Hanley Sustainability Institute

University of Dayton students are taking part in the global climate strike Friday, Sept. 24, according to campus organizers. The group is calling for students, faculty and others to meet in the Humanities Plaza from noon until 2 p.m. Friday to strike for the future.

University of Dayton student Brigid Morgan is researching how solar panels at UD’s Curran Place affect the community of pollinators gathering next to the panels. Under the direction of Associate Biology Professor Chelse Prather, Morgan is a senior biology major with Spanish and philosophy minors. She plans to present her honors thesis in March 2022. For weeks, she used pollinator traps - different colored containers attracting different species inside and outside the solar array - and took them to the lab to identify them.

Under the direction of Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering Mechanics Denise Taylor, University of Dayton student Peter Fabe is assessing recycled plastic and considering the design of a plastics processing machine to bridge from post-consumer waste to the plastics input for 3D printing.

University of Dayton student Mary Claire Atkinson is researching the Latino/Latina/Hispanic population’s relation to sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and cultural dietary customs. Atkinson, a senior dietetics major and Spanish minor under the direction of assistant professor Diana Cuy Castellanos, is working on a narrative review examining the idea of a sustainable diet.