P-3 Shows Well But Doesn't Win
USF Encounter
Issue date: 5/1/09 Section: News
The University of St. Francis P3 team (People, Prosperity, Planet) took part in the National Sustainable Design Expo and Awards Competition April 18-20, 2009 on the National Mall in Washington DC. Though they had an excellent project and presented their information very well, the USF P3 team was not one of the finalists in the awards competition.
The Sustainable Design Expo is an initiative of the Environmental Protection Agency and features a grant program to support teams of college and university students who compete to design and build sustainable technologies. USF received a Phase 1 grant to determine the potential for water conservation through the use of holding tanks/cisterns and gray water recycling. The design involved building a small test parking lot of permeable pavement with an integrated water collection system. By competing in the Expo, the USF P3 team had hoped to receive a $75,000 Phase 2 grant to expand the project on the USF campus.
P3 Team Leader Dr. Salim M. Diab commented on the tough competition. "Regrettably, we did not receive the grant from EPA. Of the 43 schools who competed for phase II funding, only six received it: Columbia, MIT, Drexel, University of Arkansas, University of Tennessee/Knoxville, and University of South Florida. Nevertheless, our team was already a winner in many ways by securing a Phase I grant. The students did an outstanding job representing USF and playing hard-ball with the big league competition. I am proud of them and their achievements. The P3 project may be slowed down in its scope by lack of funding from the EPA but will seek other sources of funding in the near future in order to continue our initiative to green USF."
The USF P3 presentation team included Dr. Salim M. Diab and Dr. Randy Chilton as faculty representatives and student leaders Michelle Gearhart, Katelyn Skof, and Amber Rister.
The competition included 43 Phase 1 projects from universities such as Gonzaga, Johns Hopkins, Stanford, Michigan, Texas A & M, Arizona, and UCLA.
A panel of 16 judges, selected by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, judged all P3 Team projects. The winners were announced at the P3 Awards Ceremony on the last day of the Expo, April 20.
The Sustainable Design Expo is an initiative of the Environmental Protection Agency and features a grant program to support teams of college and university students who compete to design and build sustainable technologies. USF received a Phase 1 grant to determine the potential for water conservation through the use of holding tanks/cisterns and gray water recycling. The design involved building a small test parking lot of permeable pavement with an integrated water collection system. By competing in the Expo, the USF P3 team had hoped to receive a $75,000 Phase 2 grant to expand the project on the USF campus.
P3 Team Leader Dr. Salim M. Diab commented on the tough competition. "Regrettably, we did not receive the grant from EPA. Of the 43 schools who competed for phase II funding, only six received it: Columbia, MIT, Drexel, University of Arkansas, University of Tennessee/Knoxville, and University of South Florida. Nevertheless, our team was already a winner in many ways by securing a Phase I grant. The students did an outstanding job representing USF and playing hard-ball with the big league competition. I am proud of them and their achievements. The P3 project may be slowed down in its scope by lack of funding from the EPA but will seek other sources of funding in the near future in order to continue our initiative to green USF."
The USF P3 presentation team included Dr. Salim M. Diab and Dr. Randy Chilton as faculty representatives and student leaders Michelle Gearhart, Katelyn Skof, and Amber Rister.
The competition included 43 Phase 1 projects from universities such as Gonzaga, Johns Hopkins, Stanford, Michigan, Texas A & M, Arizona, and UCLA.
A panel of 16 judges, selected by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, judged all P3 Team projects. The winners were announced at the P3 Awards Ceremony on the last day of the Expo, April 20.
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