Arush Lal is a 2017–2018 Global Health Corps fellow at IntraHealth International. During his time at Georgia Tech studying Business Administration, Arush worked to lead several on-campus public health initiatives. These include founding Volunteers Around the World - Georgia Tech, where he led 70 students to four developing countries, providing over 1,200 patients with medications and health education. He is also involved with Buzz Mobile Health, providing healthcare to Atlanta’s homeless populations, and has developed and proposed a new undergraduate degree at Georgia Tech in Global Health Systems and Technology. Arush is passionate about SLS and serves on its Student Advisory Board, providing input on initiatives like the upcoming application for an Atlanta UN-RCE. Arush interned in the Office of Pandemics and Emerging Threats (OGA/HHS) during the Zika Outbreak and worked in the largest trauma hospital in the Dominican Republic. Read his article "…
Check out the article "Voices Rising: Translating Methods to Teach Atlanta" on Atlanta Studies written by Ruth Yow, Center for Serve-Learn-Sustain Service Learning and Partnerships Specialist, and Sarah O'Brien, Brittain Postdoctoral Fellow at Georgia Tech from 2014 - 2017.
How can I work with communities toward a sustainable future? What does happiness look like in a sustainable community?
Sustainability is all about melding the interests of a variety of groups so that each gets equal representation. A community cannot be fully sustainable if it only focuses on its environmental sustainability. Likewise a community fails to be fully sustainable if it emphasizes economic sustainability and lets social equity fall behind.
I was raised to focus solely on the environmental. Since coming to Tech, I have come to recognize the importance of incorporating the other two tenants of sustainability, social and economic. My english class has inspired me to take initiative in fighting racial profiling in law enforcement. The environmental and social issues that I perceive are things that I am passionate about. As Chapter 10 states, it’s important that we find something “big enough for our spirits.” As part of my Grand Challenges…
Which GT showcase invites you to submerge your hand in a roiling tub of fly larvae, hear the reflections of a student ecologist decked out in her waders and enjoy a simulated float down the Chattahoochee River? SLS’s Student Showcase, naturally! This past November, more than fifty presenters from all six colleges awed the judges at the first semiannual SLS Student Showcase. The competing projects engaged with the Sustainable Development Goals and with the SLS theme of creating sustainable communities. It was a delight—and a challenge—to judge the entries. The three showcase winners embraced very different problems and approached them in diverse, creative ways. Third place winner and Sustainable Cities (CEE 4803) student Rachel Elliott exhibited a poster describing her clothing line, Vokse, of “compostable and disposable…
On November 11, 2017, I had the privilege of volunteering with the West Atlanta Watershed Alliance and the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper to take river samples of Proctor, Utoy, and Sandy Creek water. I arrived at Grove Park Recreation Center early that morning and began testing water samples with my team within an hour. It was a fun and eye opening experience to witness what some must do every day to ensure that our creeks and streams are clean and safe for habitats that live around them including everyday people. Upon arrival I was able to witness a brief introduction by the leaders for the day including Dr. Na’Taki Jelks who explained the importance of surveying our streams. A brief explanation of how to collect samples safely was then given and we were then split into groups to travel to our respective sites…
Here at SLS we saw a deluge of terrific applications for our Fall Funding Call for course development on the theme of “creating sustainable communities.” We are excited to announce that we gave out 35 awards, totaling $81,800, to faculty and instructors representing all 6 colleges and 13 schools.
We also enthusiastically welcome our first inaugural cohort of Level 1 Affiliates. These 22 faculty from across all six colleges have been invited to engage in a deeper form of affiliation—through which SLS supports them in, for example, using the teaching toolkit, developing community engaged courses, and piloting new Foundation Courses. Some of this course development will center around SLS key issue areas such as Water and Green Infrastructure and Health, Food, and Communities. We are so pleased to work with this group of dynamic faculty. Please read on for the six course spotlights below,…
Nancy Larson serves as a LEED AP O+M Project Manager for Sustainable Options, LLC, and as a volunteer with the U.S. Green Building Council - GA High Performance Healthy Schools Committee.
With a vision of “green schools for all within this generation,” the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Center for Green Schools (www.centerforgreenschools.org) promotes healthy learning environments locally and globally. In Georgia, the High Performance Healthy Schools program supports that vision through the USGBC-GA Community (http://www.usgbc.org/usgbc-georgia).
To address social sustainability, green building practitioners must consider the impact beyond the “greening” of a project to how it connects with the larger community. Green schools benefit both the natural environment and human wellness, while serving as valuable teaching tools. Students are able to develop skills through integrated curriculum programs that will benefit them throughout their lives.…
Check out this article on "Smart cities for whom? Leveraging technology for an inclusive and just Atlanta" in the Saporta Report, a result of collaboration between SLS and three of our Smart Cities Fellows: Alex Karner, Associate Professor - College of Design; Robert Rosenberger, Associate Professor - Ivan Allen College; and Jesse Woo, Research Associate - College of Business.
I spent the morning collecting water samples as part of the Second Annual River Rendezvous, sponsored by the West Atlanta Watershed Alliance (WAWA) and Chattahoochee Riverkeeper. I don’t find many chances to spend time in the West End (usually just for Serve Learn Sustain courses and to go with my friend to buy hair), but am always thankful to get to see and support the community. Citizen scientists today ranged from people from around the Bankhead area, frequent water quality volunteers, and a large handful of people from Georgia Tech. I am always amazed by the local volunteers and the robust community backing West Atlanta initiatives (whether it be runoff pollution or incoming gentrification, both issues for someone much smarter than myself to sort out), which is a kindness lacking in most of Atlanta and something I haven’t seen much of since leaving Louisville, Kentucky. My partner (a geochemist at UGA that got dragged along) and I were assigned two sites across West Atlanta,…
Drake-Lee Peterson is a graduate student studying Biological Sciences and is currently enrolled in an SLS affiliated course EAS 8803 Environmental Geochemistry. In this post she reflects on the SLS co-sponsored event River Rendezvous earlier this November.
I spent the morning collecting water samples as part of the Second Annual River Rendezvous, sponsored by the West Atlanta Watershed Alliance (WAWA) and Chattahoochee Riverkeeper. I don’t find many chances to spend time in the West End (usually just for Serve Learn Sustain courses and to go with my friend to buy hair), but am always thankful to get to see and support the community. Citizen scientists today ranged from people from around the Bankhead area, frequent water quality volunteers, and a large handful of people from Georgia Tech. I am always amazed by the local volunteers and the robust community backing West Atlanta initiatives (whether it be runoff pollution or incoming gentrification, both issues for someone…