Ecologue

Garin Anderson has worked with the OSU Sustainability Office for almost three years. In this time he has taken responsibility for many different aspects of what the office does, from metering projects to outreach projects. Garin has also participated in many other department activities and was always willing to help out with any project that could use his knowledge and time. He would help SSI with projects where data collection or historical knowledge was important. Some of his largest roles were reading all the campus’s utility meters each month and being responsible for SSI’s Solar Trailer.  Along with that, Garin volunteered with Campus Recycling over the years for various opportunities to help them with residence halls Move-Out Donation Drives.

After a few months, Garin was able to maintain and transport the Solar Trailer for events on campus and all the way to Portland, if requested.  Garin ensured the trailer was ready at all times for outreach opportunities.  This included making sure outreach signs were updated and looked good for events, checking that the battery system was running properly, communicating to event managers on how to properly use the trailer, and sometimes being on site during events to head off any issues that could occur.  Typically, the trailer is the primary or only power source at events, so mishaps, which are rare, need to be fixed immediately.

Garin’s other work has included helping with event planning and execution. This year, for Campus Conservation Nationals (CCN), he helped in the planning stages to provide historical knowledge. In the two previous years, Garin contributed to CCN by providing meter data, working with SSI staff to interpret data and provide event programming and follow up.  In previous years, he collected data from every residence hall once a week to supply consumption numbers for SSI to publish for the competition. Even though CCN did not take place this year, Garin was a useful source of historical knowledge for new SSI employees on past events and how those events turned out. Garin has also spent significant time managing GEO 300 students at six different events just this spring quarter, as well as a few each quarter over the past two years. Several of these projects included removing invasive plant material from campus natural areas. Other projects involved replacing aerators in sinks around campus and recently, they surveyed laboratory fume hoods on campus.  He has been responsible for project set up, managing workers, cleanup and assessment.

In summary, here are the key tasks Garin did in his time at the Sustainability Office:

• Read OSU utility meters as part of OSU’s billing and conservation programs. Tasks included preparing Excel spreadsheets for field use, scheduling reads with colleagues, taking the reads at locations throughout campus including restricted areas and inputting data.
• Maintain, transport and set up the Solar Trailer. This includes safely towing and moving the Trailer, a 6000 lb., highly complex device.
• Help plan and manage energy and water conservation projects.
• Perform field work like small equipment installation/modification and solar array site maintenance.
• Join colleagues and other OSU departments for various outreach events and activities.
• Survey buildings for conservation opportunities.