There are a number of ways for students to become involved in CSUN's sustainability efforts. Beyond adopting sustainable habits in your everyday life, you can create programs, conduct research, generate valuable data, and perform work that will have a lasting impact on sustainability at CSUN. Explore the opportunities below to discover many ways to get involved!
Project Opportunities
Facilities Planning, Design and Construction
Interested students please contact
Analyzing Energy Data for Building Optimization:
CSUN's Energy Information System (EIS) has vast amounts of utility data on various campus buildings. Interns would be responsible for analyzing this data to identify opportunities for energy and water savings through conservation or efficiency methods.
Trash Talkers
Design and create a training manual for student volunteers, who will be near waste stations to educate their peers on how to properly dispose of compostable, recyclable and landfill-bound material.
Institute for Sustainability
Interested students please contact
Assessing Farmer's Market Participation and Perceptions:
Work with Institute for Sustainability faculty and staff to design and conduct a survey of peoples' attitudes and behaviors regarding the farmer's market on campus. Survey results should enable project leaders to make recommendations for increasing participation in the farmer's market and improving educational engagement on topics relating to locally produced food, nutritional health and waste.
Educating Campus Users through Interactive Engagement:
Design and create activities, materials, displays or other educational media to be used during sustainability events to teach attendees about various topics surrounding sustainability. The focus can be at the campus, local, statewide, national or global level. Successful materials and strategies will entertain and educate attendees, and inspire them to play an active role in CSUN's sustainability efforts.
Culture Shift: Building a Sustainable Community:
Create a plan for a sustainability "street team" that includes a recruitment plan and how-to guide for volunteers interested in engaging the campus community. The guide should encompass all relevant aspects of sustainability, discuss their importance and include ways for people to live more sustainability through their actions, attitudes and interactions with others.
Institute for Sustainability Garden Program:
Work in the Sustainable Garden and Education Center maintaining garden beds, harvesting produce, pulling weeds and performing pest management duties.
Institute for Sustainability Compost Program:
Perform collection of kitchen scraps from campus dining locations, turning compost beds and distributing compost in the food garden.
Institute for Sustainability Event Planning:
Coordinate the logistics of Sustainability Day, Water, Day, Orange Picks and other campus events hosted by the Institute for Sustainability.
Sustainability Outreach:
Write stories for The Footprint newsletter, create brochures and flyers and represent the Institute for Sustainability on social media and at tabling at events.
Sustainability Research:
Create surveys, analyze data and write reports based on findings for various campus and community sustainability-related research.