Sustainable Urban Farm (SUrF) Learning Laboratory
SUrF is where ideas, action, and community meet to rethink the landscapes we inhabit. The 1/8 acre micro-farm – composed of raised beds and fruit trees in the “front yard” of Wanberg Residence Hall (aka “Greenberg) - is grounded in an emphasis on rehabilitating the soil, with the side benefit that students get to grow and eat great food.
SUrF is not a traditional community garden. Individuals are not assigned specific plots. Instead, the gardening collective works the entire micro-farm and shares the fruits of their labor (a portion of produce is also donated to a food bank). Participants that complete the garden education curriculum are eligible for internship placements in community organizations.
Coffee Orchard
Whittier College is home to a 1/8 acre experimental research coffee orchard where students and faculty investigate coffee as a new crop in the California agricultural landscape. The coffee orchard is also a space where industry representatives and the community come together through gatherings, speaker series, and career events. Coffee, therefore, becomes the bridge between college and the industry. Students are given the opportunity to gain experience through internships and fellowships pertaining to coffee, including environmental and social justice, market research, and climate change research.
Environmental Science Laboratory
Located on the first floor of the Science & Learning Center, the Environmental Science Laboratory was created offers a functional space for our undergraduate students and our faculty to conduct their research. The laboratory is equipped with instruments that are ideal for research in Earth Science disciplines and it includes a Precision incubator, a muffle furnace, scales and microbalances, a fume hood, a pH meter, a plate shaker, a -80 degree F freezer, a LECO CN 628 analyzer and soon an Agilent Gas Chromatograph for CO2 gas analysis. Other equipment includes a Licor LI-6400XTR Portable Photosynthesis and Fluorescence System, and for gas sampling an American Ecotech EC-9810A Ozone Analyzer and an American Ecotech EC-9841A NOx Analyzer. The laboratory is also used as teaching space for the Environmental Science department.
Environmental Science Faculty Research Laboratory, SLC
Biology & Environmental Science Teaching Laboratory, SLC
