Vanderbilt University's VISAGE Program Gives Local Student New Perspective

As a civil engineering major at Vanderbilt University, Frankfort resident Tony Heath didn't expect to have time for a study abroad experience.  But when the opportunity arose to go to Ireland this summer while getting credit for his major, Heath jumped at the chance.

The four week experience will take place in and around Belfast in northern Ireland. Heath will travel with a professor, a program director and a group of 8-10 students and will live in the dorms at Queens University through Vanderbilt's VISAGE program (Vanderbilt Initiative for Scholarship And Global Engagement).

According to Heath, his time there will be a mix of classes at Queens University, research on sustainable design principles at both Queens and Cambridge universities and a service component sponsored by Habitat for Humanity and Volunteer Now.

"We'll be helping teach people to do more sustainable building," Heath said of the service project portion, adding that this travel group also did a Habitat build this past semester in Nashville.

Sustainable design is part of the new trend in engineering and architecture that supports affordable, eco-friendly construction like was used in the Parthenon Towers across from the Vanderbilt campus. The 60-70 year old buildings are used for low income senior housing, yet they've been renovated to include solar panels and an HVAC system that allows for individual climate control in each apartment, which is cutting edge technology, said Heath.

"Sustainability is all about the triple bottom line," he explained.

Engineers look at fiscal factors, asking how the design can be more affordable or even produce its own income. They also work to incorporate a greener footprint and alternative energy sources, as well as design a structure that encourages the community to grow and develop around it, Heath added.

More specifically, in their coursework at Queens University, Heath and his classmates will be studying sustainable design in regions experiencing conflict.

"We'll be looking at the conflict historically between Protestants and Catholics (in Ireland) and looking at ways that you can build sustainably in a high conflict area, knowing that it might not last," Heath explained.

"We had a speaker come from Queens Univeristy in Belfast this semester. He said the schools and living areas are still really segregated between the Protestants and Catholics. Things are better now, but they're still impacted (by the previous civil war)," Heath added.

Thanks to the coursework leading up to the Ireland trip, as well as the study abroad component, Heath plans to get LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified this summer to be a Green Associate. He has also signed up to do a follow up research project on sustainable design next fall and is considering focusing his civil engineering career on this up and coming field.