North Carolina Chapter Awards 2019 NC Scholarship

Onnr Grogan

Onnr Grogan was chosen to receive the prestigious North Carolina Composting Council Research Scholarship, a scholarship offered only to undergraduate through PhD students studying in a North Carolina university.

The scholarship is funded by a donation to the Composting Council Research and Education Foundation from the NCCC chapter.

Onnr, a junior in the undergraduate biological engineering program at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, will use the funds for a project she plans to begin in September. The objective is to determine how the method and schedule of turning compost affects the temperature profile, nutrient contents and time required for production of the compost. Wooden open-air pens will be compared to tumbler bins for ease and efficiency. Additionally, the turning schedule will be varied to determine the ideal frequency for compost turning with each method.

The long-term goal of her project is to develop the infrastructure and a process necessary to begin a comprehensive compost program through the main dining hall on her campus. A cost benefit analysis will be performed to determine the economic sustainability of a continuous composting program compared to the current process of discarding all food in a trash compactor. When the project is completed, the plan is to present a proposal for a continuous composting program to the NC A&T chancellor and a representative of Sodexo, the school’s food service provider.