Group Projects
A significant portion of the Solutions to Environmental Problems (STEP): Biodiesel course focuses on small group projects. Each project is interdisciplinary, combining students and skills from all majors to offer real-world experiences that contribute to the overall goal of producing a clean, renewable, petroleum-alternative fuel from waste vegetable oil. Each group works with a faculty mentor to create a final product to be highlighted in a public forum at the end of the semester.
Project topics and goals are set by the students at the beginning of each semester. Project proposals are written as grant proposals and turned into the STEP faculty. Upon review and revision, student projects are funded for the semester. Through this process students are able to obtain funding for their class projects and STEP is able to work toward real-world results at every turn.
Launched in the Fall of 2007, STEP students explored several topics related to biodiesel and investigated its potential as a solution to energy use and climate change. Students in the spring 2008 course continued to develop research on topics explored in 2007 while bringing fresh ideas to biodiesel at Loyola.
STEP: Biodiesel Projects - Fall 2007
STEP: Biodiesel Projects - Spring 2008