ELI students, Tanner Ellison and Emily Hernandez, partnered with the UCSB Office of Public Affairs & Communications (OPAC) to create an interactive map of all outdoor study spaces on campus.
Tanner and Emily set off to enhance UCSB students' options of outdoor study spaces where they can be comfortable and also be surrounded by nature. In their quest for the ideal space to transform on the UCSB campus, they set off on an all-campus exploration of existing study sites. They took notes of attributes of every site they found - whether they had seating, solar charging options, trash cans, shade, views, and more - and discovered that this information would be helpful not only to themselves but to other students and members of the community looking for outdoor study areas. Tanner and Emily partnered with UCSB OPAC to share this information on the campus' interactive map. Map users can now choose the "Outdoor Study Spots" map layer, and click on the spots for a description of the spot and its attributes.
Thanks to a grant from Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities (URCA), Tanner and Emily will soon be adding another spot to the map. They have received funds to transform an outdoor area, currently surrounded by concrete, to one surrounded by greenery and nature. Stay tuned for information when this new spot is added to the map!