{"id":96052,"date":"2025-11-25T03:45:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T07:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/?p=96052"},"modified":"2025-11-26T12:21:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T16:21:11","slug":"mechanical-engineers-use-capstone-project-to-create-lasting-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/11_25_2025\/mechanical-engineers-use-capstone-project-to-create-lasting-change","title":{"rendered":"Mechanical Engineers Use Capstone Project to Create Lasting Change"},"content":{"rendered":"

Six seniors studying mechanical engineering designed their capstone project to make a lasting environmental change at UToledo.<\/p>\n

The students \u2014 Michael Awad, Elise Essenmacher, Nico Francis-Emonds, Bethany McCutchan, Lia Sanford and Maria Smith \u2014 worked with several University groups to implement their system of composting food waste from both on-campus dining halls.<\/p>\n

\"Senior

Senior mechanical engineers, from left, Bethany McCutchan, Elise Essenmacher, Michael Awad, Nico Francis-Emonds, Lia Sanford and Maria Smith worked with several University groups to implement their system of composting food waste from both on-campus dining halls.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWe estimate that 4,050 gallons of pre-consumer food waste from the dining halls alone is sent to landfills every year,\u201d Sanford said. \u201cAfter evaluating some options, our group determined that the most practical approach was to collect compostable waste on campus and have it transported to an off-site composting facility. With the help of the Student Green Fund, we purchased two solar-powered BigBelly collection bins which allow us to track fullness and pickups while helping prevent contamination.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing part of a student-led initiative to make our campus more sustainable has been an incredibly rewarding experience\u201d she added. \u201cIt has taught me to push beyond the status quo and to advocate for the causes I truly believe in.\u201d<\/p>\n

The students worked with Rocket Dining staff, who were trained to sort and dispose of compostable waste weekly, and Thomas Jackson, a local farmer who will collect the waste to support produce grown in the Toledo area. In the final stages of the project, they will present their data at the College of Engineering\u2019s Senior Design Expo on Friday, Dec. 5, at Nitschke Hall.<\/p>\n

“As a student in mechanical engineering and sustainability, this project has been an incredible way to apply the technical and project management skills I’ve gained in my classes to create a positive environmental impact in Toledo,\u201d Essenmacher said.<\/p>\n

“Making a strong environmental impact on campus while also supporting a local urban farming business has been an incredibly valuable and rewarding experience, and the perfect conclusion to my time at UToledo,\u201d Francis-Emonds added.<\/p>\n

The composting initiatives will be permanent additions to Rocket Dining.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"Senior<\/a>

Seniors Michael Awad, Elise Essenmacher, Nico Francis-Emonds, Bethany McCutchan, Lia Sanford and Maria Smith implemented a compost system for UToledo dining halls.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":914,"featured_media":96053,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,34,1,7],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96052"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/914"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96052"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96052\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96079,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96052\/revisions\/96079"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}