Here are a few websites our students have worked on for community partners.
Hazardous Waste Database: For Just Moms STL, one group created a website showing EPA’s levels that are defined safe for different toxic chemicals in different types of sites (rural, industrial, etc.). Taking information from the EPA’s dense and hard-to-read documents, these students created an easy-to-navigate site using WUSTL Sites. Communities around the country are now using this website so they can advocate for themselves while contacting the EPA to clean up toxins in their communities.
The StoryMap of West Lake Landfill: For Just Moms STL, a group began with historical and current topographical maps of the West Lake Landfill site–a site where nuclear waste from the Manhattan Project was illegally dumped and still remains, right alongside residential neighborhoods, retail areas, schools, and places of worship. The students used ArcGIS to create a series of interactive maps that would help predict runoff and show the EPA and the community where cleanup efforts should be focused in the areas right outside of the landfill site itself. Just Moms STL has shared this project with the EPA, and the EPA is taking these maps into consideration as they plan their cleanup efforts.
School District Equity Map, St. Louis Area: For the Education Equity Center of St. Louis, a group of students created a website of layered maps that allows users to see statistics for school districts in St. Louis City and County. Using data from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), the students created an easy and interactive way to see the percentage of students on free or reduced lunch (an indicator of poverty), percentage of students entering a four-year college or university, and each school district’s average expenditure per student.
Here is the winner of the Fall 2022 Engineers in the Community poster competition. Posters were presented at Ferguson Brewing Company to community partners, Wash U faculty, fellow students, and other community members. Wash U faculty and staff judged the posters, and the competition was tight!
Here is a video our students put together in Spring of 2021 for The Balsa Foundation, to highlight what they do. It includes interviews with local business owners who benefited from Balsa’s mentorship.