2016 Sustainability Case Competition, Nov 2016

The second annual Sustainability Case Competition took place on Saturday, November 12th in the Goizueta Business School. The aim of the competition was to encourage interdisciplinary learning and innovation, bringing students of all disciplines together to create tangible solutions to sustainability issues in Georgia. This year, the competition was open not only to all Emory students, but to UGA and Georgia State students as well. 

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Case prompt:

The case question asked participants to create a 5-year plan to mitigate Georgia's water crisis, taking water conservation, distribution, resilience, and impact on community stakeholders into account. The first place team won $2,000; second place won $1,000, and third place won $500. 

 

Kishia Powell, one of the judges, spontaneously offered the winning team the chance to work with her office on implementing their 5-year plan, as well as inviting all participants to send her their resumes if interested in an internship with the Department of Watershed Management.

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Judges:

Steve Tochilin, Delta Airlines

Noah Marwil, PricewaterhouseCoopers

Laura Cooley, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Kishia Powell, City of Atlanta Department of Watershed Management

Jairo Garcia, Atlanta Mayor's Office of Sustainability

Michael Black, Georgia State University

Wesley Longhofer, Goizueta Business School

Joanne McGriff, Rollins Center for Global WASH 

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Sponsors:

Emory Office of Sustainability Initiatives

PricewaterhouseCoopers

UGA

Urjanet

Graduate Sustainability Group

Net Impact

College Council

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First place team: 

Chris Wisener, UGA, Environmental Planning & Design, 1st year, graduate

Catie Sauer, UGA, Environmental Planning & Design, 1st year, graduate

Shreya Kothari, Emory, Global Health, 2nd year, graduate

Pari Majd, Emory, Psychology, 4th year, undergraduate

Christian Wayne, Emory, American Studies, 4th year, undergraduate

 

Their comprehensive 5-year plan included a cost-effective pipe replacement method successfully used in Lansing, Michigan, aimed at replacing the most dated infrastructure first and prioritizing low-income neighborhoods. The judges commended their creative use of a successful intervention in existence, as well as the clarity and consistency of their presentation. 

 

Second place team:

Meghan Spencer, Emory, Environmental Sciences, 4th year, undergraduate

Zack Surmacz, Emory, Marketing & Sustainability, 3rd year, undergraduate

Qianru Wu, Emory, Economics & Environmental Sciences, 4th year, undergraduate

Jiawen Liao, Emory, Environmental Health Sciences, 1st year, graduate

Vrinda Kalia, Emory, Environmental Health Sciences, 1st year, graduate

 

Third place team:

Chen Liang, Emory, Chemistry, 6th year, graduate

Nikilesh Rao, Emory, Psychology, 4th year, undergraduate

Anna-Simone Williams, Emory, Psychology, 4th year, undergraduate

Andreina Cordova, Emory, Development Practice, 2nd year, graduate

Samarth Medakkar, Emory, Environmental Sciences, 3rd year, undergraduate

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2015 Sustainability Case Competition, Nov 2015

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Turnout: 

The inaugural Emory Sustainability Case Competition took place on Saturday,

November 14. It attracted 39 Emory student participants divided over 9 teams and representing over 15 programs from around Emory. 22 participants were undergraduates and 17 graduate students.

Quick Background: 

Georgia ranks  12th  in  greenhouse  gas  (GHG)  emissions  and  approximately  90%  of  those emissions can be attributed to energy consumption (energy consumption primarily is made up of transportation  and  electricity).  Fossil-fuel-fired plants are a leading source of Georgia’s GHG emissions, with the dirtiest plant (by CO2 emissions) in Juliette, Georgia. A group of concerned citizens have organized a steering committee to evaluate the various strategies Georgia can take to combat climate change, in which they will present to the Georgia House of Representatives committee on Natural Resources and Environment.

Case Prompt: 

Create a 5-year plan for the state of Georgia to reduce their GHG emissions keeping in mind that energy consumption is the leading cause of GHG emissions in the state. Be sure to identify the primary drivers of Georgia’s GHG emissions, levers that can reduce those emissions, policies that can activate the levers and primary actors who influence the levers and policies. Make sure to acknowledge how acting on climate change will benefit the citizens of Georgia, but also impact its economy. 

Judges: 

• Myriam Dormer, The Nature Conservancy

• Craig Frank, Energy Manager, Emory University

• Michael Mazier, Atlanta Technology Angels

• Jimmy Dills, Georgia Health Policy Center

• Jairo Garcia, City of Atlanta-Office of Sustainability

• Jennifer Hirsch, Georgia Tech's Serve-Learn-Sustain

• Bernie Burgener, Greenhouse Accelerators

• Wesley Holmes, Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance

• Ioulia Fenton, Graduate Sustainability Group, Emory University

Sponsors:

• Office of Sustainability Initiatives

• Generation Response

• Global Development Student Council

• Craft Crawlers

• Turner Environmental Law Clinic

• Laney Graduate School

• Graduate Sustainability Group 

 

1st Place Winners of $2,000: Team Six

Proposal: "Reducing Energy Demand: Expanding the Green Community Ordinance"

The judges chose this presentation as the winner based on the team's multi-faceted solution that took into account smaller initiatives already operating in Georgia and proposed to expand them state-wide. The team's solution focused on reduction of air conditioning use by increase of shaded areas, working to increases tree cover, reduction in traffic, and other projects.

• Roy Zhou, BBA 3rdyear, undergrad 

• Meghan Spencer, Environmental Science, 3rdyear, undergrad 

• Rebecca Di, Public Health (Environmental Health), 2ndyear, graduate 

• SeongminShim, Public Health (Environmental Health), 2ndyear, graduate 

• Nicole Pendleton, Public Health (Environmental Health), 2ndyear, graduate

 

2nd Place winners of $1,000: Team Seven 

The team's solution focused on a) bringing together stakeholders from a range of backgrounds together to create regional energy solutions and b) longer term plan to improve environmental education in the state of Georgia. The judges  recognized the team's foregrounding of the need to overcome personal and ideological differences to move forward on the issue. 

• Dennis Kamara, Biology and Philosophy, 3rdyear, undergrad 

• Gabriel Andrle, Environmental Sciences, 3rdyear, undergrad 

• Sean Chew, Maths/Economics and Electrical Engineering, 3rdyear, undergrad

 

3rd Place Winners of $500: Team Three

The team focused on working with Georgia Power to reduce pollution and transition to a greener energy portfolio. The judges recognized the team's well-researched and proposed project whose strengths lied in clear plans and well-thought out financial implications.

• Tyler Stern, Applied Physics, 4thyear, undergrad 

• DaivikMalhotra, Business/Managerial Accounting, 3rdyear, undergrad 

• Shannon Hill, Physics, 2nd, undergrad 

• KaelanSaley, Political Science, 2ndyear, undergrad 

• Abby Bok, Divinity, 1styear, graduate 

 

Standout idea:
One team developed an innovative technology component that was a carpooling app that incorporated Linkedin-matching to location-carpool-matching to reduce the amount of single commuters in GA.