By: Brendan Ward The George-Anne staff

The Center for Sustainability (CFS) announced 11 winners for the 2018 Sustainability Fee Grants.

This year, the CFS received 31 proposals asking for more than $680,000 in total. Of the 31 proposed projects, 11 were approved, and nearly $200,000 was given out.

The winners are as follows:

• RAC and Trail – Water fountain, bottle filler and pet fountains. Proposed by Carrie Thorne, GS project architect.

• Golf Course moisture meters. Proposed by Patrick Reinhardt, Golf Course superintendent.

• Golf Course tree plantings. Proposed by Patrick Reinhardt, Golf Course superintendent.

• Bicycle parking plaza addition at Math and Physics Building. Proposed by Chuck Taylor, campus landscape architect.

• Retrofit recycling receptacles with 95 percent recycled materials for 15 buildings. Proposed by Tiffoni Buckle-McCartney, sustainability coordinator.

• Sustainable Serenity: Trading Pollution for Clean Air and High Spirits. Proposed by Carolyn Altman, Botanic Garden director.

• LED lighting upgrade for GS art galleries. Proposed by Jason Hoelscher, gallery director.

• Parking Lot 21 between Parking and Transportation and Russell Union. Proposed by Bryan Rountree, mechanical superintendent.

• Reducing food waste as part of sustainability efforts on GS campus. Proposed by Evans Afriyie-Gyawu, Becky Larson, Hani Samawi and Joseph Telfair.

• HVAC occupancy sensors. Proposed by James Farquharson and Betsy Reaves, buyer/inventory manager, Residential & Auxiliary Services.

• High bay lighting upgrade at the RAC. Proposed by Jason Schmidt, coordinator for physical operations.

The winners went through a vetting process before being accepted.

First, they had to submit their proposal to the Center for Sustainability. Then, the Student Sustainability Fee Committee reviewed the proposals. If a proposal required an alteration of the campus, then it also had to be approved by the Space Utilization Committee.

The winning projects will receive their funds July 1, 2017, and they have until June 30, 2018 to complete their proposed project.

“This grant program has allowed our campus to make tremendous progress in sustainability over the past three years,” Lissa Leege, CFS director, said. “This year alone, 29 students were employed through the grant program, with a high level of involvement in making our campus more sustainable.”

Applications for 2019 proposals will open in March of 2018.

This is the fourth year the CFS has given out the fee grants. years’ winners can be found on the

CFS website

.