In keeping with AASHE STARS criteria, Cal Poly proudly promotes CALL, or Campus As a Living Lab, to encourage students to participate in projects related to sustainability on campus. Whether it is teaching students in theater classes how to use materials that can be upcycled or having an engineering class assess monthly energy and water data for campus, Cal Poly has a robust portfolio of sustainability-related CALL projects. Living Lab projects can belong to one or more of the following categories:

Air and Climate	Water	Buildings
Energy	Coordination and Planning	Diversity and Affordability
Food and Dining	Grounds	Investment and Finance
Public Engagement	Purchasing	Wellbeing and Work
Transportation	Waste	Other (arts, culture, etc)

You can find more information about Campus As a Living Lab at the STARS website here. If you want to see information about CALL at Cal Poly, you can view our STARS report here. Below is a listing of many of Cal Poly's CALL projects. If you believe you have a project that is not listed but may qualify, you can fill out the form here to have your project added to the portfolio.

Guidelines for Constructing on Campus

Any student project that needs to construct or install something on campus needs to go through the campus Building Permit process so that Facilities Management & Development (FMD) can ensure all such activities are:

• Safe for participants and passersby during the project and for the campus community afterward
• Compliant with the California building code, ADA, and any other applicable regulations
• Consistent with campus construction standards
• Environmentally responsible
• Appropriately located
• Reviewed and approved by the appropriate campus personnel that need to know about the project, and their feedback/requirements incorporated into the project design/plan
• Authorized by the campus Deputy Building Official prior to commencement of work
• Inspected by FMD during work and upon completion
• Appropriately planned for permanency, or we have the duration for temporary structures with an agreed plan for eventual removal
• Appropriately planned for maintenance if any is necessary, with documentation of maintenance and cost responsibility
   

This process allows FMD to review all project plans in advance to provide necessary guidance to the project team to help ensure their project is successful and does not run into any potentially costly problems or issues that would prohibit the project from taking place or force its removal.

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CAFES

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Cal Poly Organic Farm	Swanton Pacific Ranch Summer Internship Program	Agroecology Learning Garden
Associated Professor: Ashraf Tubeileh Department: Horticulture and Crop Science CALL type: Food and Dining Submitted by: Hunter Francis The Cal Poly Organic Farm is a nine-acre production unit on the campus farm that offers students a place to experience hands-on learning in organic and sustainable farming and gardening practices. Since 2000, it has been home to an array of classes and projects for students interested in agro-ecological approaches to growing food. Current vegetable production... More info	Associated Professor: Grey Hayes Department: Swanton Pacific Ranch CALL type: Other Submitted by: Grey Hayes Our summer interns complete 'career projects' centered on a better scientific understanding of how Swanton Pacific Ranch can improve the sustainability of its crops, livestock, and forest production while better caring for water quality, greenhouse gases, soil health, and conservation of biological diversity. Student interns accomplish hands-on learning in various disciplines... More info	Associated Professor: Nicholas Babin Department: Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences CALL type: Air and Climate; Energy; Food and Dining; Grounds; Water; Public Engagement Submitted by: Nicholas Babin The Agroecology Learning Garden is located at the Cal Poly Student Experimental Farm. The goal of the garden is to support student and faculty research and teaching related to agroecology and sustainable food systems. The garden is comprised of 27 raised experimental beds, pollinator hedgerows, a storage shed, and an outdoor classroom with seating for 32 students... More info
Student Experimental Farm
Associated Professor: Nicholas Babin Department: Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences CALL type: Energy; Food and Dining Submitted by: Hunter Francis The Student Experimental Farm (SEF) is a unique campus resource perched on a hill next to the Compost Unit with a panoramic view of Cal Poly. It is home to an array of interdisciplinary projects focused on sustainable agriculture, permaculture, alternative energy and appropriate technology. Staff at the SEF facilitate academic, research, club and other student activities... More info

CAED

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Architecture Technology Fundamentals and the Student Experience	Cave Studio Site Specific Public Benches	Phillips 66 Repurposing Project
Associated Professor: Carmen Trudell Department: Architecture CALL type: Air and Climate; Buildings; Energy; Grounds; Water; Wellbeing and Work Submitted by: Carmen Trudell Over a three-course sequence, all second year architecture students engage directly with study of the campus, both for sustainability related and non-sustainability related inquiries. In fall quarter, ARCH 241, when studying daylighting, students use light meters to measure illuminance in the design studios and produce graphics displaying light... More info	Associated Professor: Jonathan Reich Department: Architecture CALL type: Buildings; Grounds; Diversity and Affordability; Public Engagement; Other Submitted by: Jonathan Reich Site-specific public benches designed and built by Architecture Professor Jonathan Reich's 4th-year architecture design studio called "Cave Studio." Benches are fixed and added to public sites that are leftover, in-between, under-utilized and available. The benches bring to life the latent potential of such leftover spaces and turn them into vital... More info	Associated Professor: Joe Ragsdale, Jonathan Reich Department: Architecture CALL type: Buildings; Grounds; Coordination and Planning Submitted by: Jonathan Reich As a part of EDES 408: Implementing Sustainability Principles, one of the student-initiated projects evaluated and compared five new uses for the Phillips 66 site including public recreation and habitat restoration, plastics recycling, anaerobic digestion, large-scale battery storage, and green hydrogen production. More info

CENG

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Sustainable Research Lab Alternatives	Teaching renewable energy in ENVE 480 using Cal Poly Facilities	Water-Energy Sustainability Training Team (WESTT)
Associated Professor: Kristen Cardinal Department: Biomedical Engineering CALL type: Waste Submitted by: Ben Goodwin My project was focusing on the amount of waste produced in research labs around the world. While working in Dr. Kristen Cardinal's Tissue Engineering lab for the past year alone I've noticed how much plastic waste is produced since everything in the lab has to remain sterile in order to perform the cell setups. Each pipette tip, sample tray... More info	Associated Professor: Yarrow Nelson, Amr El Badawy Department: Civil and Environmental Engineering CALL type: Air and Climate; Buildings; Energy Submitted by: Yarrow Nelson As part of our renewable energy labs in ENVE 480, students organize and lead class field trips to campus facilities, such as the Cal Poly Solar Farm, The Cal Poly Wind Energy station, the Cal Poly dairy waste lagoons, Poly Canyon Village cogeneration facility and an anaerobic digestor we set up at the Experimental Farm. Students collect data from... More info	Associated Professor: Tryg Lundquist Department: Civil and Environmental Engineering CALL type: Air and Climate; Energy; Waste; Water; Coordination and Planning; Diversity and Affordability; Public Engagement Submitted by: Tryg Lundquist WESTT conducts research, education, and planning projects related to water and energy, particularly wastewater recycling and biofuels. We have collaborated with Facilities and Agriculture Operations on wastewater treatment and biogas energy topics. We host 50 students per quarter participating in hands-on research.
Cal Poly Food Pantry Community Garden	Stormwater sustainability of planned or recently completed building(s)	Building Energy Performance Audits
Associated Professor: Gregg Fiegel Department: University Honors Program CALL type: Food and Dining; Wellbeing and Work Submitted by: Gregg Fiegel The Food Pantry Community Garden project was conceived and implemented by Campus Health and Wellbeing, Facilities, and the University Honors Program. Students working on this project are able to apply horticultural principles in planning and managing outdoor food-producing gardens, explain best practices related to sustainable gardening and organic... More info	Associated Professor: Misgana Muleta Department: Civil and Environmental CALL type: Water Submitted by: Misgana Muleta As part of a graduate course, students are asked to design a sustainable stormwater management solutions for a site of their choice. Every year, several groups select planned or recently completed building(s) on campus, and design/analyse stormwater sustainability of the project.	Associated Professor: Jennifer Mott Peuker Department: Mechanical Engineering CALL type: Buildings; Energy Submitted by: Jennifer Mott The course project is doing a ASHRAE Level 1 Building Audit. As part of the audit, the monthly energy usage (electricity, hot and cold water for heating and cooling) is analyzed for a building on campus. Students tour the building, including the mechanical rooms and take measurements to confirm thermal comfort. The final report includes suggestions... More info
Campus Waste Audit	Psychological Effects on Thermal Comfort in Educational Settings
Associated Professor: Amro El Badawy Department: Civil and Environmental Engineering CALL type: Waste Submitted by: Amro El Badawy I am the advisor of the Zero Waste Club. The club did a waste audit on February 2020 for campus facilities to quantify contamination in recycling bins. The audit focused on dormitory waste and seeing what overall is being thrown out at the dorms and how much of it is contaminated with items that could have been diverted... More info	Associated Professor: Jennifer Mott Peuker Department: Mechanical Engineering CALL type: Buildings; Energy; Wellbeing and Work Submitted by: Jennifer Mott We are developing an app that can be used to log people's thermal comfort in classroom on campus. We will use the data and the app to learn about and then influence people's perceptions of thermal comfort. The goal is to also help improve student performance by identifying locations on campus that are particularly uncomfortable and work with... More info

CLA

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Testing Campus Blue Light App	Reducing waste through the use of reusable mugs at Cal Poly	Campus Sustainability Discourse and Waste Management
Associated Professor: Benjamin Funston-Timms Department: Social Sciences CALL type: Diversity and Affordability; Other Submitted by: Benjamin Funston-Timms Students were able to Beta test a new GIS App on how best to place safety Blue Lights on campus taking into account building footprints and lines of sight for blue lights. It was a success and presented to our Dean's council meeting. Here are the specifics: Opportunity for several Cal Poly GIS students to help test and refine a prototype... More info	Associated Professor: Ryan Alaniz Department: Social Sciences CALL type: Air and Climate; Food and Dining; Waste; Public Engagement Submitted by: Ryan Alaniz Students ran a campaign at Kennedy Library to end single use plastics. Please contact Carlin Hardy (CP student) for details.	Associated Professor: Jason Peters Department: English CALL type: Waste Submitted by: Jason Peters Students use Social Life Cycle Assessment, a research methodology developed by the UN Environment Program, to study the social dimensions of implementing sustainable waste management practices on campus. They write three report genres outlined in the 2009 UNEP "Guidelines for Social Life Cycle Assessment of Products." Their research and writing... More info
Campus Recycling and Waste Container Locational Analysis
Associated Professor: Benjamin Funston-Timms Department: Social Sciences CALL type: Waste Submitted by: Benjamin Funston-Timms Students used Global Positioning Systems and Geographic Information Systems to track usage of waste receptacles for waste and recycling by sampling usage of them and mapping them out with usage to find best locations that are most utilized. Informed facilities about best locations, and those that are underutilized.

COSAM

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Collaborative Global Sustainability Development	Solar-Powered Refrigeration and Cooling Systems
Associated Professor: Peter Schwartz Department: Physics CALL type: Air and Climate; Buildings; Energy; Food and Dining; Purchasing; Transportation; Waste; Water; Coordination and Planning; Other Submitted by: Peter Schwartz We work mostly on improved cooking / electricity access for the global poor. However, everything is studied in our lives and interactions with others.	Associated Professor: Nathan Heston Department: Physics CALL type: Air and Climate; Buildings; Energy; Food and Dining; Waste Submitted by: Nathan Heston Together with my students and collaborators from SunDanzer, I conduct research on solar powered refrigeration, cooling, and ice production systems. In 2019 we built a solar power ice-production and water purification system in the remote fishing village of Agbokpa, Ghana and we have continued collaborative work with Ashesi University in Ghana. This... More info