CAPPA Students Win Ninth Annual Campus Rainworks Challenge and Honorably Mentioned by the Environmental Protect Agency
Four graduate students, Michael Shuey, Nusrat Jahan Nipu, Reza Mabadi, and Kathleen Stanford, received an honorable mention by the Environmental Protection Agency after winning first-place in the ninth annual Campus Rainworks Challenge. The challenge is a green infrastructure competition for students to engage in the next generation of environmental professionals, foster a dialogue about the need for innovative stormwater management techniques, and showcase the various benefits of green infrastructure practices.
The CAPPA team redesigned the University’s master plan to incorporate green infrastructure features, such as transportation corridors and local bodies of water in “The Path Forward: Contain, Clean, and Connect” plan. The holistic design protects public health and water quality, promotes resilience, creates wildlife habitats, and provides recreational amenities for the community. The team was able to accomplish this success with the diversity of their CAPPA degrees.
Taner R. Ozdil, associate professor of Landscape Architecture, was the team’s adviser and believes “these projects influence us to look at the campus in a way that involves the community more in the built environment” while tasking “students to explore visionary ideas on campuses.” In addition, the winning team received help from Jeff Johnson, director of Maintenance Operations and Special Projects, and Don Lange, assistant vice president of Facilities and Campus Operations. Then, Dallas’ TBG Partners, one of the largest landscape architecture and planning firms in the Southwest, reviewed the studio projects.