Category: UIUC Campus

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Long Lab Career Feted at ISTC

retirement party cake with a icing rat on topHis retirement cake was festooned with a big black rat.

 

That was alright with Jerry Bargren. After four decades in U of I labs, “lab rat” is no slight.

 

He first retired as lab supervisor at the College of Veterinary Medicine in 2006. But after nine months of living la vida loca around the house, Jerry jumped at the chance to join ISTC.

 

“I thought it might be a year,” Bargren said. But he fulfilled a key role as a master of sample preparation. “I do enjoy working in the lab,” a phrase he repeated several times over 20 minutes. He first served in a hospital lab in Thailand during the Vietnam War. Next came his long stretch at Vet Med before his post-retirement at ISTC.

 

With the dizzying technological changes occurring during his time in the laboratory, Bargren says his job has largely stayed the same. Precision lab sample preparation and processing, sample clean-up, isolation and purification. The atmosphere in the lab is collegial and cooperative. When a mistake occurs (a shifted decimal point!) never be afraid to admit it, he said. Correct it.

 

Director Kevin O'Brien (left) and Senior Chemist (John Scott) congratulate Jerry Bargren upon his re-retirement.
Director Kevin O’Brien (left) and Senior Chemist John Scott (right) congratulate Jerry Bargren upon his re-retirement.

The best moments for this lab rat are when he devises a creative procedure that works as well as the standard published protocol. He remembered once working out a new procedure for evaluating antibiotic dosages using thin layer chromatography. Control measurements using standard methods at a Canadian lab showed the same results.

 

He and Senior Chemist John Scott recently collaborated on testing Scott’s idea for a quicker and cheaper technique for measuring total phenol. The new method worked as well as the standard one. “That’s the kind of thing I like to work with and get a better method,” Bargren said.

 

In retirement he said he will read a lot more – particularly books on World War II. He will also spend more time with his wife (also a career lab dam (momma rat)) and their seven children and 21 grandchildren.

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Illini Gadget Garage Hours Set, Courses Begin

In case you missed it, check out the UI News Bureau coverage of the Illini Gadget Garage project. Thanks to Jodi Heckel for helping spread the word!

 

As noted in this article, the Gadget Garage will open to the general campus community for repair assistance on Monday, September 14. Fall hours will be Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 2 to 6 p.m.

 

Professors Martin Wolske and William Bullock are also teaching courses associated with the Gadget Garage, with classes beginning this week. Professor Bullock’s class is a multidisciplinary effort with the following course objectives:

  • Collaborate with peers from business, design & technology in planning and startup
  • Experience project management, leadership and team building
  • Create a business and marketing plan to insure success going forward
  • Plan and implement new branding, advertising and wayfinding strategies
  • Participation in the iFixit Technical Writing Project (a unique portfolio piece)
  • Knowledge to create more sustainable designs and extend product life cycles

 

Professor Bullock is particularly interested in having students with interests in marketing and engineering participate alongside their peers from industrial design. A few seats are still available; interested students should see the course flyer and contact Professor Bullock directly with questions. Professor Wolske’s Introduction to Network Systems class will be meeting in the Gadget Garage space, and students will have opportunities to work on service learning projects associated with this project for the course.

 

See the Illini Gadget Garage page on the Sustainable Electronics Initiative web site for more information on the courses and the project itself, including a map of its location. General questions can be addressed to Joy Scrogum.

 

Illini Gadget Garage project team
Photo by Joyce Seay-Knoblauch. Pictured (left to right): William Bullock, professor of industrial design, Joy Scrogum, coordinator of the Sustainable Electronics Initiative, and Martin Wolske, research scientist and adjunct faculty member in library and information science.
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Where to donate your used stuff in Champaign-Urbana

There are many non-profit organizations in the Champaign-Urbana area that accept donations all year. This post will be updated as new information becomes available. Contact the author with suggestions.

 

Courage Connection

Courage Connection provides housing and supportive services for individuals and families experiencing homelessness or who are victims of domestic violence. They operate a thrift store called Connection in Lincoln Square Mall, which sells donated clothing items for women, men and children, as well as gently used home décor and housewares. All proceeds assist families in our community. Courage Connection clients also get free emergency and professional clothing there. Donations accepted during store hours on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Hours are M-F 10-6, Saturday 9-5. Donations are tax-deductible. See http://courageconnection.org/our-store/donations/ for a complete list of acceptable items.

Pick-up service for large donation items (e.g. furniture) is available at no charge in Champaign, Urbana and Savoy. They require a photo to be emailed to them to make sure they have space for your item. Pick-up appointments can be arranged for Tuesday mornings or Thursday afternoons. See http://courageconnection.org/our-store/pick-up-and-delivery/. Contact: 217-384-2158; store@courageconnection.org.

 

Champaign-Urbana Theater Company (CUTC)

Accepts limited donations of clothing and other items for use as costumes and props. Accepts latex paint if the can is at least 1/2 full. They will also accept lumber and other set construction materials if they are whole and in good condition (no scraps). Contact the costume manager ( costumes@cutc.org ) for clothing donations and the company’s executive director (manager@cutc.org) for all other items.

Crisis Nursery
Crisis Nursery works to prevent child abuse and neglect by providing 24-hour emergency care for children and support to strengthen families in crisis. See Items can be dropped off M-F 8-5. See https://www.crisisnursery.net/GivingOpportunities/NeedsWishList.aspx for their wish list. Contact: 217-337-2731

Goodwill/Land of Lincoln Goodwill Industries, Inc.

There are Goodwill Stores in Champaign, Savoy (where the old Pages for All Ages book store used to be in the Savoy Plaza), the LaBelle Boutique in Urbana, and an express donation center in Savoy. Donations are accepted Monday through Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to store closing and on Sunday from noon to store closing. Donations are tax-deductible. See http://www.llgi.org/donate-or-volunteer/unacceptable-donations/ for a list of items they will NOT accept.

Goodwill participates in Dell’s Reconnect electronics recycling program. Note that they do NOT accept CRT monitors—only flatscreen monitors and TVs in working condition. Please consult the Champaign County Electronics Reuse and Recycling Guide for a list (beginning on p. 3) of other local businesses that accept unwanted electronics.

Habitat for Humanity ReStore
The main store address is 119 East University Avenue, Champaign. See http://cuhabitat.org/re-store/donate-materials/ for list of acceptable items. Donations are accepted at the store Monday – Friday 10am-6pm and Saturday 10am-4pm. To arrange a pick up for donations call (217) 355-6460. The ReStore is open Tuesday-Friday 10am-6pm and Saturday 10am-4pm. Note that there may be a fee for pick up or delivery of items. Contact: 217-359-0507 or 217-819-5118; restore@cuhabitat.org

The IDEA Store

The IDEA Store is a materials-for-the-arts and educational reuse store where you can donate a variety of items that would otherwise go to the landfill. All proceeds from store sales benefit the CU Schools Foundation. Donations are accepted during store hours, Tuesday-Friday noon-7pm & Saturdays 10 am to 5 pm. Donations are tax deductible. See http://the-idea-store.org/wp-content/uploads/Final-Acceptance-List-9-20-12.pdf for the donation list, which includes almost anything that might be used for craft projects and office/school supplies.

Teachers, keep the IDEA Store in mind if you need supplies for class projects or extra school supplies. You can often get a lot of material for a small price. Items are often sold by the pound. In the fall, they highlight items that appear on school supply lists. See http://the-idea-store.org/retail-store/ for more information. If you’re looking for a particular type of material, you can let them know and they’ll contact you if they receive anything that fits your needs. Contact: 217-352-7878; info@the-idea-store.org

Preservation and Conservation Association (PACA)

PACA accepts architectural pieces (doors, windows, fixtures, etc.), furniture, storage items like filing cabinets, and even small home décor items. Contact them if you have items you suspect they might be interested in to determine if they will accept the item and/or have space for it. The warehouse is at 44 E Washington St, Champaign, IL. Their warehouse hours are Tuesday 10-4, Wed. 10-7, Th & F 10-4 & Sat. 9-12. Contact: 217-359-7222; pacaexdir@gmail.com.

University YMCA Dump and Run

Each year as students leave campus in droves, lots of useful materials end up headed to the landfill. The University YMCA Dump & Run collects some of this material and then sells it a large community garage sale in the fall—just in time for students to move back into the campus area and need items for their dorm rooms or apartments.

They accept: furniture, dishes, glassware, pots & pans, small household appliances, computers, electronics, bicycles, office & school supplies, nearly-new clothing, books, toiletries, lawn & garden, artwork, vinyl & cds, musical instruments, sporting equipment & other household goods. They DO NOT collect televisions, paint, child/infant car seats, stoves, washers, dryers, non-working electronics & computer parts, sleeper sofas, mattresses, televisions, or large exercise equipment. Contact Emily at 217-337-1500 or emily@universityymca.org to schedule a pick up time on our special pick up day on Saturday, August 8, 2015. Contact: Emily Cross, 217-337-1500: emily@universityymca.org.

 

Champaign County Humane Society

Accepts a variety of items for donation, including cleaning and office supplies. See http://www.cuhumane.org/Donate/WishList.aspx for their wish list.

Local Libraries

Most area libraries (including the University of Illinois) accept used books, CDs & DVDs. If you don’t see your library on the list below, contact them directly to inquire about making a donation.

Park District Camps and Preschools

Contact the Champaign or Urbana Park Districts to donate gently used books, educational items, school supplies, or craft supplies.

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Researchers Developing Nano-Scale Carbon ‘Scavengers’ As Solution for Oil Spills

satellite photo of oil spill in the Timor Sea
Oil spills like this one in 2009 north of Australia are the target of new clean up research.

ISTC is part of a multidisciplinary team awarded a research seed grant from the University’s Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) to develop carbon nano particles (CNP) as a more environmentally friendly technique for cleaning up oil spills.

 

ISTC Senior Research Engineer B.K. Sharma and Dipanjan Pan, director of the University of Illinois Master of Engineering in Bioinstrumentation Program and assistant professor in Bioengineering, Materials Science and Engineering, will lead a U of I team which was just awarded $85.000 a year for two years by the University’s Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) to develop CNP as a cleanup strategy for hydrocarbon spills on land and sea.

 

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Student-Staff Leadership Boosts U of I Campus Recycling Record

QuadRecyclingImprovementsSMPeople at the University of Illinois who care about recycling think about changing human behavior. They wonder how to make the distinction between the landfill bin and the recycle bin so convenient and so obvious that even the most stressed and preoccupied student hits the right target. At the Champaign-Urbana campus, zero-waste is a serious commitment. It is included as a component of the Illinois Climate Action Plan which obligates the U of I to achieving carbon neutral status by 2050. Read more on recycling improvements.

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Illini Gadget Garage Project Will Extend Useful Life of Student and Staff Electronics

The Illinois Sustainable Technology Center and the Sustainable Electronics Initiative (SEI) are pleased to announce that a team from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign consisting of SEI coordinator Joy Scrogum (ISTC), William Bullock (Art + Design), Martin Wolske, and Jon Gant (both of the Graduate School of Library and Information Science) has recently received funding from the Student Sustainability Committee for a project entitled “Illini Gadget Garage: Education through Electronic Product Life Extension.” This seed funding will be used to launch a center where UI students and staff will bring their personal electronic devices for assistance with assessment and repair. The center will be called the Illini Gadget Garage. Using the same “collaborative repair” model employed at the campus bike shop and MakerSpace Urbana’s computer Help Desk, clients with devices in need of repair/troubleshooting will work together with Gadget Garage student staff and volunteers to perform the necessary device assessment and maintenance activities. Depending upon the situation, activities may range from guidance on how to make your computer/device run faster to actual repair and replacement of components.

 

Beyond the avoidance of waste by extending the useful life of products, desired outcomes for students, staff, and the community include:

  • Hands on experiences for UI students, not only in terms of performing repairs, but also in process documentation and fostering sustainable behavior on a larger scale through the iFixit Technical Writing Project; marketing and business operations; lessons in industrial design for repair and recyclability; and in environmental education and communication.
  • Increased awareness of electronics laws and recycling options.
  • Increased awareness of sustainability issues surrounding electronic products throughout their lifecycles.
  • Decreased misconceptions regarding the disposability of devices and prohibitive complexity of electronics repair and maintenance.
  • Contribution to the overall efforts to make ours a more sustainable campus with a reduced carbon footprint.

 

The project team will use SEI’s Sustainable Electronics Campus Consortium as an advisory group, providing input and feedback on project progress and development. The project is just getting started, but there will be more information on the SEI web site and posted here on the blog over the coming months. In the meantime, if you have questions or want to be added to the campus consortium list so you can become involved in meetings on this and other relevant efforts, please contact Joy Scrogum.

SSC_Logo

 

This post originally appeared on the Sustainable Electronics Initiative Blog on 6/24/15. You may subscribe to the SEI blog via email, and learn more about sustainable electronics issues on the SEI web site. You may also make a donation via the U of I Foundation to support this and other SEI educational efforts.  

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Zero Waste at International Symposium

compost bin in the foreground with conference patrons using compostable cups for coffee in the background
An example of one of the ISMS break rooms and the compost bins.

ISTC’s Zero Waste Illinois program helped make the 70th annual International Symposium on Molecular Spectroscopy a zero waste event. They symposium hosted 500+ guests this week (June 22-26, 2015) on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. ISTC made it possible for 100% of all waste from symposium break rooms to be diverted from landfill to compost. ISTC provided compost bins, liners and signage and the conferences organizers provided serving ware that can be composted. ISTC is also providing labor to collect the compost and take it to Landscaping Recycling Center in Urbana, IL.

 

If you are interested in hosting a zero waste event or making your office more sustainable please contact Bart Bartels. ISTC also offers free site visits to assess zero waste opportunities for businesses, manufacturing, government, and other organizations.

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ISTC Laboratories Contribute to Biomedical Breakthrough

CNParticlemeasurement260

Labs at ISTC participated in a biomedical breakthrough by Beckman Institute faculty who developed a fast and inexpensive way to produce carbon nanoparticles. Measurements by John Scott, ISTC senior chemist, helped demonstrate that the particles can carry payloads of pharmaceutical drugs for targeted medical treatments.

 

Scott used one of the Center’s state-of-the-art instruments that can simultaneously measure fluorescence and absorbance of carbon nanoparticles. The work required extreme sensitivity in the parts per billion range.  More on the nanoparticle breakthrough.

 

 

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College, University Recyclers Set the Stage for Generation ‘Green’

Multi-bin recycling is a key to zero-waste strategies.
ISTC’s Zero Waste Program is innovating on the University of Illinois campus as a partner of student and administration leadership

College and university administrators going to the Illinois Recycling Association’s (IRA) June workshops for higher education will be inspired by the great ideas included on The Best Colleges dot org website.

ISTC is one of the sponsors of two training workshops for Illinois colleges and universities on planning, audits, analyzing data and other issues. Kennedy-King College will host a workshop for the City College of Chicago from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Wednesday, June 10. The deadline to register is June 10. Illinois Central College will be the site of the second workshop from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Wednesday, June 17. (Meet in the morning at nearby Embassy Suites, East Peoria.)  The deadline for that one is June 12. The East Peoria workshop is conveniently scheduled the day before the IRA/ILCSWMA/SWANA Annual Joint Conference. For more information and to register, visit http://www.illinoisrecycles.org/events/2015-conference/pre-conference-college-seminars/.

As far as hip green universities go, we can all envy UC Davis’ commitment to zero-waste, which they plan to achieve by 2020. They have had their version of the U of I’s ‘Dump and Run’ since 1975. Such programs allow students to ‘donate’ good stuff they don’t want to take home and sell it back to other students next semester.

Maine’s College of the Atlantic is another beacon of greenness, where students recycling enterprise is ubiquitous.  It is easy to recycle on campus and reportedly, no pizza crusts ever escape the compost bins.

Here in Illinois, take notes from Loyola University Chicago, which is featured in the latest One Billion Gallon Water Challenge Research Update. Faculty, students and staff there are the focus of experiments to improve water conservation behavior on campus. Their goal is to save up to three million gallons of water a year. They are designing a Resource Tool Kit to share their results with other Illinois colleges and universities.

Talk about student leadership of the green hue, it is hard to beat the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where year’s ago students voted to charge themselves a Sustainability Fee. Since then the Student Sustainability Committee has used the fee to drive green initiatives in many fruitful directions. Read here some recent results of their leadership.