History
The Laboratory Research and Technical Staff (LabRATS) Network started as an outgrowth of the UCSB Sustainability Working Group in 2004 when a researcher named Allen Doyle was requested to look into “Sustainable Research”. Rather than look into what researchers were studying, he began looking into how researchers were studying. Allen created a compilation of sustainable practices ("best practices" link at left) within his own lab and began collecting and documenting surplus materials that he found around his building.
After an increasing number of excited conversations at the burrito stand near physics in 2005, Allen created a network of researchers via an email listserve. This network created the foundation of scientific expertise and experience within the lab setting that labRATS interns would rely on and which became our set of mentors.
In the spring of 2006, Marie-Claire Munnelly, one of the members of the Bren School Campus Climate Neutral Team mistook Allen for a professor she had been communicating with via email and a new connection was made. This resulted in collaboration with the Campus Climate Neutral project. That same quarter, two more eager staff (Jeff Kirby and Katie Maynard) joined the project and this motley crew received their first grant from the Lawson Valentine Foundation. They began to build the Laboratory Assessments for Research Sustainability (LARS) Program, they hired two interns, (Karly Burch and Colin Dowling), created a webpage, and attended the UC, CSU, CCC Sustainability Conference to learn about best practices at other campuses.
In only a few weeks LARS interns and mentors designed comprehensive assessment documents and protocols for assessing laboratory sustainability. In July 2006, LARS completed its first assessment.
Today, we have completed seventeen laboratory assessments, and are branching out into several new programs related to waste reduction, environmentally and socially preferable purchasing, green chemistry, and energy efficiency.
We owe a great deal of gratitude to our colleagues on campus as well as at UC Davis, UC Irvine, Stanford, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, UNC, and the Harvard Green Campus Initiative. On Campus, we would like to thank the Geography Department, Facilities Management, especially the Campus Energy Manager, Environmental Health and Safety, Custodial Services, and department chairs and faculty from every research department. As well we thank the Office of Research and the Deans of College of Creative Studies, Mathematical, Life and Physical Sciences, Engineering, and Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management
Learn more about our accomplishments.
