Students

Introduction Engineering students at Loyola Marymount University have opportunities to participate in the annual Shell Eco-marathon.  The Shell Eco-marathon challenges student teams from around the world to design, build and test energy efficient vehicles.	LMU Eco-motorsports
This ongoing project provides students with real-world, hands-on design, fabrication and testing experience.  It is a wonderful opportunity to learn first hand about the exciting aspects of engineering and the ways that engineers can lessen the environmental impacts of our technology.

   

Competition Results and Vehicle Specifications

Gen3 Vehicle 2009 Eco-marathon Americas Results: 858.4 mpg, 9th place 93 lb total vehicle weight Honda GXH50 50cc 4-stroke, carbureted gasoline engine Acrylic nose, polycarbonate body with a carbon fiber tube frame, carbon fiber / aluminum honeycomb underbody, aluminum sub-frame components
Gen2 Vehicle 2009 Eco-marathon Americas Results: 531.1 mpg, 15th place 111 lb total vehicle weight Honda GXH50 50cc 4-stroke, carbureted gasoline engine Carbon fiber body, carbon fiber / aluminum honeycomb underbody, aluminum sub-frame components
Gen1 Vehicle 2008 Eco-marathon Americas Results: 313.4 mpg, 15th place 202 lb total vehicle weight Honda GXH25 25cc 4-stroke, carbureted gasoline engine Fiberglass body, aluminum / aluminum honeycomb underbody, steel frame

A Living Laboratory

Biochemistry student Charisse Sy '08 spent last summer getting to know the spiders that make a home of the Ballona Wetlands, where there’s much to be learned about the effects of human encroachment and urban pollution on the 1,000-acre area next to LMU.

Sy analyzed the presence of heavy metal contaminants in spiders, and the contaminants’ impact on their welfare and survival. She was one of five LMU students who spent 10 weeks in the wetlands as part of an interdisciplinary research program created by the Natural Science Department to study wetlands pollution and ways to remediate it, says James Landry, department chair. Funded by a three-year grant from Merck & Co., Inc., the program’s mission is to foster collaboration between the disciplines of chemistry and biology.

“To understand ecosystems or the animals that live in them, you can’t learn everything there is to learn if you come from the perspective of only one field of study,” says Martin Ramirez, associate professor of biology. “Interdisciplinary approaches are going to be key to environmental scientific progress in the 21st century.”

Sy worked with Ramirez, Landry and Jeremy McCallum, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry. With McCallum, Sy studied spider excrement, looking for indicators of stress. Ramirez guided her fieldwork -- collecting spiders and bringing them to the lab to weigh and measure. Finally, Landry oversaw the analysis of heavy metals in the spiders. Next summer, a new crop of five students will pick up where Sy and others left off.

“I was always learning something new,” says Sy, who is considering a career in environmental research. “I liked it because I could actually see what I’ve been studying.

“When I started, I was terrified of spiders,” Sy adds. “Now I think of them as my friends.”

Protecting the Planet and Profits

This past summer a group of LMU MBA students traveled throughout South America as part of a year-long course researching sustainable banking.  Led by Professor Edmund Gray of the College of Business Administration, students met with South American bankers to learn how they incorporate social and environmental criteria into their large-scale project financing decisions under a framework known as the Equator Principles. They discovered that banks which utilized social and environmental criteria in project financing were able to to protect their "triple-bottom-line" - people, planet and profits - by minimizing both environmental and reputational risk, and still generate positive returns for shareholders.

"The highlight of the trip was our interview with Banco Itau in Brazil," said student Colum Riley.  "They were a charter signatory, and today have expanded their use of environmental criteria beyond project financing to all facets of banking operations."  Students were also impressed with the tremendous knowledge and awareness of global warming and climate change among bankers, politicians and citizens, and their sense of responsibility to take action. The MBA students have written an extensive paper detailing their findings and are currently looking to get it published.

To view a brief presentation on their research and findings, click here for Part I and Part II.