The Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Virginia kicked off the fall semester with a big milestone: The launch of UVA’s first-ever academic department-level sustainability plan.
The 2025-2030 BME Sustainability Plan commits to sustainability best practices in five areas: sustainable labs, waste, training, curriculum and research development. Because scientific labs are some of the most energy-intensive spaces on Grounds, leadership in research-heavy departments such as BME is essential to meeting the UVA 2030 Sustainability Goals.
More than 100 members of the BME community gathered in the courtyard of the department’s home building, MR5, to celebrate with ice cream and raffle prizes. BME department chair Shayn Peirce-Cottler and members of the BME Sustainability Committee shared inspiring remarks about the spirit of innovation and collaboration surrounding the creation of the plan.
“This inaugural Sustainability Plan is grounded in BME’s mission of transforming health care and medicine,” Peirce-Cottler said.
During celebration, the inaugural BME Sustainability Award was presented to Cheryl Borgman, lab manager of the (Kevin) Janes Lab and lifelong sustainability champion. Raffle prizes included bags donated by MERCI, art kits from Scrappy Elephant, UVA Office for Sustainability swag bags, community service with Peirce-Cottler, and artwork made from recycled pipette tip boxes, donated by UVAShredz (formerly JunkLabz).
Emma Bakall Loewgren, BME Ph.D. student and Graduate Biomedical Engineering Society sustainability chair for 2025–2026, told the crowd, “We’ll continue making as many BME events as possible zero waste, participating in University-wide sustainability challenges, and sharing resources on how to make labs more environmentally friendly. Student involvement really makes a difference.”
The Graduate BME Society has been at the heart of this movement from the very beginning. In 2021, the group’s first sustainability chair, then Ph.D. student and now assistant professor Noah Perry, teamed up with the UVA Office for Sustainability to help make BME the most sustainable academic department at UVA.
Together with Fiona Hogan Bradford, the current Sustainable Labs Program manager, Perry began rallying faculty, students and researchers to join the Green Labs Program, which promotes safe and sustainable research practices. Perry continued this work even when his term as sustainability chair expired. He was replaced by Ph.D. student Tor Breza in 2022, followed by Sam Crowl in 2023.
Each chair brought new perspectives and energy as efforts grew to include waste minimization, zero waste events and collaborations with peer institutions. They were rewarded when the Graduate BME Society received a 2023 UVA Sustainability Leadership Award for its commitment to sustainability in various forms.
As momentum grew, so did the vision. A new BME Sustainability Committee of faculty, students and staff formed to explore impact beyond the lab. Together with UVA Sustainability, they created a first-of-its-kind academic department-level plan that includes goals like hosting zero waste events, ensuring every BME lab is Green Labs-certified, and adopting more sustainable purchasing practices.
The plan officially launched in August 2025 and will be carried forward by the BME Sustainability Committee, co-chaired by BME executive assistant Lena Zell and assistant professor of biomedical and chemical engineering Chris Highley.
BME’s bold Sustainability Plan reflects a shared commitment to lead by example — and to inspire other departments at UVA and beyond.
