Dartmouth as Living Lab
Work day at the Dartmouth Organic Farm. (Photo By Chris Johnson)
What is "Living Lab"?
Dartmouth as "Living Lab" means using our campus and surrounding lands as a hands-on platform for climate research, teaching, and creative problem solving. This approach brings students, faculty, and staff together to explore real world climate solutions while deepening experiential learning and environmental stewardship. From the main campus to the Organic Farm and Dartmouth’s Woodlands, Dartmouth offers unique sites to pilot innovative ideas and generate actionable scholarship. We have the land resources to better understand our climate and to generate solutions. Let's put them to use!
Interested in applying for a Climate Collaborative Living Lab Grant?
The Climate Collaborative is funding Living Lab grants for faculty-led projects that use Dartmouth’s lands and local community as a platform for climate and sustainability focused research, teaching, and creative scholarship. Awards will be capped at $30,000, but applications requesting less are welcome. Proposals from social sciences, arts and humanities, Geisel, and Tuck faculty are especially encouraged, as are collaborations between faculty from different departments or schools, early-career researchers, and projects that inform campus operations or engage with the Connecticut River. All Dartmouth faculty and postdocs are eligible. The 2025 application will be open from November 1 to December 15, 2025. Please email Climate.Collaborative@dartmouth.edu with questions related to the grant application process!
Learn more about the Request for Proposals and evaluation process here.
Researchers assess stream health at the Second College Grant. (Photo By Beam Lertbunnaphongs)
Current Living Lab Projects
Current Living Lab projects are utilizing the campus decarbonization project to access subsurface sediments to research past climate change, underlying bedrock geology, and study future geothermal potential. Other projects aim to enhance carbon sequestration at the Organic Farm and study the effect of winter climate change on the Dartmouth Woodlands.
Learn more
Story: Student Researcher Aims for Carbon Capture at the Organic Farm
In a project funded by the Campus as Lab pilot program, Molly Stevens ’25 spent her senior year working with Professor of Earth Sciences Carl Renshaw and Senior Research Scientist Josh Landis to enhance soil carbon storage at the Dartmouth Organic Farm.
Research Site Opportunities
Dartmouth's campus and lands provide excellent opportunities for studying climate change, developing solutions for climate mitigation and adaptation, and engaging students in hands-on learning. Interested in conducting teaching or scholarship at these sites? Contact Simone Whitecloud, Dartmouth as Living Lab Program Manager.
Planting at the Organic Farm. (Photo By Katie Lenhart)
Dartmouth Organic Farm
Just three miles north of Dartmouth main campus, the Dartmouth Organic Farm is situated on conservation easement land and is home to an educational working garden, faculty and student research, independent projects, labs, and classes.
About the Farm
The Swift Dimond River flowing through the Second College Grant. (Photo By Beam Lertbunnaphongs)
Dartmouth Woodlands Properties
Dartmouth owns thousands of acres of forested land in New Hampshire and Vermont including those around the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge, the Dartmouth Skiway, and the Clement Woodlot. Sitting in New Hampshire's north country, the Second College Grant is the largest of Dartmouth's forested lands, boasting nearly 27,000 acres of sustainably forested lands in New Hampshire's north country used for timber production, recreation, and research.
About Dartmouth Woodlands
Dartmouth is actively working toward the goal of decreasing our campus energy carbon emissions to zero.
Main Campus
On main campus, the ongoing campus energy project provides unique opportunities to explore Dartmouth's subsurface and observe an energy transition in progress.
Energy renewal on campus