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Sustainability and the sciences go hand-in-hand at Emmanuel College, where students have made a direct impact on improving the sustainability efforts on campus.
Leila Ahmed ’25 is one such student – driven by her passion for biology and the environment, Ahmed has spent her time at Emmanuel studying with an individualized major in environmental biology and aiming to inspire an environmental movement for the College.
As she prepares for graduation in two weeks – and looks ahead to Boston University’s Masters of Public Health (MPH) program in the near future – Ahmed reflected on paving the way for future students to study environmental biology at Emmanuel and setting a foundation for more sustainable practices to take root on campus.
“My goal is to leave an impact on the community and way of life at Emmanuel. Accomplishing all of these things has given me so many opportunities to grow in my leadership and advocacy skills,” Ahmed said.
Leading New Sustainable Practices
Ahmed received a Sustainability Mini Grant from the Colleges of the Fenway (COF) Center for Sustainability and Environment last year for her recycling project, which she implemented in Emmanuel’s labs. She used the funding to bring in clear plastic recycling bins from the company PolyCarbin called “Beta Bins.” Lab plastics are collected in the bins and then sent back to the company, so the material gets reused rather than incinerated or put into a landfill.
Emmanuel’s labs have already shipped back four of the five bins bought last year, totaling 45 pounds of plastic, and the School of Science & Health plans to continue bringing in the bins even after Ahmed has graduated.
Not only does this demonstrate the real impact the project has had on minimizing the labs’ carbon footprint, Ahmed said, but it’s also a way for Emmanuel to be seen as an example for other colleges in the area and be a leader in implementing more sustainable practices.
Ahmed’s latest work, which she presented in this year’s Muddy River Symposium on April 8th, was on planting a pollinator garden – a garden designed to attract pollinators like bees, butterflies and hummingbirds – outside the Wilkens Science Center (WSC). The garden, which has been set up with fresh mulch across from the WSC, is expected to be planted by graduation on May 10th.
Across those efforts and more, Ahmed has collaborated with a number of departments on campus, working closely with Emmanuel’s facilities staff on the garden and the Center for Mission & Ministry on the ‘Hope in Action’ series. Above all, Ahmed said these projects are all great examples of how movements can come together if everyone in a community gets involved.
“Leila Ahmed '25I want this to be the beginning of an environmental movement for Emmanuel – it shouldn’t end with me – and I hope I’ve left enough ‘foundation’ for students and faculty to continue it.
Bringing Environmental Impact into the Classroom
Her interest in environmental biology – which manifested into her individualized major – has made its way to other students as well, becoming more prevalent in biology labs and classrooms and fostering conversations about pursuing a major related to the environment at Emmanuel.
“Lelia is a pioneer and leader here,” said Lecturer of Biology, Dr. Lisa Mazumder, “in both her sustainability work and for environmental biology on campus. [She's been] leading the way and making students aware of the field.”
Dr. Mazumder teaches biology courses such as “Human Health and Environment” and the “Introduction to Cellular and Molecular Biology Lab.” Her research focuses on population genetics and molecular evolution, but she has been bringing more environmental biology elements into her instruction.
In the plant unit of the lab course, for example, students have been growing lettuce for a few semesters to study how toxicity impacts cells. Combined with the use of Emmanuel’s greenhouse as the lab space, Mazumder said the hands-on, environmental element of the unit gets students excited.
She hopes to be able to implement more environmental biology in her courses in the future – both by expanding the variety of experiments, and eventually even offering more dedicated environmental biology coursework.
“The student interest is there,” she said, “and there’s lots of open-endedness about how we approach these topics and this work.”
Ahmed played a vital role in making that possible, too. She spent time as a lab assistant over the summer in 2024 revitalizing the greenhouse – fully equipping the space for Emmanuel student scientists to get the best out of it.
“We’re lucky we have the greenhouse and can take advantage of it – that’s a resource that not a lot of schools have, especially in the middle of the city,” Ahmed said.
