POTSDAM -- Clarkson University will host the fifth annual New York State Pollution Prevention Institute R&D Student Competition on Earth Day, Friday, April 22.

The free event will take place between 9 a.m. and noon at Clarkson’s Student Center and the public is welcome to attend.

As part of its Research and Development Program, NYSP2I challenged teams of full-time students enrolled at any institute of higher education in New York State to identify a specific activity at their university or in their community with a large environmental footprint. Teams of graduate or undergraduate students were then required to design innovative solutions to reduce its impact,

This year’s competition marks the first time that the event will be held on Clarkson’s campus. It is being sponsored by the University’s Institute for a Sustainable Environment (ISE).

Students this year are offering their expertise and creative ideas to reduce food waste in grocery stores and develop smart homes to reduce energy consumption. Their solutions are as diverse as Rensselaer’s use of UV LED lights to reduce mold growth in produce, to the Clarkson team’s communication strategies to provide energy use feedback to motivate conservation.

“We can all look forward to meeting these students and learning about their innovative design solutions to real-world environmental challenges. In past years, the quality and creativity of student projects has been exemplary,” said Spence Professor in Sustainable Environmental Systems Susan E. Powers, interim director of Clarkson's Institute for a Sustainable Environment.

In all, 12 student teams from seven schools -- Clarkson University, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Syracuse University, SUNY Stony Brook, Vassar College and the SUNY Buffalo -- will display their projects and compete for prizes at the Earth Day competition. The teams received up to $1,250 for project materials when their project proposals were accepted into the student competition, last fall.