Environmental Efforts Being Recognized on Campus

Carnegie Mellon wants to recognize those individuals and groups on campus who are making an effort to conduct research, participate in campus activities, and live their lives in a way that helps and/or minimizes damage to the environment. Below you will find several awards that reflect Carnegie Mellon's commitment to helping the environment.


Carnegie Mellon Undergraduate Environmental Research Award

All Undergraduate Research Symposium participants undertaking projects with a strong environmental component are eligible to enter the competition for the Undergraduate Environmental Research Award. To compete for this award you must check the appropriate box on the registration form. You may apply for this award in addition to applying for other awards such as the CIT Honors Poster Competition, Sigma Xi Poster competition etc.

A panel of judges will rate your poster or presentation using the following criteria:

  • Significance of project with respect to improving or protecting the environment (25% of points).
  • Abstract quality (15%)
  • Clarity of Objective (15%)
  • General quality of Work (15%)
  • Quality of Poster or Presentation (15%)
  • Response to Questions (15%)

The award winner will receive a cash prize of $200. The winner will be announced at the awards ceremony following the Undergraduate Research Symposium. To compete in the competition, you must register for the Undergraduate Research Symposium and check off the box for the Undergraduate Environmental Research Award.


Excellence in Environmental Building Practices - Carnival Booth Building

Award - Potential to score 20 additional points in the judging competition

Judging form will have criteria for judges to determine the environmental impact of Carnival booths. The criteria for the 20 points will include:

  • Reuse of material
  • Minimizing impact on the landfill
  • Structural Design - ease of tear down and salvageability
  • Effective design with minimal material use
  • Use of environmental materials
  • Avoidance of toxic materials
  • Creative use of found materials
  • Use of efficient lighting
  • Overall environmental stewardship

Coming Soon...


Environment Across the Curriculum Award

The Environmental Across the Curriculum (EAC) initiative has been set up to provide opportunities for all Carnegie Mellon students to learn about environmental issues as part of their regular course work. The concept behind the initiative is that any productive member of society-whether pursing an environmental career or not-needs to have a least a minimum understanding of environmental issues and problems that affect our lives.

The EAC Award is part of the new initiative. The award is open to faculty, teaching staff and graduate teaching assistants who develop and teach a module on environmental issues in a course that is not primarily environmental. A module includes the following items:

  • A class handout written by the instructor or TA that relates an environmental issue to the course material.
  • lecture notes or outline of major topics covered in class
  • example problems with solutions used as class examples, homework problems, or test questions. The example problems should be based on the class handout.

The award can be won by an individual or by a team, e.g., a course instructor and teaching assistants.


Coming Soon...


Sustainable Practices Award

The Sustainable Practices Award is designed to encourage the development of sound environmental practices at the individual or departmental level that could serve as a model for the rest of campus and/or other institutions of higher education. The award recognizes those individuals and departments which take steps to conserve resources and minimize waste while incurring financial savings. All groups, departments, and members of the campus are eligible for consideration. Individuals are permitted to nominate themselves.