Growing the Dartmouth as Living Lab Initiative: Tools, Grants, and Community Connections

Written by: Simone Whitecloud, Living Lab Program Manager

and Lilly Tipton, Climate Collaborative Program Coordinator

This season, the Sustainability Office and the Climate Collaborative welcomed two new team members—Simone Whitecloud, Dartmouth as Living Lab Program Manager, and Lilly Tipton, Climate Collaborative Program Coordinator. Together, they are advancing the Dartmouth as Living Lab (DaLL) initiative, a growing effort to transform our campus and surrounding lands into a dynamic hub for climate and sustainability learning, research, and collaboration.

The DaLL initiative, co-sponsored by the Sustainability Office and the Climate Collaborative, invites students, faculty, and staff to utilize Dartmouth’s physical spaces, data, and expertise as a platform for hands-on inquiry. By connecting academic work with the daily operations and environments of the College, DaLL aims to spark new research questions, deepen classroom learning, and support creative projects that address pressing climate and sustainability challenges.

A key focus of the initiative this year is improving how campus community members discover and access Dartmouth properties, datasets, and operational systems. To support this goal, Simone and Lilly are developing an interactive map and a comprehensive project repository. The map will feature Dartmouth-owned lands and facilities along with details such as utilities, lodging availability, vehicle access, and request procedures. The data and project portal will house summaries of ongoing and past research, theses, publications, and available datasets. It will also serve as a matchmaking hub—allowing faculty and staff to share research needs and enabling students to signal their interest or availability to support projects.

Complementing these tools, the Climate Collaborative will continue to offer Living Lab Grants for faculty and staff. These grants, which provide up to $30,000, support projects that use Dartmouth’s campus and the greater New England region as a testbed for climate and sustainability innovation. This year’s call for proposals especially encourages interdisciplinary approaches, cross-department and cross-school collaborations, and partnerships with community members.

With these new resources and leadership, the Living Lab initiative is poised to strengthen connections across campus and expand opportunities for meaningful, place-based climate action.

Geo-exchange test well drilling on campus. (Photo By Chris Johnson)