While sustainability remains one of the most pressing issues of the modern world, to the average student, tackling it can seem daunting.  It may be difficult to understand where to turn in order to champion sustainable initiatives and work towards a greener campus as a whole. However, there are ways to get involved, and the Office of Sustainability provides great resources to begin this journey. In the past few years, students have worked in collaboration with this department to bring their ideas into reality.

Honors second-year Chemical Engineering major and student athlete Audrey Kormann is one such example of student involvement in sustainability, having worked with the Office of Sustainability since the spring of 2024. A Minnesota native, Kormann’s passion for the environment started from an early age. After watching a climate documentary in seventh grade, Kormann knew she wanted to contribute to the environmental movement. She started an environmental club in high school and championed waste reduction once she obtained a $50,000 grant for recycling. Kormann also worked with the Sunrise Movement and Earth Guardians organizations, which fight against climate change through youth empowerment initiatives. 

At NJIT, Kormann supplemented her Chemical Engineering major by conducting research on anaerobic composting for the dining hall, which has implications for reducing food waste. Currently, the dining hall and other food service locations at NJIT have to tackle issues surrounding pre-consumer and post-consumer waste, which refer to food waste before and after the food leaves the kitchen, respectively. Expanding an understanding of methods to sustainably compost this waste can set a higher standard for NJIT and other institutions. Kormann is also on the executive board of NJIT Green, which works closely with the Office of Sustainability and focuses on increasing recycling, decreasing food waste, and reducing consumption of single-use items.  

Kormann joined as a Sustainability Specialist in Spring 2024, with her first major task being an e-waste drive, in which she helped divert one ton of e-waste from the school during spring move-out. She also wrote a $60,000 grant for a peer-to-peer green initiative, which will strengthen campus sustainability culture. The money will go towards hosting sustainable events such as waste diversion events and designating an eco-representative per dorm building.  

Currently, Kormann’s main duties as a sustainability specialist include reporting emissions data and serving as a liaison between students and faculty. Apart from these tasks, she remains a strong believer in combining her passions for sustainability with sports by making the athletics department greener. To start, Kormann is drafting a resolution declaring that student athletes are in favor of sustainability. Concrete plans include installing solar panels on the WEC and improving recycling overall, which could be done in tandem with the push for recycling in the dorms. Kormann also wants to offset emissions in transportation for travel games. For internal promotion of sustainability, events to attract attention to the issue, such as sustainability-related games on Earth Day and competitions for the “greenest” teams, will be key to fostering a culture of sustainability.  

Green initiatives around campus are impactful, but in order to make lasting connections between people and the planet, students should be motivated to support sustainability through their individual choices and actions. Kormann has noticed that many students have a passion for sustainability, though she expressed that they also do not have an outlet to implement sustainability or even know where to get started. She hopes that her experience with the Office of Sustainability can serve as an inspiration for others, and that their ideas and initiatives to combine multiple disciplines in the name of the environment is possible and can create tangible change. The office currently keeps track of emissions data, resource usage, and food waste at the dining hall, and is dedicated to developing an overall dedication to sustainability across campus. Events such as the Sustainability Fair have been integral in improving the Office of Sustainability’s visibility while educating the student body on their role in making the campus and planet greener.  

If this trajectory continues, an expansion of sustainability culture at NJIT is more than possible. Hopefully, stories like that of Kormann’s will become more commonplace, and one day, sustainability will be an integral part of student life at NJIT.