CAMPUS AS LAB
Local research and teaching for global impact.
WHY CAMPUS AS LAB?
Photo by Eli Burakian
We can pilot the best solutions here.
Embracing a “Campus as Lab” approach allows students, faculty, and staff collaborate to use our campus to generate research, teaching, and creative scholarship on climate change and sustainability. Campus lands, infrastructure, and spaces become dynamic testing grounds where innovative sustainability solutions are piloted in real time. This immersive approach deepens hands-on learning while fostering a culture of environmental stewardship, empowering a new generation of change-makers to tackle pressing climate challenges through research and real-world solutions.
Dartmouth Organic Farm
Dartmouth Sustainability operates an educational organic farm that sits on 220 acres on Lyme Road about three miles from campus. The farm’s growing field abuts public-access walking trails along the river; across the road is forested land that hosts an operational sugarbush and agroforestry research. Each year, the O-Farm grows more than 4000 pounds of diverse organic produce, with over 60 varieties of vegetables, grains, and flowers.
Dartmouth Woodlands Properties
Dartmouth College owns thousands of acres of forested land in New Hampshire and Vermont. Some of these properties, such as the lands around Moosilauke Ravine Lodge (4,500 acres), or those across from the Organic Farm or around the Dartmouth Skiway, are a part of the fabric of Dartmouth life for many faculty, staff, and students. Other properties, such as the Clement Woodlot in Corinth, Vermont (509 acres) are less well known. Dartmouth’s most significant forest property is the Second College Grant (27,000 acres), which is in northern New Hampshire along the Maine border.
Photo by Chris Johnson
Campus Decarbonization Project
On Earth Day of 2024, Dartmouth committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 60% by 2030 and 100% by 2050 – a marked acceleration from previous targets. While we have a solid understanding of how we’ll accomplish most of campus decarbonization, we recognize that we don't have all the answers now. Instead, we are designing the decarbonization approach to be nimble and adaptive to new information and technologies. In other words, this is an emerging plan that is responsive to changing conditions and ideas – meaning there is both opportunity and need for faculty involvement. Geo-exchange bores will be drilled in several borefield locations with each bore reaching 800 ft beneath the Earth’s surface into geologic strata formed 450 million years ago.
Research Site Opportunities
Three unique sites provide particularly rich opportunities for research, teaching, and piloting innovative climate and sustainability solutions for our campus and beyond.We have the land resources to better understand our climate and generate solutions. Let's put them to use!
New Research
Explore ongoing research that uses our campus and lands as a living laboratory. These are a sampling of some newly established projects using campus lands as lab for climate and sustainability.
Photo by Chris Johnson
Installing a Motus wildlife tracking system at the Dartmouth Organic Farm
Installing a Motus wildlife tracking system at the Dartmouth Organic Farm
Migratory songbirds fascinate and inspire. They are bellwethers for global environments because their biology spans continents. Dartmouth has history of scholarship involving migratory songbirds. New technology (Motus wildlife tracking system) involving nanotag transmitters and a growing global network of receiving towers now makes it possible to study bird migration pathways with unprecedented resolution. The proposal is to establish a Motus receiving tower at the Dartmouth Organic Farm, which is ideally situated with respect to geography and viewscape. The tower would provide real time, publicly available, data regarding contacts with tagged birds, bats, and insects. The tower will be a resource for multiple Dartmouth courses in Biology and Environmental Studies. The tower will expand capacity for community outreach and strengthen partnerships with New Hampshire Audubon Society, Vermont Center for Ecosystem Studies, and Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Studies.
Dartmouth subsurface sediments - a record of past climate and landscape change
Dartmouth subsurface sediments - a record of past climate and landscape change
The recent climate and landscape history of Hanover, NH, is preserved in sediments beneath Dartmouth. Well drilling for the Dartmouth campus Decarbonization Project will provide an unprecedented opportunity to recover these sediments for study. Here, we propose to collect and analyze a sediment core that will provide valuable information about climate conditions and landscape change in the region at the end of the last ice age. At this time, the Connecticut River Valley was filled with Glacial Lake Hitchcock and a unique type of deposit (i.e., varves) formed on the lake floor. Varves are annual layers of sediment that register climate conditions and the location of the North American ice sheet margin over time. Varve deposits throughout New England have been used to develop the highest resolution climate records in the region. With students as contributors, we will analyze the varves below Hanover to understand the local climate and landscape history. Expected outcomes include scientific publications, student involvement at all stages of the project, enhanced course content, and outreach initiatives to engage the Dartmouth community.
Think Globally, Act Locally: Promoting Clean Energy Choices in a Local Field Experiment
Think Globally, Act Locally: Promoting Clean Energy Choices in a Local Field Experiment
For climate change mitigation efforts to be successful, ordinary people must engage in pro-environmental “green” climate-friendly actions in their daily lives. In three national survey experiments with thousands of adults in the U.S., Jerit, Shin, and Barabas (2024) demonstrated that encouraging subjects to recall positive feelings about past sustainability efforts causes statistically significant changes in future green behavioral intentions, even among climate change skeptics. The purpose of this project is to develop and disseminate these “warm glow” messages to encourage climate change mitigation actions. In conjunction with local sustainability groups and clean energy providers, we will use the Dartmouth campus as a laboratory (A) to develop effective interventions, and (B) to treat individuals in a randomized local field experiment.
Hanover underground - recording subsurface sediments and bedrock across Dartmouth’s campus
Hanover underground - recording subsurface sediments and bedrock across Dartmouth’s campus
The drilling associated with the Dartmouth Decarbonization Project offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to enhance our understanding of Hanover's subsurface geology by drilling hundreds of geo-exchange wells, providing access to geologic formations below campus. Traditionally, geologists must infer subsurface conditions from surface materials, but well drilling allows for direct sampling of sediment and rock. Consequently, while the location of the contacts between different geologic formations that underlie campus are currently only approximately inferred, the examination of drill cuttings that are to be produced as a byproduct of the geo-exchange wells would allow for the production of a highly accurate geologic map. This project will train and position undergraduate students to collect, log and analyze drill cuttings. The students will conduct technical analyses of the cuttings to provide more information about the sediment and rock types. They will also archive representative samples for future research. Improving the understanding of the geologic formations and contacts can provide information about subsurface fluid flow and aid in determining optimal locations for further geo-exchange well drilling. The project will also conduct outreach on campus and in the community about the subsurface geology of Hanover.
Establishing a Network to Study Winter Climate Change and its Effects Across Dartmouth Woodlands
Establishing a Network to Study Winter Climate Change and its Effects Across Dartmouth Woodlands
Climate change is progressing more rapidly in the winter than in the growing season, particularly in the northeastern US. To better understand how these changes will alter ecosystem services, we propose leveraging Dartmouth Woodlands to establish a natural gradient of winter climate conditions. This will allow us to: 1) Link patterns in winter climate with measurements of critical soil biogeochemical processes like microbial decomposition, nutrient recycling, and carbon stabilization; 2) Implement sites, make measurements, and analyze data with ecology classes to generate new knowledge in collaboration with Dartmouth students; and 3) Establish the Dartmouth Winter Climate Change Network (Dartmouth WCCN), a long-term endeavor to better understand how winters are changing that will be a testbed for independent student research and future research proposals. With this funding, we can establish a world-class winter climate change teaching and research program at Dartmouth.
Enhancing Carbon Sequestration at the Organic Farm
Enhancing Carbon Sequestration at the Organic Farm
We will investigate the use of iron furnace slag, a byproduct of iron and steel production, to enhance carbon sequestration in agricultural soils at the Organic Farm. While previous studies have investigated the use of crushed silicate rocks for carbon capture via enhanced rock weathering (ERW), recent studies suggest that rates of soil carbon sequestration rates via ERW can be accelerated by promoting the formation of mineral-associated organic matter (MAOM). We hypothesize that in addition to capturing carbon via ERW, the slag’s high iron content will boost MAOM formation and carbon capture. Field trials will track soil carbon dynamics with controlled lab experiments providing complementary data. Anticipated outcomes include not only potentially gigaton-level CO2 capture but also improved soil fertility, economic benefits for farmers, and the re-purposing of industrial waste. Findings will strengthen future funding proposals and expand the integration of climate-related research into courses.