The lightbulb went off in Denise Tran’s brain in 2019 when a guest speaker named Steve Moore spoke to her class at the University of Florida College of Design, Construction and Planning – “I should intern with Siemens in Jacksonville.”

After graduating this past summer with a bachelor’s degree in sustainability and the built environment, Tran took her interest in energy production, smart building technology and redevelopment and joined the global company’s office for a summer internship in the Bold New City of the South.

The University of Florida’s Donald R. Dizney Stadium’s locker room facility on UF’s campus is the first building in Florida to be LEED certified by students and just the 11th globally.

Led by DCP Sustainability and the Built Environment Program Director and UF Green Building Learning Collaborative Director Bahar Armaghani, LEED Lab students successfully certified the lacrosse locker room facility under the LEED v4.1 certification. Since LEED Lab’s inception in 2014, 186 students have participated in the experience. Through their pursuit, students have experienced hands-on learning, strengthened their professional skills and attained LEED credentials.

Scheduled to graduate next spring with a degree in Sustainability and the Built Environment, Madison Ulvenes is currently serving as the sustainable building intern for the University of Florida Department of Planning, Design and Construction. Her day-to-day responsibilities include implementing sustainable practices within the multiple projects under the UF Landscape Master Plan. The current member of Climate Action Gator and Gators Going Green connects daily with different departments on campus and documents said practices under the corresponding sustainable certification program, Sustainable SITES Initiative. 

Ulvenes credits DCP’s interdisciplinary approach with her success thus far in the internship, which incorporates aspects of landscape architecture, construction management, historic preservation and much more.  She has been able to apply what she has learned about the built and natural environments and help achieve UF’s first Sustainable SITES Initiative certifications through the Newell Gateway and Tigert Court projects. These plans aim to make the campus more cohesive and interconnected with the City of Gainesville.

Some people spend their entire lives dreaming of working for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). For University of Florida College of Design, Construction and Planning student Margaret George, she has already done it twice before graduation.

Scheduled to receive her degree in Sustainability and the Built Environment at DCP’s August 7 commencement ceremony, George is currently spending her last semester at UF in Hampton, Va., as a NASA Solar and Meteorological Data for Energy and Agriculture Intern.