With support from the Ray C. Anderson Foundation NextGen Fund and the Scheller College of Business Dean’s Innovation Fund, Professors Kim Cobb and Beril Toktay collaborated to expand Professor Cobb’s successful Carbon Reduction Challenge class to enable students participating in an internship or co-op to plan and implement a carbon reduction project with their employers.

Individual students or a team took the initiative to identify and execute a plan that reduces their employer’s carbon emissions, most often saving their employer money, over the course of their internship.

Project examples from the class range from creating employee challenges to reduce their personal carbon emissions, to changes in building lighting schedules, to more capital-intensive projects such as HVAC modifications. 

The winners of the Carbon Reduction Challenge will be decided based on

• the amount of carbon emissions avoided (whether actual or potential), and  
• the level of awareness fostered through the project.

The winning team(s) will be announced at the conclusion of the Finalist Poster Expo and will receive cash prizes for their work. First prize is $5,000, second place is $3,000 and third place is $1,000.  Refreshments will be available.