Vermicompost Living Lab

Charlotte Hurley served as the CML’s inaugural Vermicompost Manager, playing a foundational role in establishing NAU’s on-campus vermicomposting living lab. Funded by the NAU Green Fund, Charlotte designed and built out the lab’s in ground vermicomposting system from the ground up, overseeing day-to-day operations, worm health monitoring, and weekly data and sample collection. A cornerstone of her work was developing a formal feasibility study titled “Feasibility Study on Vermicomposting at Northern Arizona University” assessing the potential for scaling vermicomposting across NAU’s campus. She also built a critical operational pipeline to divert pre-consumer food scraps from The DüB dining hall, established in collaboration with The DüB’s Chef Bill and Sodexo’s Sustainability Specialist, Jacob Vanetsky, creating a reliable and low-burden waste stream for the living lab. Beyond the lab, Charlotte organized and led a hands-on vermicomposting workshop at the SSLUG Garden, bringing the science of worm-powered composting to the broader NAU community. Charlotte presented her work at NAU’s Undergraduate Symposium (UGRADs), sharing her findings with faculty, peers, and community members.

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Read more about the vermicomposting living lab in the NAU Review: “Worms at work: Turning waste into soil”