Sustainability Demonstration

On Wednesday, April 15, the Sustainability Demonstration Conference was held in the Cotillion Ballroom of the student union. The conference was organized to bring students of various majors together to present projects dealing with protection of the planet, and promotion of overall human sustainability. Many of the projects on display had months of research put into them, with some requiring a full year of advance research.
Aramis Harris, a senior Agriculture Economics major shared what motivated him to participate in the event.
“The United States has an increasing trend of obesity, so I wanted to do research on a topic that addressed that,” said Harris. “Right now, the daily recommendation for fruits and vegetables is five a day, so my research team and I wanted to bring more light to that.” Harris finished.
Gagandeep Kaur and her research partner Dhierrendra Singh, both graduate students from India majoring in Environmental Toxicology, displayed a project titled “NLRP12”, which is the protein coding gene that is responsible for certain diseases. Kaur shared the amount of time and preparation involved in the project, also stating, “I have been doing research on NLRP12 for almost a year, and I plan to do a continuation of this project to find out even more information.”
Although student projects and presentations were a huge part of the conference, many also attended for the speech of keynote speaker, Dr. Rani Whitfield, aka: Dr. Hip Hop. During his keynote, Dr. Whitfield focused heavily on encouraging students to, “think outside the box” and to avoid letting others decide how much is too much for them to take on.
“Firstly, always continue to monitor technology, because technology will help you improve and keep up with other competitors. Secondly, never stop looking for new and innovative ideas,” lectured Whitfield. “Strive to encourage diversity when building team members, because those of diverse backgrounds help to build stronger ideas, and don’t forget to push your boundaries and get out of your comfort zone as much as possible,” added Whitfield.
Overall, the conference was an opportunity to bring together students, faculty and staff, and raise awareness of the proper ways to sustain the Earth’s resources and human health. The conference was also was a jump-start for Earth Day, on Wednesday, April 22.