Dow Sustainability Fellows Global Impact Series

The Dow Global Impact Series provides a glimpse into the interesting, and often rewarding work of graduate students engaged in the Dow Sustainability Fellows Program, including projects led by fellows and distinguished scholars. Each summary in the series is based on a report produced by student teams and highlights key issues, their approach and project outcomes. Videos provide student perspectives about the Fellows Program.

Ride Sharing in Motor City

As you enter the city, Detroit’s reputation as the Motor City is readily apparent. With wide streets and long blocks, Detroit is a city made for cars. In many places, it is difficult to access amenities – fresh food, jobs, healthcare – without a vehicle.

Team Members: Kenneth J. Fennell Jr, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy (SPP); Diego Garcia Montufar Garcia, SPP; Maureen Lackner, SPP; Benjamin Morse, SPP and School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS); Selin Nurgün, SEAS

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Sink Your Teeth Into Sustainability

In healthcare, the main priority is always the patient. “Being green” just isn’t at the forefront of practitioners’ minds. However, the U-M Board of Regents approved a redesign of the School of Dentistry in September 2016 using sustainable design elements.

Team Members: Mary-Catherine Goddard, School of Public Health; Shivani Kamodia, School of Dentistry; Robert Meyer, College of Engineering and School of Natural Resources and Environment (SNRE); Sean Pavlik, School of Business and SNRE; Megan Schmenk, Law School; Elizabeth Yates, School of Medicine

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Converting Food Waste to Energy with a Biodigester

A Dow Sustainability Master's Fellows team investigated the feasibility of installing a biodigester on campus to reduce food waste and capture gas to use for energy. Achieving U-M’s goals requires eliminating 5,300 tons of landfill waste and 170,000 metric tons of CO2 equivalent per year. A new biodigester could be one way to achieve multiple goals.

Team Members: Micaela Battiste, Ross School of Business and School of Natural Resources and Environment; Seth Buchsbaum, Law School and School of Natural Resources and Environment; Andrew Eberle, Law School; Harry Wolberg, Ford School of Public Policy

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Black Flies Can Be A Good Thing

With a $5,000 seed grant from the Dow Distinguished Awards competition, a U-M student team conducted a study to determine the demand for a black soldier fly feed production facility, and how this might contribute to an emerging agriculture and waste management industry.

Team Members: Mohammad Azimi, Ross School of Business (RSB) and the College of Engineering (COE); Eric Katz, RSB; Katie Matton, COE; Jonathan Luthy, COE. View the document below for a list of all project team members.

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Detroit’s Crow House – Updating the Urban Settlement House Tradition

To address both the need for energy efficient housing and access to healthy food, a University of Michigan team of graduate students interested in urban socioecology developed the Crow House project.

Team Members: Marlena Hanlon, School of Social Work and Taubman School of Architecture and Urban Planning; Ross School of Business, and School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS).

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Shaping the Future of Food in the Mississippi Delta

“A major barrier to achieving a more food secure future is that it’s difficult for people who are concerned with the many issues of poverty to devote time to community organizing,” says Bengston. Another is the amount of food being exported.

Team Members: Lee Taylor-Penn, School of Public Health and Ford School Public Policy; Anna Bengtson, Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning (TCAUP) and School of Natural Resources and Environment; Grace van Velden, School of Public Health (SPH); Kathleen Carroll, Stephen M. Ross School of Business and School of Natural Resources and Environment; Sarah Ladin, Law School

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Innovation of the Mundane: Better Stoves, Better Toilets, Better Lives

Underlying contributors to serious health and environmental challenges often don’t receive the attention they deserve. This BlueLab India project addresses toilets and cookstoves, two examples which may not readily come to mind when contemplating global health issues.

Team Members: Stove Sub-team Leads: Sarah Rogers and Sai Bolla, College of Engineering (COE); Toilet Sub-team Leads: Garima Gupta and Rachel Ross, COE. View the document below for a list of all project team members.

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Housing for All Initiative: Slum Redevelopment in India

The Dow Fellows student project team developed recommendations to ensure the successful implementation of the Housing for All program through the analysis of previous housing policies in India, and the study of city-wide housing schemes.

Team Members: Michelle Hindman, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy (SPP); Olivia Lu-Hill, Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning (TCAUP); Sean Murphy, College of Engineering (COE); Sneha Rao, SPP; Yash Shah, COE; Zeqi Zhu, School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)

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Using Data Science to Support Indian Farmers

Increased drought, a lack of irrigation access, and volatile market prices for popular cash crops have left many Indian rural farmers deep in debt. These changes, coupled with complex political issues, have led to high poverty and high farmer suicide rates.

Team Members: Hassan Bukhari, Shamitha Keerthi, Kavya Vayyasi, Kavya Vayyasi and Sara Cole, School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS); Adithya Dahagama, SEAS and Ford School of Public Policy; Aniket Anand Deshmukh, College of Engineering (COE); John Monnat, Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning; Samhita Shiledar, SEAS, COE; Pavel Azgaldov, SEAS and Ross School of Business; Leon Espira, School of Public Health (SPH); Stacy Pancratz, Institute for Survey Research; Kelly Serfling, SPH; and Brian Wang, COE

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Making Santa Marta Home

Vila Santa Marta in Brazil is a community facing a number of socio-environmental challenges. These challenges include trash in public spaces, difficulties with waste management and road infrastructure and inadequate water and sewage systems that can lead to flooding.

Team Members: Jamilla Afandi, Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning (TCAUP); Aayat Ali, TCAUP and School of Social Work; Stephanie Gerretsen, TCAUP and School of Kinesiology; Alexis Gomez, TCAUP and School for Environment and Sustainability

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Acknowledgements:
U-M students Erin Barton, Geneva Langeland, and Raji Kunapuli contributed to the development of these summaries. We are grateful to the Dow Master’s and Distinguished Awards students and project partners who reviewed content and provided additional resources for this series.