Current and On-going Green Fund Projects

This project will teach the Tufts community bike riding so that they can navigate in a safe, sustainable and more efficient way on campus. There are numerous bike services on campus: bike check-outs from Tisch, a free bike repair shop, and numerous bike racks all over campus. However, all these programs can only serve a limited population: those that already know how to ride bikes. The project aims to bridge the gap between those who have had the opportunity to learn biking at a young age and those who have not. The Green Fund selection committee awarded Bos to Bikers $4,110 for safety equipment, helmets, trainings on teaching biking, and compensation for biking teachers.

The Double Arrows project will work with artist Elizabeth James Perry, a member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head - Aquinnah, to do a restorative planting garden with an emphasis on natural dye plants at the Indigenous Center in conjunction with her solo exhibition at Tufts University Art Galleries. It will extend the Galleries' project into a long-term engagement with the Tufts community through building outdoor container gardens and planters with Native plants conducive to natural dye, weaving and basketry practices. Double Arrows' gardens will continue to be stewarded by the Indigenous Center students through a manageable caretaking plan for the next three years. The group will create one or two container gardens at the Indigenous Center. Perry will do a workshop with students in advance of planting to share natural dye planting and weaving techniques and interested students can join her in the transplanting seedlings to the plot in May 2023. The Green Fund selection committee awarded Double Arrows $5,750 for container planters, facilities needs, seeds, plants, soil, gardening supplies, workshop supplies, an artist honorarium, and student stipends for project management and caretaking.

The Boston Campus Community Garden Project will create a Boston Community Garden on the Tufts Boston campus to provide a space for the community to come together and connect with one another and the land through the act of gardening. The garden aims to provide a beautiful green space within the city campus and be open for enjoyment by students and faculty alike. The garden will consist of a 10x10 plot of arable land within the Posner Courtyard. They also
hope to add hardy native flowering perennials to the outskirts of the Jaharis Courtyard. Managed by the students, they hope the garden will provide the coming generations of Health-Sciences students with healthy produce and act as a symbol for Tufts’ commitment to sustainability. The Green Fund selection committee awarded the Boston Campus Community Garden Project $621 for fertilizer, garden tools, seeds, a watering can, travel costs, and food and water for work days.

The 16th annual Tufts Nutrition Data Symposium (theme: Sustainability NOW! Action-Oriented Solutions for Food Systems, Nutrition, and Diet) is a student-driven event that aims to empower the next generation of professionals in nutrition, public health, and data science. Held from March 8-10th, 2023, TNDS will feature hands-on workshops, student research, networking, exploration of solutions, and learning from experts. It will promote sustainability across multiple domains while highlighting solutions and action in the nutrition sustainability space; expose important topics, provide hands-on analytical and technical workshops, and opportunities to practice communicating findings; and advance student careers by connecting students with new ideas and other researchers. The Green Fund selection committee awarded the TNDS Leadership Committee $3,600 to support operational and technical costs, awards, giveaways, and honoraria for external keynote speakers.

This project will support conversion of most of Tufts Center for Conservation Medicine’s Grafton Campus wildlife camera array, known as Cummings Critter Cams, from battery to solar power. The Cummings Critter Cam project helps train MS students, but is also used for ongoing research projects, local outreach, and to give the Tufts community a greater appreciation for the wildlife around the Grafton campus. Solar conversion will minimize use of disposable and rechargeable batteries and allow for fewer camera checks, thereby lowering human disturbance. By powering cameras indefinitely, it will save time, money, and the impact of human traffic in the forest for checking the cameras. The Green Fund selection committee awarded the team of students and professors $2,600 to cover costs of solar packs, security cable locks, and retrofitting.

This team will organize a recurring symposium for the development and exchange of ideas in the Environmental Humanities, leading to future collaborations and place-based projects on our university’s campuses. Tufts faculty, students, and staff across schools, as well as local activists and Indigenous residents, will be invited to participate in the symposium and lead discussions to unpack pressing topics and take active part in defining questions, conversations, and hands-on projects. The symposium will include a panel and roundtable that reimagines a particular challenge on the Tufts campus by using Environmental Humanities frameworks. A session will focus on the widespread use of monoculture lawns on the Medford Campus, and the event will conclude with a proposal for the Medford campus. Graduate and undergraduate students will contribute to planning, promotion, event moderation, and participation. The team will partner with student clubs and academic courses to foster knowledge creation and community building around the Environmental Humanities both in and outside the classroom. The Green Fund selection committee awarded the team $5,700 to cover speaker honoraria and transportation, marketing, printing, and food for attendees.

The Tufts Craft Center is a student-volunteer-run space on the Medford Campus. By investing in a Craft Center Box, it would give student groups access to a set of shared craft supplies for use at campus events, especially at times of high demand for the center’s supplies. This box will be available for student organizations and identity centers to borrow the box for workshops. The Green Fund selection committee awarded the team $693 to fund storage bins, scissors, markers, glue sticks, rulers, and replacement materials.

The Green Exercise Initiative will install an energy producing treadmill in the Steve Tisch Sports and Fitness Center to work towards a carbon-neutral Tufts and promote a healthier herd. The treadmill will produce clean energy while increasing awareness of CO2 production. Energy produced will result in a profit of $138/year. After the pilot project is completed, success will be reviewed, and Tufts Athletics may explore the possibility of replacing all gym equipment with energy-producing equivalents. The Green Fund selection committee awarded the team $5,382 to fund an energy-producing treadmill, freight, and installation.

This project aims to get the Medford/Somerville campus certified as a Tree Campus Higher Education by the National Arbor Day Foundation. This will create opportunities for Tufts community members to get involved with urban forestry and build a support system for maintaining and expanding our canopy while drawing attention to the need for intentional tree protection. Long-term, the team hopes to create opportunities for students to volunteer and intern with the cities of Medford and Somerville. The Green Fund selection committee awarded the team $8,050 to fund trees, Arbor Tree event costs, tree inventory supplies and analysis, t-shirts, and identification signs.

Tufts Pollinator Initiative 2.0 (TPI 2.0) is a project that will build off a previous Green Fund proposal, Tufts Pollinator Initiative. The Green Fund selection committee awarded TPI 2.0 $11,000 to enhance urban pollinator conservation by planting new pollinator gardens, training Tufts undergraduate students to become environmental educators, and to strengthen Tufts Pollinator Initiative’s research mentorship program. Previous Green Fund support has enabled TPI to plant 2500+ square feet of pollinator habitat on campus which supports 115+ insect species, helped them teach hundreds of Tufts undergraduate students about urban pollinators, conduct community outreach, and earn Bee Campus USA certification from the Xerces Society.

With students being in a rush, it is very common to order food within a mile radius of campus and running back to lab or the library. Save the Fishes and Do the Dishes will provide Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS) students with reusable, plastic silverware kits. These kits can be as cheap as $5 each, and they include a spoon, fork, knife, and chopsticks. This is a great way for all students to have silverware in their backpacks and to decrease the need to use and buy single-use plastic utensils. This would also decrease the waste produced by takeout food. Moreover, it can allow students to have their own utensils, which is great for COVID-restricted events since meals need to be individually-packaged and served. The Green Fund selection committee awarded this project $1,090 for purchase of utensils and outreach for the project.

SciTech Autoclave is a project to purchase a smaller, more efficient autoclave for the SciTech Center at Tufts. Currently, the SciTech Center has a large autoclave for sterilizing lab equipment that is highly inefficient in water and electricity usage. The Green Fund selection committee awarded the $6,330.77 to the SciTech Autoclave team for purchase of a smaller, more efficient autoclave. The CHBE and BME departments agreed to match up to $5,500 for the purchase of a smaller autoclave. It is estimated that a smaller autoclave will save Tufts around $3,200 annually in electricity and water costs, and it is the hope of the project team and the Green Fund committee that results from this project will prompt other labs at Tufts to purchase more efficient equipment that will provide cost savings in the long term. It is estimated that a smaller capacity autoclave will divert 50% of the usage of the inefficient large autoclave.

The Pearson Bike Rack Project will install two additional bike racks next to existing racks outside of the Pearson Chemistry building on Tufts’ Medford/Somerville campus. Βy providing secure and accessible bike parking, Tufts can promote bike riding to campus, which is more sustainable, safer, and takes up less space on campus than driving. As the surrounding community improves its bike infrastructure, Tufts must keep up with the induced biking demand. The Green Fund committee awarded this project $6,770 for the construction and installation of two new bike racks, opening up 14 new spots for students and faculty to park their bikes outside of Pearson.

Tufts/New Entry, in collaboration with Building Audacity and Essex North Shore Agriculture & Technology School will design, build, and operate commercial hydroponic equipment to foster community engagement, address food insecurity, and enhance student learning. This will serve as a training ground for urban farmers, a living laboratory for plant scientists, and a source of fresh produce year round for the community.

Since receiving funding, New Entry has hired three student interns to support the project. Building Audacity has also been able to secure the lease for the building to set up the hydroponic equipment.

Multi-Site Conference Hosting Initiative (MULCH), led by Tufts University, will develop and pilot an innovative format for hosting simultaneous linked in-person conferences in multiple sites. We will offer links for 4 main conference components:

Keynote Presentations. Building on proven existing technology, we will enhance procedures for remote questions and effective testing protocols to avoid mishaps.
Panel Discussions. For panels of 1 to 4 people, we will enable varying combinations of in-person and remote participation.
Receptions and Social Settings. We will develop and pilot an arrangement for numbered camera/screen locations along a wall in a reception hall, linked across sites.
Online participation. For participants not attending one of the in-person sites, we will provide an online participation option. Blair MacIntyre, a professor at Georgia Tech and a developer with Mozilla Hubs, is helping us develop a virtual reality (VR) space for online participants.

New Entry and Tufts Dining will collaborate for a weeklong series of events in the fall of 2021 that will center around local food and community education. The event will help inform the Tufts community about local food systems, issues facing small-scale beginning farmers, and the work of New Entry which is becoming a more integral feature of food system programming offered at Tufts. This event will also help bridge academic programs and colleges, bringing together graduate and undergraduate students across Medford and Boston campuses. Further, it will provide delicious, locally grown food to students, staff, and faculty, while supporting small farmers in the region and opening additional opportunities for local food procurement by Tufts Dining.

Currently, Elm Café uses plastic wrap or boxes coated with plastic that cannot be composted or recycled. Reusable takeout containers at Elm Café can drastically cut down on waste on the Grafton campus and raise more awareness for sustainability.

The Tisch Rooftop Revitalization project, run by The Tufts Student Garden, will revitalize the current rooftop garden on top of the Tisch Library roof. This project will materialize by planting native species of plants that are meant to target native pollinators, whose numbers are declining at alarming rates. The gardens will be used for educational purposes that can be carried out from the public Tisch Roof space via a sign and potentially partner with the academic departments on studies or projects related to the garden. In any case, it will definitely serve as a means of helping native pollinator populations, reducing stormwater runoff, and absorbing solar radiation.

The TMC composting project will:

Be 100% student-designed and built.
- Foster collaboration between student organizations faculty, and alumni
- Teach basic design and carpentry skills to student volunteers in Nolop maker space
Teach 700 students and Loj guests to compost properly every year.
- Motivate Loj guests to compost on campus and at home
- Train 20+ caretakers each semester in detailed compost management
Reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
- Divert estimated 660 gallons organic material per year from the waste stream

The goal of this project is to implement a recycling stream for single use disposable gloves at Tufts. These gloves are necessary in laboratories and clinics for personnel and patient safety, and can be recycled into consumer goods. This pilot program will focus on research laboratories on the Medford campus and non-infectious clinics at the Cummings Veterinary Medical Center.

Activities since funding:

Created a running glove recycling program in the STC
Diverted over 200 lbs of waste from landfills
Currently expanding across Medford, Grafton, and Boston

Tufts Pollinator Initiative (TPI) is an educational, ecological, and collaborative plan to bolster pollinator health and promote community awareness by:
1. installing interpretive signage around campus
2. cultivating new pollinator gardens
3. developing new pollinator-focused undergraduate curricula
4. leading community-oriented workshops and guided walks
5. receiving Xerces Society for Insect Conservation Bee Campus USA Accreditation

Activities since funding:

Received Bee Campus USA accreditation for the Medford-Somerville Campus
Reached over 1,900 people at events through formal instructor and outreach
Observed over 100 species of pollinators
Planted three native pollinator gardens outside 574 Boston Ave., Tisch Library, and Barnum former Biology department beds

For more information check out their website, Facebook page, Twitter, or #pollinatetufts on Instagram.

Funded During the 2022-23 Cycle

Bos to Bikers

Double Arrows Project

Boston Campus Community Garden Project

Tufts Nutrition Data Symposium

Solar Conversion of Cummings Critter Cams

Environmental Humanities Symposium

Craft Center Box for Sustainable Workshops

Green Exercise Initiative

Making Tufts a Tree Campus

Funded During the 2021-22 Cycle

Tufts Pollinator Initiative 2.0

Save the Fishes and Do the Dishes

SciTech Autoclave

Pearson Bike Rack Project

Grafton Campus Mask Recycling Program

Greening Boston

Funded During the 2020-21 Cycle

Tufts Hydroponics Collaboration

FlowGreen at Tufts

Funded During the 2019-20 Cycle

Every Watt Counts

MULCH

New Entry Fall Harvest Week

SMFA Garden

Take Out at Elm Cafe

Tisch Rooftop Revitalization

TMC Compost

Funded During the 2018-19 Cycle

Nitrile Glove Recycling

Tufts Pollinator Initiative

Quick Links