Students in Jennifer Howard-Grenville's industrial ecology course got plenty of hands-on experience helping develop solutions for real-life issues in the city of Salem. The course was part of UO's Sustainable Cities Initiative, a program partnering students from business, architecture and other disciplines to promote local green development. Students worked with three organizations—Salem's wastewater treatment plant; Norpac, the regional food processor; and Sequential Pacific Biofuels, the bio-diesel manufacturer—all of which plan to use elements of the students" research going forward. “To me, the biggest part of the learning is how complex each situation is," summed up Howard-Grenville. “That's one of the benefits—to see how messy the real world is."