An interactive plant wall, a labyrinth garden and a test site for an innovative fertilization system were among seven student, faculty and staff-led projects to be awarded a share of this year’s $50,000 Sustainability Encouragement & Enrichment Development (S.E.E.D.) Fund. 

Started in 2017 by the Office of Sustainability, the S.E.E.D. Fund provides up to $10,000 in grants to projects that advance the university’s sustainability goals. The grants are awarded by a student-majority committee and supported by student sustainability fees.

“Student involvement is what really makes the difference,” says Ruairi O’Mahony, executive director of the Rist Institute for Sustainability & Energy (RISE).

Several of this year’s projects once again included collaborations with community partners, which O’Mahony says is “a testament to the stellar work that takes place on campus” to address sustainability and energy problems.

“We need these new ideas and new initiatives every year if we’re going to have any chance of meeting our goals not only on campus, but quite frankly at the state, federal and global level,” he says.

This year’s grant-winners were recently recognized during a ceremony at the Allen House. The projects included:

Interactive Plant Wall: Rosemary Louro, a junior public health major, received $10,000 to install a plant wall — a vertical garden with a built-in irrigation system — in a building on campus.

“Academic studies show bringing the outdoors inside makes any environment more relaxing and reduces stress,” says Louro, chair of health and wellness for the Student Government Association. “Plant walls also lower ambient temperature and noise, which can assist in keeping building on campus sustainable.”

 Louro will work with Facilities Management to identify a location for the plant wall. She hopes to have it installed in the fall.

Green Schools Energy Modeling: With support from a $10,000 S.E.E.D. grant, UML mechanical engineering students will build a computer model of the energy systems in a Lowell public school building, providing a roadmap for energy-efficiency interventions.

Led by Katherine Moses ’12, energy manager for the City of Lowell, and Craig Thomas, assistant director for sustainability at UML, the project is a continuation of the Lowell Green Community Partners.

“As a UMass Lowell alum now working for the city, it’s exciting to be able to tap into the brain trust here and help give the next generation of sustainability workers an opportunity to apply real-world expertise to real-world buildings,” Moses says of the work, which is expected to begin in the fall.

Green Fertilizer: Energy engineering Ph.D. students Benard Tabu, Samuel Alpert and Visal Veng received $8,000 to install and test their environmentally friendly, on-demand fertilizer system at the Rist Urban Agriculture Farm on East Campus.

Working with Mechanical Engineering Assoc. Prof. Juan Pablo Trelles and Electrical Engineering Assoc. Prof. Cordula Schmid, the students are developing a system that uses solar energy, water, air and plasma to produce nitrate-rich fertilizer that is better for the environment than fertilizers currently on the market — and also addresses the problem of food insecurity in developing countries.

“We are so excited to help change the way fertilizer is produced, increasing access for vulnerable people and making the world a better place for everyone,” Tabu says. 

The students, who will collaborate with the Rist Institute for Sustainability & Energy and Mill City Grows at the test site, won the $4,000 Commitment to Sustainable Environment award at last year’s DifferenceMaker $50,000 Idea Challenge.