UF has proven its green potential, winning first place in the Environmental Protection Agency’s first Campus RainWorks Challenge in the large institution category. The team that represented UF earned $2,500 and an $11,000 grant to monitor the improvements of its design.
The challenge required the 218 teams of aspiring landscape architects, planners and engineers to design an innovative green infrastructure system that would reduce stormwater pollution and support sustainable communities. The winners were selected after three rounds by a team of 33 judges.
UF’s team consisted of 12 students studying landscape architecture, environmental engineering and agricultural and biological engineering.
Glenn Acomb, landscape architecture senior lecturer and faculty adviser, said he found out about the challenge last summer and thought it was “right up their alley.”
“Landscape architecture is, in many ways, a unique blend of art and science,” he said. “So green infrastructure is an integral part of what we do.”
The team chose the North Lawn as the site of its project.
Landscape architecture senior and team project manager Emily Sturm said the project dealt with cleaning the stormwater from the lawn during its journey to Lake Alice.
“The inspiration behind our design was conveying the ‘journey of water,’” Sturm, 23, said. She said the proposal would lead to cleaner water.
The team was honored at the ceremony with the EPA on Monday. Its designs are now on the EPA’s website.
“The students were commenting that it’s another national championship for the Gators,” Acomb said. “They were really quite proud.”
