When you support the ESF Annual Fund you help generate the energy that keeps the College at the forefront of the technologies and education crucial to solving the environmental problems facing today’s society.
You are making an investment in the College and in the creation of a sustainable future. Your gift ensures ESF continues to grow and that students and faculty can, in turn, positively impact the world community.
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Generating Energy
2007-2008
Annual Fund Drive
ESF’s Paper and Bioprocess Engineering program is developing an ecologically sound way to produce ethanol from wood. Working with Dr. Thomas Amidon, student Christopher Wood helped develop a membrane that is instrumental in this process.
Meanwhile, Dr. James Nakas is using renewable resources to replace products currently derived from petroleum-based materials. Nakas has focused his research on the production of totally biodegradable thermoplastics that have characteristics similar to those of polypropylene. His aim is to derive those new materials from woody crops, thus replacing petroleum-based feedstocks with an easily renewable resource. This change would replace traditional plastics with products that, when deposited in a landfill, degrade rapidly to carbon dioxide and water.
Chemistry student Greg Boyd is producing biodiesel from vegetable oil on the ESF campus. This fall, he will use waste cooking oil from a dining hall to produce biodiesel that can run in any modified diesel engine. The biodiesel produces 70 percent less emissions than petroleum diesel.
Landscape Architecture’s Center for Community Design Research (CCDR), the department’s public service and research program, has worked with communities throughout New York, Massachusetts and Ohio to build sustainable communities and develop ecologically sound architectural projects. Students are currently working with faculty members and community residents on projects such as helping design a village recreation space; developing a site plan for a church listed on the National Historic Register; and assisting a community in designing an urban neighborhood park.
The College’s biomass program (The Salix Consortium) is creating a renewable energy source with willow. Graduate student Jaconnette Mirck is part of a team working with Drs. Timothy Volk and Larry Smart on a project that is receiving both regional and national attention. Not only is willow a sustainable feedstock for bioenergy and bioproducts, but it can also be used for brownfield remediation.
ESF’s students are an incredible source of energy. Each year, our freshman class spends its first Saturday at the College engaged in community service. In 2006-2007 alone, ESF students contributed more than 63,000 total hours in service to the College and community.
SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Office of Development
315-470-6683
