Last week, over forty students from eight different colleges shared their sustainability research at the Student Sustainability Symposium sponsored by Institute on the Environment (IonE).

Alice Yonke, a junior architecture major and sustainability studies minor at the University of Minnesota's College of Design, took top honors with her research on food sustainability on campus, titled: Envisioning our Food System.

According to MN Daily: 

"Yonke surveyed students to find where they got their food and which part of the food system was most important to them.

She found that students were concerned with the environmental impact of their food system and wanted to know what caused the impact.

"A lot of students addressed that availability of sustainable foods on campus was a concern for them and a lot of them would like something to be done about that," she said."

Landscape architecture student Emily Lowery came in second with her work on Fish, Forests and Futures.

"The poster is a visual synopsis of the the past, present and potential future of Mfangano, Island, Kenya, the site of my capstone project," said Lowery. "While the project is in constant evolution, my objective is to investigate methods of reforestation that can replenish the forest canopy, provide incentives to curb deforestation while finding alternatives to current agricultural practices in order to assist reforestation."

Architecture student Elizabeth Turner placed third with her piece on Sustainable Design, Construction, and Maintenance of Educational Environments as Learning Opportunity.

For more details on the work from all students involved in the symposium, please click here. Visit the School of Architecture website, and the Department of Landscape Architecture website, for more information on their programs.