Air quality monitoring on campus
The Sustainability Action Fund (SAF) has been supporting campus sustainability for nearly a decade, providing over $1 million in funding to more than 100 projects. These initiatives align closely with the University of Waterloo’s Environmental Sustainability Strategy and aim to advance sustainability across campus.
Three of the SAF projects are in partnership with Global Environmental Measurement and Monitoring (GEMM), an initiative led by Dr. Donna Strickland and overseen by Erin Schmidt. These projects focus on improving air quality monitoring and reducing traffic and greenhouse gas emissions on campus. They also aim to demonstrate the need for increasing measurement and monitoring of environmental parameters at a local scale.
Currently, Victoria Park serves as the primary location for air quality monitoring in the Region of Waterloo, limiting the range and specificity of available data. The impacts of air pollution can vary across locations, so GEMM’s goal is to establish an air monitoring network across the University of Waterloo main campus. This network of sensors will measure particulate matter (PM2.5, PM10), carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone (O3), and carbon monoxide (CO), along with temperature, pressure, and relative humidity. The sensors will also provide valuable data for researchers, students, and community members to better understand the impacts of local air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
Since first receiving funding from the SAF in 2024, air quality sensors have been strategically placed across four campus locations. A rooftop sensor on Engineering 2 (E2) provides a baseline for local air quality. Sensors at the loading dock outside the Student Life Center (SLC) aim to measure the effects of Ring Road traffic and idling delivery trucks. Inside the SLC’s Great Hall, a sensor monitors indoor air quality. A fresh air intake for SLC is located right beside the loading dock, and this sensor provides data to help determine if vehicle emissions are being drawn indoors.
Air sensor in the SLC loading dock
Pedestrian traffic at William Tutte Way
The latest project – Mapping Mobility – is in collaboration with Dr. Carrie Mitchell from the Department of Planning and Sustainable Transportation. It will deploy traffic and air monitoring sensors to understand how, when, and why vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists move to and from the University of Waterloo campus via Ring Road, along with impacts on air pollution and GHG emissions. The first location of study is at William Tutte Way and Ring Road, across from the transportation hub.
GEMM hopes to expand these SAF projects in the coming years. Plans include installing additional sensors to improve data collection and generate reliable, real-world data to support decision making by the Sustainability Office and university leadership. They also hope to make the data accessible for student use through Living Lab opportunities, encouraging hands-on learning and research. In addition, GEMM hopes to develop public dashboards that can be displayed across campus to share air quality insights and inspire behavioural change through increased awareness of air pollution.
The SAF will also support GEMM as they host Sensing to Impact: An Environmental Measurement and Monitoring Research Symposium, taking place in mid-April 2026. The event will bring together researchers, government members, and community partners from across Waterloo Region to strengthen local environmental monitoring, highlight leading research, and foster dialogue that can turn data into meaningful impact.
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