Pitt Sustainability Awards & Spring Student Sustainability Symposium
Each spring, the University of Pittsburgh brings together the campus community for a celebration of sustainability: the Pitt Sustainability Awards and Spring Student Sustainability Symposium. The combined event recognizes faculty, staff, students, and groups for outstanding contributions to campus sustainability while showcasing student research and projects, presentations, and tabling from campus and community organizations.
Pitt Sustainability Awards & Spring Student Sustainability Symposium
Friday, April 24, 9:00 am – 3:00 pm
William Pitt Union, 1st Floor (Lower Lounge, Kurtzman Room, Assembly Room, Ballroom)
2026 Schedule
| 9:00 am | Continental Breakfast & Welcoming Remarks | Assembly Room | ||
| 9:20 am | Move to concurrent sessions | |||
| 9:30 am | Student Sustainability Symposium | |||
| Kurtzman Room Moderator: Savannah Denlinger | Lower Lounge Moderator: Emily Potoczny | Ballroom Moderator: Esmee de Cortie | ||
| 9:30 am | Brief welcome from moderator, introduce panel of judges | |||
| 9:35 am | Small Modular Reactors and Nuclear Policy under the Trump Administration | Community Garden Modular Solar Power | Eco Logical Journal | |
| 9:45 am | The Danger in Exempting the Tongass: Deforestation and Violation of Federal Law | Addressing Food Insecurity in the West End | Common Ground Greenways | |
| 9:55 am | Policy solutions to the Risks of Non-stick Cookware | Optimizing Sustainable Systems at the JCC | Evaluating the Environmental Justice Implications of Plastic Credit Marketplaces Using GIS | |
| 10:05 am | Oakland Green Graphers | Policy Approaches to Mitigate Highway Air Pollution | Exploring ideal methods to study neighborhood as a social determinant of health in Pittsburgh: The impact of neighborhood on residential radon exposure | |
| 10:15 am | Safe Wings | Flood-prone disadvantaged communities and how policy and law can protect these communities | What's in our Road Salt? The Regulatory Gaps that Result in the Legal Spreading of Toxic Waste Across Pennsylvania | |
| 10:25 am | PNC Park LEED O+M Feasibility Study; in Partnership with 3R Sustainability | Incentives to Implement Green Stormwater Infrastructure | Lithium mining in Puno in the high altitude regions on Peru: Adverse environmental impacts | |
| 10:35 am | BREAK | BREAK | BREAK | |
| 10:45 am | Carbon Librarians: Expanding BSI's Net-Zero Strategies | Adapting Yunnan's Micro-Hydropower Model for Rural Ethiopia: Learning from German International Development Pilots | Current Proposed Changes in Regulations to The Endangered Species Act and Potential Impacts on Habitat and Species Conservation | |
| 10:55 am | Solar District Cup - Generating Community at Xavier University of Louisiana | Brazilian Information Ecosystems and Vector-Borne Disease: WhatsApp's Role in Dengue Vaccine Misinformation | Equitable, Cost-Effective Integrated Urban Heat Mitigation Policy: Potential for Tree Canopy Expansion and Cool Roof Deployment in Pennsylvania's Post-Industrial Cities | |
| 11:05 am | Solar Mobile Microgrid for Disaster Relief | Beyond the Ruling: Diné Water Solutions After Arizona v. Navajo Nation | Adoption Scenarios for Nano-Enabled Nitrogen Efficient Delivery Systems | |
| 11:15 am | Why deforestation persists: an economic comparison of REDD+ and Plantation Land use | Thinking GREENsburg | Optimizing Construction Project Cost and Efficiency through Reduction in Scope 3 Emissions | |
| 11:25 am | CAFO Manue and Tetracycline Risks | Oakcliffe Greenway Stewards | Reimagining Education with Frick Park Environmental Center | |
| 11:35 am | Pollution concerns from AI Data Centers | Solar Energy and Hydroponic Agriculture Integration | Local Climate Action in Millvale, PA | |
| Move to Assembly Room | ||||
| 11:45 am | Lunch and Pitt Sustainability Awards Program | Assembly Room | ||
| 12:15 pm | Celebratory remarks from Provost | |||
| 12:30 pm | Awards Ceremony | |||
| 1:30 pm | Closing Remarks | |||
| Move to Lower Lounge | ||||
| 1:45 – 3:00 pm | Networking Session, Poster Presentations, Tabling | Lower Lounge | ||
| Poster Presentations - Easel Only | ||||
| Solar Energy and Hydroponic Agriculture Integration | ||||
| Analysis of Water Usage in Hydroponic Systems | ||||
| Evaluation of biofertilizer impacts on hydroponic crops | ||||
| Growing Mycelim Hydroponically | ||||
| A comparative Analysis of Models of Plant Growth in Hydroponic Systems | ||||
| Integrating Mathematics Modeling and Economics in the Evaluation of Hydroponic Systems | ||||
| Pitt Hydroponic Experimental Research Station (PHERS) Website | ||||
| The Importance of Wildfire Mitigation and Recovery Efforts to Denver Water and a Cost Comparison | ||||
| Advancing Climate Resilience in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico through Legal Enforcement and Community-Led Mangrove Restoration | ||||
| Brazilian Information Ecosystems and Vector-Borne Disease: WhatsApp's Role in Dengue Vaccine Misinformation | ||||
| Groups Tabling With Poster | ||||
| Think GREENsburg | ||||
| Common Ground Greenways | ||||
| Eco Logical Journal | ||||
| Oakcliffe Greenway Stewards | ||||
| Oakland Green Graphers | ||||
| Safe Wings | ||||
| Improving Maternal Health Literacy Through a Sustainable Flashcard Tool for Doula Home Visits in Ethiopia | ||||
| BioBurners: A Human-Centered Design Approach to Air Filtration for Medical Waste Management in Rural Honduras | ||||
| Youngling: Upcycling Refrigerators into Germination Chambers to Support Local Food Access | ||||
| SPIA GROUP | ||||
| Certificate and Distinction Cords | ||||
| Student Office of Sustainability | ||||
| Green Fund | ||||
| Free the Planet | ||||
| T-burgh | ||||
| Plant Futures | ||||
| SEG C | ||||
