Category: Engineering and Humanity

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The Challenge: Greenhouse for Good

The challenge was to prototype a sustainable, low-cost, mobile greenhouse. Most importantly, we wanted to value energy independence, water conservation, and space efficiency to grow plants. Using funds raised from the Greenhouse for Good Giving Day, our team meet the challenge with a plan!

​The proposed design must be environmentally friendly, economically viable, and address social issues.

Our creative team came up with a concept: an educational, mobile greenhouse made from a reclaimed travel trailer. The versatile growing space could be used to support school gardens and the teachers who run them.

Why a travel trailer?

We needed something mobile. RVs come with truck chassis, electrical wiring, four walls, door, roof, kitchen sink, and water tank. If we could retrofit a discarded one, theoretically, we could convert it to a road-worthy mobile greenhouse that could be hooked up to a truck. This was preferable to other temporary alternatives, like a shipping container, as our target audience was more likely to have access to a truck than a fork lift.

Trailers are compact and use less space than what urban farms typically require. A small-space alternative appealed to individuals and neighborhoods who do not have access to a vacant plot or parking lot.  A trailer would only require a driveway or parking space to be viable for growth production.

In our preliminary research, we did not find mobile greenhouses. We did find a truck converted into a teaching trailer, but only twelve days before completing our project. Though we couldn’t incorporate that research, it was exciting to have our idea validated.

Most “mobile” gardens are raised beds that require a fork lift, or other equipment, to move. They are more portable than mobile. We found some good examples close to home (check out what our friends at Big Tex Urban Farms use in the images below). Ultimately, we hoped for something that could be moved with (relative) ease. This brought us to our little trailer.

One of the benefits of working with an interdisciplinary, multi-generational and cross-cultural team is that the challenge was considered holistically.  In one of our first brainstorms, emerging questions included:

  • In extreme climates or post-disaster zones, how do we regulate food production?
  • Can our military take their garden with them wherever they go?
  • How can refugee camps or other temporary settlements access fresh produce?
  • Could a greenhouse function without a nearby water source or infrastructure to support heating and cooling?
  • Can a greenhouse be scaled to an entrepreneur who rents their home or lives in an urban slum?

These questions gave us a picture of all the new applications that were still to come.

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Meet Adri

Adrienn Santa ’18

asanta@smu.edu

Senior Design Team Leader

  • Mechanical Engineering & Mathematics Major
  • Engaged Learning Fellow 2017-2018
  • Lyle Research Fellow 2017 Summer
  • Full Athletic Scholarhip
  • Athletic Director’s Honor Roll
  • Varsity Letter Winner
  • All Conference Honor – American Athletic Conference
  • Best Newcomer Award – Women’s Swimming and Diving (2014-2015)

“My parents have always encouraged me to help people in need.  The Hunt Institute gives me the opportunity to work on problems which could help people, who does not have enough resources or knowledge, to find solutions to their problems which affects their everyday life.  I am also very passionate about the field of renewable energies, which is an environmentally friendly way to produce energy.  They have a great potential to replace other non-renewable energy sources in the future.”

Adrienn Santa is a senior at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, pursuing Bachelor’s degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Mathematics.  Her studies in engineering have prompted interest in energy generation, because of this she is considering pursuing a Master’s degree in Renewable Energy.

Adrienn was working as an Undergraduate Research Assistant with the Hunt Institute and as a Lyle Research Fellow over the summer which helped her realize the importance of development of urban farming and gardening. Her future goals are to be able to design sustainable solutions for low-income communities and people who do not have access to fresh heathy food.

One potential solution would be to use the vacant lots and buildings for food production. An innovative low-cost heating and cooling system, efficient irrigation system, and vertical gardening would also make urban farming more accessible for communities in need.

Adrienn grew up in a very sustainable family in Hungary, where everything is homemade and all vegetables and fruits are grown in her grandparents’ garden.  This also motivates her to help other people who do not have access to these resources. The reason Adrienn likes working at the Hunt Institute is because it gives her the opportunity to utilize her passion towards creating these solutions.

Adrienn’s favorite free time activity, swimming, took her overseas as she was granted with a full athletic scholarship at SMU in 2014. Other interests of hers include traveling to different places, countries and getting to know other cultures, as well as participating in different extreme sports.

 

Contributors to this post:

Written by: Kim Strelke

Edited by: Adrienn Santa & Maggie Inhofe

Photo by: Alissa Llort

To read more about the Hunt Institute’s work to develop future-focused solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems, please click here. For the latest news on the Hunt Institute, follow our social media accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. We invite you to listen to our Podcast called Sages & Seekers. If you are considering engaging with the institute, you can donate, or sign-up for our newsletter by emailing huntinstitute@smu.edu.

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Senior Fellow To Host National Communication Association Pre-Conference

Seedlings growing in the community garden on SMU campus. Food desert. Vegetables. The Hunt Institute.

“Innovative Interventions in the Dallas Food & Job Desert Panel”

Wednesday- November 15th 3:00-4:40

At the Hunt Institute in Caruth Hall – Suite 206

Senior Research Fellow Dr. Owen Lynch will be hosting the National Communication Association Pre-Conference at the Hunt Institute on November 15th. The Pre-Conference will focus on urban communications with an emphasis on approaches to researching pressing issues facing global cities. One of the highlights of the event will be an open panel on Innovative Interventions in Dallas. The panel will feature local change agents presenting their unique models and organizations that address the food and job desert crises in Dallas.  

Chad Houser is the Executive Director and Chef at Café Momentum – a restaurant and culinary training program for juvenile offenders at Dallas County Youth Village. Café Momentum is a regionally recognized restaurant (Top Dallas Restaurant in 2016) and a national recognized organization that provides a transformative experience for its interns. Through a 12-month paid post-release internship program, young men and women coming out of juvenile facilities rotate through all aspects of the restaurant, focusing on life and social skills, with coaching and development. Café Momentum employs an entire case management staff, providing an ecosystem of support around their interns to help them achieve their greatest potential.

 

 Ryan Eason is the Manager of Community Relations and Strategic communications for Medical City Healthcare. Ryan created the program Kids Teaching Kids to educate students about healthy eating habits.  Local high school culinary students create healthy recipes for elementary students, while encouraging them to make their own healthier treats during a 21 day challenge. Finally, these high school culinary students create healthy kids menus (like mac and cheese with pureed squash) that can be offered in restaurants.  The program has brought a healthier lifestyle to tens of thousands of school children in north Texas. Ryan created the program four years ago, and it continues to grow each year thanks to his dedication and creativity. The Kids Teaching Kids program is sponsored by Medical City Children’s Hospital and the Greater Dallas Restaurant Association. 

 

Owen Hanley Lynch is an Associate Professor of Communication at SMU, and the Senior Research Fellow for the Hunt Institute for Engineering & Humanity in the Lyle School Engineering. Dr. Lynch is also the Executive Director of Get Healthy Dallas, a nonprofit organization dedicated to addressing the lack of healthy food options, adequate education, and economic development opportunities in South Dallas. In November 2017, he is launching a new initiative, Restorative Farms.  Through its many partnerships, Restorative Farms hopes to transform the South Dallas food and job desert into a vibrant source of food, employment, and opportunities for low-income Dallasites.  Though Stage 1 of the Restorative Farms project doesn’t formally launch until November 21st, it is already having great community impact.

 

Jennifer Eyer leads the Food in Schools Initiative for Children at Risk. Part of the Food in Schools program is the Universal School Breakfast throughout Dallas Independent School District. Universal School Breakfast dramatically improves access to healthy food for children, while increasing their attentiveness and classroom performance.  This program is coupled with an extensive outreach programming to educate other school districts across the state on strategies to implement universal school breakfast programs and to increase participation of schools. Children at Risk also educates and performs outreach on summer meal programs and, more recently, after–school meal programs, assuring that school age children receive the daily nutrition needed for healthy, productive lives.

 


Drew Demler is the Manager for the “Errol McCoy Greenhouse on the Midway” and the head grower for the “Big Tex Urban Farms”.  Big Tex Urban Farms (aka “Big Tex) is a revolutionary mobile agriculture system in the heart of South Dallas’ Fair Park. Big Tex experiments with hundreds of raised beds and various space saving innovations that address urban gardening’s most pressing challenges. In the past two years, Big Tex has piloted an innovative program that addresses the barriers to healthy and accessible produce throughout South Dallas by partnering with community gardens and organizations in the immediate Fair Park neighborhoods as well as connecting with like-minded agriculture entities to work towards providing the South Dallas community with locally grown produce. 

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Therapy Dogs Visit the Hunt Institute

October 19, 2017

For the past three semesters, the Hunt Institute has invited Therapy Dogs to join the students of SMU during the stressful midterm season. This semester, students had the opportunity to stop by the Hunt Institute on Thursday, October 19th to love on the dogs.  The Heart of Texas Therapy Dogs brought three dogs for students to pet and play with, that are trained to provide affection and comfort. There were students coming in and out of the Institute all morning to mingle with and

Young girl from India embracing the greyhound dog as the dog leans into her
Jay, the retired greyhound racer, enjoyed the hugs just as much as the students.

pet the dogs.  The four-legged visitors included Eddie, a red golden retriever; Jay, a retired greyhound race dog; and Moby, a Great Pyrenees;  all were ready to be loved on.

Corrie initiated the Therapy Dogs event after a unique experience: at the end of a challenging day, she was at the grocery store when another shopper’s therapy dog came up to her and leaned on her leg which, she later learned, is how dogs give hugs. “I just felt so touched that the dog would recognize how I was feeling from across the store, and single me out to come over and comfort me.  It really cheered me up,” Corrie said.

Three female students laugh and interact with each other petting a red golden retriever who is laying on his back enjoying the attention
Eddy’s favorite thing was to have his tummy scratched, especially his “tickle spot” according to his owner.

As a member of the SMU campus, Corrie has seen how students can get incredibly stressed, especially around midterms and finals when they have pressing deadlines, tests and projects.  Freshman and international students are particularly stressed: the middle of the semester can be really hard because homesickness starts to set in, and there is pressure to keep up grades and keep scholarships.

The leadership team at the Hunt Institute does a lot of good work globally and locally but they believe their first responsibility is to students. “These therapy dogs have a unique way of tearing down the social barriers and discomfort of talking about stress and homesickness,” Corrie said.  “It brings us all closer together and allows students to talk about things.”

If you missed the event, the Hunt Institute will invite the Therapy Dogs to return next semester!

Moby, the Great Pyrenees, surrounded by students, staff and his “Momma”.

 

Written by: Kim Strelke’ 17

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SMU’s New Community Garden Location

September 15, 2017

SMU community garden. Perkins school of theology. Volunteers and students. Vegetables and seedlings. Food deserts.
Left to Right: Alec, Phil, Corrie, Lillian, Kunthear, Wendy. Picture taken by Dr. Robert Hunt

With the planned expansion of SMU’s Child Care & Preschool Center, the existing Community Garden had to be relocated. The new location is at 3005 Fondren Drive, in what is affectionately referred to by the community as “Fondren Village”.

Thanks to the donation of pavers by SMU Facilities, raised beds by Big Tex Urban Farms and flowers by Perkins School of Theology, the Hunt Institute was able to facilitate the relocation with the help of student, staff, faculty and community volunteers.

During the workday on Friday, September 15th, various community members walked up to welcome the new space. Without exception, all offered to pitch in and asked how they could help. We already had plans to repurpose old tree stumps for a seating area, but someone mentioned how wonderful it would be to have sunset yoga on the lawn during the fall semester. Other community members recommended outdoor solar lighting in each of the raised beds.

Alec Maulding ’19 from EWB SMU Chapter, a Mechanical Engineer major, helping to plant the fall crops.

SMU Chapter’s Engineers Without Boards (EWB) had several volunteers show up to help set up. Deborah Oyedapo ’18, the current leader of the Plant Lab group in EWB and a biology major, welcomed the opportunity for her group to use the community garden for their various experiments and prototypes. They plan to submit a proposal for modifications to the traditional design of a raised bed. Their hopes are that the design will be an improvement that will help the volunteers and teachers that typically run community gardens. “Watering is always an issue,” says Dr. Lynch from Meadows School of the Arts. “If we could design a self-watering adaptation to the current beds, that would be an improvement.” Dr. Lynch runs Get Healthy Dallas, a program aimed at addressing food deserts and obesity issues in lower income communities.

The Gather at the SMU Community Garden with Kunthear watering the plants.

Kunthear Mam-Douglas is the primary gardener and coordinator for the maintenance of the garden. Known for her creative and award-winning hats, she brings that passion for nature and craftsmanship into the care of the garden. Kunthear manages a sign-up list for watering, weeding and planting. She also coordinates a neighborhood composting group for the garden. If you would like to participate, please email Kunthear at kunthearm@sbcglobal.net.

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Freedom Farm at Martin Luther King, Jr. Center

SMU. The Hunt Institute. Martin Luther King Jr. Center. Freedom Farm. Vegetables and seedlings. Students. Volunteers

August 28, 2017

Students are headed back to school, which means the hunt for school supplies has begun.  On Friday, The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center held an event for families in the South Dallas area to get free school supplies for their children.  The event was first come, first served so the line was long from the start.

Tyrone Day, master gardener for the Freedom Farm at the MLK Center, and Dr. Lynch tell the kids about the greenhouse and how it works.

There were various activities for the children to participate in while their parents waited in line.  One of these activities was the Freedom Farm.  The Freedom Farm is a Get Healthy Dallas Project, in which the Hunt Institute partners with other non-profits to support the garden.  The seedling farm is still in the process of getting set up, and once it is established, it will be a way for local families to start their own vegetable gardens.

During the back-to-school event, the Freedom Farm hosted a booth where kids could plant their own vegetable seeds to take home.  Dr. Owen Lynch and his team were on site to ask kids questions and better understand existing community knowledge surrounding fresh vegetables within a food desert.

The fully-grown vegetables showed the children what their plants would one day look like.  After planting their very own seeds, kids walked through the greenhouse where Tyrone, the gardener in charge, explained how a greenhouse works and how it would look once the seedling farms had been planted.

 

The children plant their chosen vegetable seedlings to take home with them.
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Meet the Team!

March 9, 2017

(From Left to Right)

Welcome to the Evie Project! We are delighted to share with you our efforts as we complete Phase 1: Retrofit. Our timeline was short, but we had the team to pull it off. Meet the Evie Team:

Kunthear is our gardener extraordinaire! She is volunteering to help with the planning and implementation. She will also be at Evie on April 22nd to run an interactive children’s activity. She is advising on the practical elements of the greenhouse, helping determine which plants can be grown in each of the different micro-systems.

Alex is advising on the inclusivity of the project, and brings an artist’s perspective. He has been with The Hunt Institute for several years designing a tablet that will help make the field of education part of a more inclusive economy.

Mili is our volunteer project manager. She brings incredible experience and expertise to the table, having worked on and managed projects in multiple countries around the world. She previously studied environmental engineering, and is now completing her Master’s in Sustainability and Development. As part of the Evie project, she is compiling best practices researching similar efforts, so we can build on what has already been done.

Alejandro is our in-house mechanical engineer. He came to SMU last semester as a freshman, though he is already taking upper-level classes. He helps in every single area of The Hunt Institute, and seems to be able to fix just about anything. For the Evie project, he is researching solar capabilities for the trailer, and designing our information towers, where we will display concept boards at Earth Day, and continue to use in HI.

Maggie is our grad student who brings a myriad of perspectives and experience. She comes from Yale where she studied architecture, and is now in her first year in the MADI program. She is designing the trailer inside and out. She is a true collaborator, works with the rest of the team to adjust her design as different complications or opportunities arise. She is the team lead on this project but approaches that role with humility, mentoring newer students and ever ready to teach others what she knows to strengthen their existing skill sets.

Silvia is a triple major in business, international studies, and Spanish. She brings a fantastic interdisciplinary perspective to each conversation as she filters through the very important, but often overlooked, element of economic viability in sustainability. Last semester, she studied abroad in Chile and returns to SMU and HI just in time to help create the content for our concept boards. By compiling the collaborative conversations from multiple meetings with her own research, she has narrowed down the concepts to four main categories.  This was a very difficult task, because there are so many potential applications for a mobile greenhouse.  Each of these categories, and their potential applications, will be on display at our booth.

Wendy is a “4+1” student, working toward her Bachelor’s and Master’s in environmental engineering. Her capstone project is on aquaponics. She is helping choose the aquaponic system to install in the greenhouse. Additionally, this system will help educate other students on the functionality of aquaponics. Her hands-on experience with community gardens brings a valuable, practical application to this design and implementation.

JD is a senior studying computer science. He has been a member of the SMU chapter of Engineers Without Boarders (EWB), and has served in leadership roles throughout his time at HI. He launched the “Greenhouse for Good” fundraiser during Mustangs Give Back 2017. He also led the “Plant Lab” team in EWB where they designed multiple concepts for micro-greenhouses, specifically targeting food deserts in South Dallas. He is advising on the hydroponic system within the mobile greenhouse, and is overseeing germination of the many plants we will be installing.

Ali is our photographer and communications manager. She joins our team this semester as an intended advertising major. She is a graphic designer, team player, and humanitarian, and joined our team brimming with ideas. In addition to her advertising and marketing support for The Hunt Institute, she is heading up an internal and external campaign to recruit volunteers and participants to join us at our booth at Earth Day Texas 2017.

Written by: Corrie Harris
Edited by: Maggie Inhofe