BU Sustainability

The next recipient of our 2026 Student Sustainability Leadership Award is Jerry Zhou!

Jerry has spent his time at BU building a movement — connecting students, city officials, and community advocates around the idea that you cannot have climate justice without mobility justice. As the founder of the BU Urbanism Club, he's given students a real voice in shaping their city: advocating for safer streets on campus, collecting 160+ signatures for protected bike lanes on Comm Ave, engaging Boston City Councilors, and lobbying on Capitol Hill at the National Bike Summit.

Jerry is also a founding employee of the BU Cycle Kitchen (BUCK) and an active member of the Environmental Student Organization, where he's broadened the club's reach and pulled others into urban sustainability work.

Thank you, Jerry, for the legacy you're leaving here at BU.

Congratulations to Devin Rauscher, one of our 2026 Student Sustainability Leadership Award winners!

Devin has spent their time at BU Sustainability as a Data Analysis & Research Intern, tracking energy, zero waste, and research data across the University. By advancing collection and cleaning procedures for waste streams that were previously invisible, they've directly advanced our Zero Waste Goal.

But Devin's leadership extends well beyond these initiatives. Devin led the development and rollout of a residential compost program at HER House — one of the first of its kind on campus — turning their residence into a living example of the values they bring to work.

Thank you, Devin, for the lasting mark you've left on sustainability at BU.

This weekend we celebrate our BU Sustainability Graduates. They have poured themselves into making our campus more sustainable while inspiring others to build a better future. Their impact will outlast their time here, and we're so proud of all they've accomplished.

To honor them, we hand-loomed each graduation cord from two strands of color-changing yarn made of 100% recycled cotton. The unique color variations represent the different paths our graduates will take, all carrying their sustainability experience forward.

We want to take a moment to spotlight all of our incredible team members who are graduating from various Boston University programs this spring: Kusum Aryal (SAR '26), Annalisa Emanuele (ENG '26), Taylor Kim (CAS '26, COM '26), Nailah Charles (QST '26), Afsah Bhutta (SPH '26), Riddhi Mehra (QST '26), Meera Rao (SPH '26), Devin Rauscher (CAS '26), Sarah Lillibridge (MET '26), Eva Liu (CAS '26), Maria Gorret Nampiima (SSW '26, STH '26), Alina Keshodkar (CAS '26, KHC '26), Tess Shotland (CAS '26), and current Data Manager for our Sustainability Team, Gabrielle Brewer (MET '26).

Congratulations!

Moving out and thinking of getting rid of your mattress pad or topper? Goodwill, Not Landfill has you covered!

Mattress toppers and mattress pads can (and should) be recycled! Through our Goodwill, Not Landfill program, we have designated bins to drop them off in on-campus residences and drop off stations on Bay State Road and South Campus.

The Goodwill, Not Landfill program is live, and will last through the conclusion of Move-Out! If you're ready to say goodbye to some of your belongings, consider what could be used again and make a plan to bring it to one of our convenient donation locations. There will be bins in all traditional residence halls as well as donation locations located on Bay State Road and South Campus.

Goodwill, Not Landfill, allows us to divert tons of items from the trash, from clothing to furnishings to kitchen items. Since the program began in May 2009, we have saved several hundred tons of material from landfills and incinerators. Let’s continue this legacy and divert tons of waste as we do every year!

We want to congratulate this year’s winners of The Anthony Janetos Climate Action Prize, Pranav Sultania and Isabella Santarpia. Their project aims to reduce energy consumption in laboratories across Boston University by replacing lab peristaltic and syringe pumps with an energy-efficient bistable electromagnetic soft pump platform.

The Janetos Climate Action Prize is presented each spring to a student or team of students participating in a BU Campus Climate Lab project that demonstrates the greatest potential to advance BU’s Climate Action Plan goals and promote more sustainable University operations. It honors Anthony Janetos, who chaired the 2017 Climate Action Plan Task Force that led to the creation of the Campus Climate Lab.

With projected potential energy reductions of over 90% per pump, this team directly supports BU’s Climate Action Plan goals of reducing campus-wide carbon emissions, continuing Professor Janetos’ legacy of making a lasting climate action impact on our community. They also received the first-place General Track prize at BU’s 2026 Innovators’ Night, awarding the team $20,000 to continue their work. Congratulations, and keep up the great work!

Thank you to all students, faculty, and staff who attended the Campus Climate Lab Symposium last week! It was incredible to hear from student project teams and celebrate the research, innovation, and collaboration driving BU’s Climate Action Plan forward. We are also grateful to our alumni panel, who provided great insights into sustainability career pathways!

Stop by Professor Anderson’s office on Wednesday, April 1st and Tuesday, April 14th for Touch the Past! At this event, you’ll get to participate in conversation and discovery around the various geological artifacts on display. You can hold a shooting star, see dinosaur bones, and even take a selfie with a sabre tooth cat.

For more information and other Earth Day 365 news, head over to our website. 🌎💫

Join us and the greater BU community this April for the return of Earth Day 365!

Next month, we’ll have events centering around three themes: What We Grow, What We Eat, What We Toss, Reuse and Repair, and Planet, People, Purpose, reminding us that every day is Earth Day. There are plenty of ways to get involved, so stay tuned here and on our website for more info!

Identifying ways to improve the connections between public health and climate. This is what Jonathan Buonocore does.

Jonathan wrote what ended up being one of the first health co-benefit studies. Since then, his main research focus has been the health benefits of climate policy and the health impacts of the energy system. Additionally, Jonathan is part of BU’s Climate Action Plan (CAP) 1.2 Working Group, who are developing recommendations to more effectively reduce the university’s emissions. As we identify strategies and tactics to help decarbonize our existing buildings, Jonathan’s expertise is being utilized to evaluate the health benefits of those decisions.

Jonathan’s work highlights the relationship between human health and sustainable action, showing us the important connection between energy, climate, and our well-being.