free! The Food Recovery Network (FRN) is a UW–Madison student organization that is responsible for …
At UW–Madison’s six dining market locations, staff work hard to feed students by preparing buffet-style meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. To meet the expected demand and decrease food waste, dining market staff use data from annual food waste audits and Leanpath technology to carefully adjust recipe quantities. Though these efforts have been effective at …
One of UW–Madison’s five institutional sustainability goals, first announced by Chancellor Mnookin in February 2024, is to reach net-zero emissions by 2048. Campus leadership set an interim target of 100% renewable electricity by 2030 as an important step on the path to this ambitious goal. Through a strategy that includes working with electric utilities, supporting …
If you’ve been in Union South or Memorial Union lately, chances are you’ve met Oscar. Oscar Sort is UW–Madison’s new AI waste and recycling assistant, introduced by the Office of Sustainability’s Zero Waste Team to improve recycling accuracy on campus. If you hold up a waste item to Oscar Sort’s cameras, it’ll identify it and …
Dr. Mark Anderson and the thermal hydraulics laboratory leverage heat transfer and fluid dynamics to develop engineering solutions that make energy production systems more efficient. Systems of energy production primarily rely on first generating heat and subsequently harnessing this heat to drive processes that range from powering an electrical grid to driving a car. Heat generation necessarily consumes natural resources so minimizing waste generated during energy production is essential to making energy accessible, affordable, and enduring.
Dr. Erica Majumder broadly classifies her research as “waste management microbiology.” Her group aims to use microorganisms to develop new strategies capable of removing pollutants from the environment and repurposing industrial and agricultural waste. With 292.4 million tons of solid waste being produced each year, in the US alone, finding new ways to upcycling these resources is crucial for environmental sustainability.