Capstone Research Project

The Capstone Research Project brings together the education, research and outreach/service missions of the Institute. They are conducted by teams of undergraduate environmental students in their junior or senior years, either on campus or at one of the Institute field sites in North Carolina and abroad. Topics for the projects are selected from recommendations by Community Advisory Boards and other clients, and focus on a significant environmental issue requiring broadly interdisciplinary research. The projects are a learning experience for our students, a chance for them to conduct team-based research typical of professional practice, and our way of bringing the expertise of Carolina to bear on the issues facing communities. We invite you to explore the results of this work through any of the materials provided below. Please contact the Institute for more information on any of these projects, or to recommend future projects.

Examples

• Spring 2008
  • Wachovia employee education module - an online tool for Wachovia employees, explaining the environmental, health, and financial impacts of everyday activities at home, at work, and traveling
  • Preserving Focus the Nation - an online class material database and web site
  • Evaluating student energy use at UNC - a suite of recommendations for UNC to help reduce student energy use
  • UNC Air travel emissions - methodology and calculations for estimating the carbon emissions from UNC air travel
• Summer 2005, Carbon Reduction in Chapel Hill
• Spring 2005, Microbial Disease in Watersheds
• Summer 2004, Carbon Reduction Project (CRed)
• Spring 2004, One North Carolina Naturally