Extramural Research
U. Florida Students Win Awards in D.C.
P3 Research Project Search
In: The Independent Florida Alligator
By Nick Mathews
May 15, 2007
Two University of Florida teams received high honors and honorable mentions
April 25 in the Environmental Protection Agency's third
annual P3 competition, "People, Prosperity and the
Planet," according to a UF press release.
The teams both received the awards in the national student design contest in
Washington, D.C. They competed against 41 teams, consisting of 350 students and advisers, to produce
feasible solutions for sustainability.
One project, "Sustainable Design and Implementation of a Solid Waste Management
System in Kratovo, Macedonia: A Learning Partnership between University of Florida
and Macedonia through Engineers without Borders," focused on finding a way
to dispose of solid waste in a Macedonian city, according to the contest's Web
page.
Kratovo's waste is currently thrown into the Tavacka river, streets and an illegal
landfill.
The project addressed how to handle waste on educational, social, economic and
environmental levels.
The second project is called "QnD -- Designing a Participatory Scenario
Modeling Tool to Integrate Technology, Ecology and Sociology in Guatemala's Maya
Biosphere Reserve and Beyond."
It was developed as a computer program that analyzes the impact of decisions
on a social and environmental level and functions like a computer game, said
Gregory Kiker, an agriculture and bioengineering assistant professor.
The project specializes in predicting effects from changes made to the Mayan
biosphere, such as increases in tourism, Kiker said.
(C) 2007 Independent Florida Alligator via U-WIRE