Capstone Research Project

Capstone Research Projects bring together the education, research and outreach/service missions of the Institute. They are conducted by teams of undergraduate environmental students in their junior or senior years, either on campus or at one of the Institute field sites in North Carolina and abroad. Topics for the projects are selected from recommendations by Community Advisory Boards and other clients and focus on a significant environmental issue requiring broad, interdisciplinary research. The projects are a learning experience for our students, a chance for them to conduct team-based research typical of professional practice and the Institute's way of using the expertise of Carolina to help find solutions to the issues facing communities. We invite you to explore the results of this work through any of the materials provided below. Please contact the Institute for more information on any of these projects or to recommend future projects.

Spring 2009

• Campus foodprint - As part of Carolina's pledge to achieve climate neutrality by mid-century, this team measured the impact of campus dining and considered the value and feasibility of alternative practices, including buying and serving local and organic food. The client was the Vice-Chancellor's Sustainability Advisory Committee. [Final Report | Final Presentation]
• Campus sustainability curriculum and research inventory - - This team created a tool to quantify and evaluate sustainability-related courses, programs and research on campus and to track changes over time. The client was the Vice-Chancellor's Sustainability Advisory Committee. [Final Report | Final Presentation]
• Chapel Hill carbon reduction/streets and fleet - Working with the sustainability/long-range planner at the Town of Chapel Hill as a client, the "streets and fleet" capstone team developed a greenhouse gas emissions inventory for the Town of Chapel Hill vehicle fleet and street lighting and identified possible reduction measures. [Final Report | Final Presentation]
• Chapel Hill carbon reduction/Transit survey - This project built on a fall 2008 capstone that estimated greenhouse gas emissions associated with Chapel Hill Transit. Working with Chapel Hill Transit and the Town of Chapel Hill, the team's goal was to understand transit rider habits and motivations, as well as the kind of trips (e.g., motorized vs. non-motorized) being displaced by transit trips. They also made marketing recommendations. [Final Report | Final Presentation]
• Plastic film recovery - - Team Plastics developed a model of plastic collection in a neighborhood shopping center by launching the first-ever pilot project to determine the effectiveness of a cooperative model linking an anchor grocery store with other retailers. The primary client was Orange County Solid Waste Management Department, and additional input was used from the American Chemistry Council and Harris Teeter. [Final Report | Final Presentation]

Fall 2008

• Campus Green Guide - With a goal of helping students--particularly freshmen--incorporate sustainable practices into their daily lives, this project pulled together existing community and campus resources into one organized, easily accessible place. The resulting Web site and associated materials will be promoted at a variety of events and programs and further refined to reach the general campus community of students, faculty and staff. [Final Report | Web site coming soon]
• Chapel Hill Transit carbon reduction - The Town of Chapel Hill has committed to a 60% reduction in carbon emissions by the year 2050. Drawing on data for Chapel Hill Transit operations, which are not included in recent emission inventories, this team first determined greenhouse gas emissions for 2005-2007 and made recommendations on how to reduce carbon emissions through operations, planning, and policy. [Final Report | Presentation]
• Frozen food packaging environmental footprint - This team compared the life-cycle analysis of two types of frozen food packaging, which are considered energy and material inputs, as well as use and disposal of the products. [Final Report | Presentation]
• Greenbridge education center - The Greenbridge mixed-use complex , now rising near the Chapel Hill-Carrboro border, incorporates cutting-edge environmentally sensitive building, as well as an education center open to the general public. This team developed themes for the education center, along with examples of several exhibits for each of the categories. [Presentation]
• The feasibility of wind energy along the NC Coast [Final Report]

Spring 2008

• Wachovia employee education module - This team conceived and began creating an online tool for Wachovia employees that explains the environmental, health, and financial impacts of everyday activities at home, at work and traveling in between. Team members conceptualized the structure and content of this learning module, collected relevant information and developed slides and voice-over narration. The team presentation describes the final product launched by Wachovia on Earth Day 2008 and discusses additional topics that exceeded the time/length limits for Wachovia's online courses. These materials, relating to food and health, waste, toxics, and transportation, may be used in future learning modules for Wachovia or other audiences. [Presentation | News Article | Online Course Sample Slides]
• Preserving Focus the Nation - This team collected instructional materials from professors who participated in the January 2008 Focus the Nation national teach-in on climate change. Team members established a protocol for storing and disseminating such materials to interested faculty across campus, organizing the materials by academic department. The project is ongoing. [Presentation | Summary Report]
• Evaluating student energy use at UNC - This team created a suite of recommendations for UNC to help reduce student energy use. [Presentation | Final Report]
• UNC Air travel emissions - This team devised methodology and calculations for estimating the carbon emissions from UNC air travel. [Presentation]

Fall 2007

• Community sustainability self-assessment - This team demonstrated an Analytical Hierarchy Process used with environmental, economic and social indicators to perform a sustainability self-assessment. The final report documents the process used to select and weigh indicators in accordance with community goals in order to understand current conditions and map out progress toward more sustainable conditions. The data for Chapel Hill are used for illustrative purposes only and do not constitute an authoritative review of town policies or practices. Additional work is anticipated on identifying, collecting and applying reliable and meaningful data to support indicators. This project was funded, in part, by the Wallace Genetic Foundation. [Presentation | Final Report]

Summer 2004

• Sustainability in Cambridge: Planning the Development of a North West Site for the University of Cambridge [Final Report]

Fall 2004

• Impacts of stormwater runoff to the North Carolina coast - This team provided a basic summarization of the stormwater runoff issues, especially as they pertain to coastal North Carolina and to other coastal areas along the mid-Atlantic seaboard. The team chose to use a multi-faceted approach, with the following foci: characterization of stormwater runoff and its impacts on human health and ecosystems, relationships of impervious surface cover to stormwater runoff characteristics, remediation of stormwater runoff through natural mitigation systems and the economic and societal impacts of stormwater. [Final Report]

Fall 2003

• Beach Nourishment Capstone - This capstone project focused on the controversial issue of beach renourishment, examining the status quo of beach renourishment projects and their economic impacts. [Final Report]