Since its inception in 2014, the UK Urban Forest Initiative (UFI) has cultivated a dynamic network of collaborators, professionals, practitioners, K-college students, and community members with a dedicated interest in urban and community forestry across the state of Kentucky. From its roots at the University of Kentucky, UFI has expanded through interdisciplinary collaboration with faculty, staff, and students and has begun to embed itself across the state via partnerships with municipalities, higher education institutions, and the UK Cooperative Extension Service. Much of the historical success of UFI and the proliferation of its mission has relied on the strengths of relationships built through ongoing projects, which generate a consistent and reliable foundation for creative, meaningful, and impactful engagement on the frontlines of urban and community forestry efforts.
To continue investment in these synergies and forge new connections across an increasingly diverse stakeholder group, UFI is proposing to develop and host an urban and community forestry (UCF) conference, titled Canopy Con, in the spring of 2024. Such an event would be a timely and direct response to increased interest and investment in UCF across the nation, positioning UK and its partners as beacons for purposeful engagement and innovation.
As proposed, Canopy Con would be a single-day, double feature consisting of a daytime conference and evening public talk. The conference portion will offer registered attendees an educational and experiential program with presentations, panel discussions, and field activities on topics that relate back to the value and practice of community forestry at various scales. The evening seminar will present both conference attendees and members of the public with an opportunity to hear from a well-known ISA Board Certified Master Arborist, urban dendrologist, podcaster, and social media personality, Casey Clapp. Mr. Clapp’s podcast, Completely Arbortrary, uses engaging humor and storytelling to offer the audience a blend of facts and narratives about trees to communicate their value and the relationships that humans share with them each day. Mr. Clapp speaks about trees and arboriculture in an engaging, relatable, and accessible manner that proves effective and meaningful to a broader audience.
Dr. Lynne Rieske-Kinney - Professor, EntomologyDr. Lynn Phillips - Associate Professor, GeographyDr. Chris Sass, Chair - Associate Professor, Landscape ArchitectureGrace Coy - Urban Forest Initiative Coordinator, Forestry & Natural ResourcesShelby Grow - Urban Forest Initiative Outreach Coordinator, Landscape Architecture
Documenting Change - Phase I looked at the Gray Design Building (GDB) before renovation and as the construction process began. The goal was to capture important data before it was lost to the construction process, create an archive for future reference and to publish a website that educated our students and the community on this unique sustainable reuse construction process as well as explore ways to transform the new building into a learning opportunity for our students and the community.
As the construction process continues, Documenting Change - Phase II continues the effort of documentation and web publication including photos, liDAR and helmet cam videos provided by the construction team that will be stored in our archive. As well as new learning modules and articles. What is new this year is our examination of transition as we prepare to move from our current environments to our new shared home and examining the new spaces with an eye toward design intent. What drives this Year 2 proposal is finding new ways to disseminate the information we have already gathered and examining this sustainable project through the lenses of many different specialties. Bringing those efforts and insights together for cross- functional analysis in Year 3.
SK O’Brien - Assistant Professor, Product DesignJoe Brewer - Director of Technology and Facilities, College of DesignCarolina Segura Bell - Senior Lecturer, Landscape ArchitectureRyan Hargrove - Associate Professor, Landscape ArchitectureJordan S. Hines - Senior Lecturer, School of ArchitectureDaniel Livingston - Principal Graphic Designer & Instructor, College of DesignJordan Phemister - Lecturer, Landscape Architecture
This project aims to further the contributions of the Kentucky Climate Consortium (KYCC) to inspire and support transdisciplinary climate research and teaching in Kentucky higher education. The KYCC is a multidisciplinary network of climate researchers and teachers in higher education across Kentucky. The PI for this project, Dr. Cagle, co-founded the KYCC in 2019 with Dr. Carmen Agouridis (University of Kentucky, Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering), and Dr. Cagle has served as Director since 2020. Project Team Members Dr. Alice Turkington, Dr. Yoko Kusunose, Dr. Mary Arthur, and Ryan McCoy are active KYCC members as well as climate-engaged researchers and teachers at UK. For the past four years, the KYCC has relied almost entirely on volunteer labor. We’ve benefitted enormously the last two years from funding for an intern through the Student Sustainability Council and the Office of Sustainability, but all other work has been uncompensated. In order to increase the KYCC’s capacity, particularly to support undergraduate research and learning, this project proposes to use Sustainability Challenge Grant funding to:
Lauren Cagle - Associate Professor, Writing, Rhetoric, & Digital StudiesMary Arthur - Professor Emeritus, Forestry & Natural ResourcesYoko Kusunose - Associate Professor, Agricultural EconomicsRyan McCoy - Ph.D. Candidate, PhilosophyAlice Turkington - Associate Professor, Geography
We have assembled a transdisciplinary, interprofessional team to advance equity in economic development and inform future strategic investments by creating a dynamic equity map for the state of Kentucky. Equity maps tell visually compelling, detailed, interactive stories using dynamic data to highlight strengths and opportunities in a community. This resource is useful for institutional leaders and policymakers at all levels for making informed decisions that impact urban and business development, social services, education, and health. When we can see problems and challenges represented in a visual context, we can seek new ways to define equity and visualize sustainable solutions to achieve it. This project will help secure the sustainability of our institution by engaging and inspiring students from multiple disciplines while leveraging UK’s role as a major player in the local and statewide economy to directly advance strategic economic objectives. Specifically, this project will reveal how UK can best support equity in our communities through strengthening and expanding its relationships with its vendors.
Marilyn Clark - Supplier Diversity Manager, UK PurchasingMelody Flowers - Assistant Vice President, UK Economic Development & Real EstateGeorge Ward - Associate Vice President, UK Economic Development & Real EstateMatthew Wilson - Professor and Interim Chair, Geography
Trees on the University of Kentucky Campus are cataloged and maintained by an Arborist working directly for UK PPD, Grounds. In the past trees removed due to disease or construction on campus were ground up for mulch. In 2020 Coca Cola provided a grant for the purchase of a Lucas Sawmill. The mill is used to produce lumber for academic use by students and faculty. The initiative is called Campus Wood. We have been able to use lumber produced by the mill on several large-scale projects including a pavilion to house the sawmill. Use of the campus wood is limited, however, due to the fact that the wood is "green" and therefore unstable. If used green the wood will shrink and cause finishing issues. To fully utilize the wood for furniture and smaller scale projects the wood needs to be dry to a 7-8% moisture content. To achieve this, we need a kiln.
We propose to purchase a relatively small (800 Board Foot) electric vacuum kiln along with funds to connect it to a power source and funds to pay a student worker to operate the kiln. We propose to locate the kiln at the Vaughn Warehouse site adjacent to where the logs are currently stored and milled.
We believe that the upcycle of campus wood for academic projects and learning is the highest and best use and allows the most local use of our unique campus wood material.
Bruce Swetnam - Associate Professor, ArchitectureChad Niman - Agriculture Research Specialist, Forestry & Natural Resources
The UK iPad Initiative (managed by the Smart Campus Program-SCP), launched in 2019 with the goal of making UK an innovative campus in technology use, now has a total of 26,054 iPad kits distributed among the undergraduate student population. The first cohort of students to receive the iPads (5872 kits deployed) just graduated. While the SCP works with a third-party service platform (GSX) to service and repair the iPad kits, it does not have the ability to track and monitor any other information about the usage of these kits (e.g., charging patterns, total energy consumption, typical battery life, commonly occurring defects, etc.), or how/where they are disposed of at end-of-life when students leave campus. Access to such information and awareness can significantly enhance the SCP’s ability to promote more sustainable use of these devices. Availability of information such as iPad battery life, best use practices, repair and maintenance options, etc., and educating students about sustainability-aware iPad use, based on information gathered, can help make more sustainability-informed decisions when using the iPad kits. A Digital ‘iPad’ Product Passport (DiPP) for the UK iPads (UK-DiPP) to gather and share iPad lifecycle data (in compliance with any privacy and data protection needs), with students and other relevant stakeholders on and off campus, can significantly increase the sustainable use of the kits, better manage e-waste generated as a result of the iPad Initiative, and reduce the overall negative environmental impacts through their use. Such a capability can enable making UK an exemplary institution in both launching and the sustainable management of the iPad Initiative.
The long-term objective of the project team is to develop a comprehensive DPP for consumer electronic products with UK iPads as the pilot case study. The objective for the Sustainability Challenge Grant project is to establish a framework and develop a preliminary DPP for UK iPads (UK-DiPP). Enhanced capabilities for a total lifecycle-integrated UK-DiPP (with supply chain partner platform integration for two-way information sharing), comprehensive sustainability analysis and performance prediction through digital twin development will be explored with additional funding from external sources after successful UK-DiPP pilot testing.
Fazleena Badurdeen - Professor, Dept. of Mechanical & Aerospace EngineeringEdward Wang - Assistant Professor, Depts. of Mechanical & Aerospace Eng. and Electricaland Computer Eng.Junwon Ko - Ph.D. Candidate, Dept. of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering