Creator of floating classroom to dock at UVA

August 14, 2025
Robin Dunbar sitting on a log on the shore of the Elizabeth River

Robin Dunbar joins UVA’s Environmental Institute to continue finding solutions to marine debris and to expand on her previous work on the Learning Barge. (Photo by Lathan Goumas, University Communications)

After 25 years on the river, Robin Dunbar is now walking on Grounds.

Dunbar joined the University of Virginia’s Environmental Institute this summer as a fellow, transitioning from her career as deputy director of education for the Elizabeth River Project, the organization tasked with cleaning up one of the most polluted rivers along the Chesapeake Bay. 

During her tenure, she teamed with UVA architecture professor Phoebe Crisman, whom she met at an environmental conference, and together they developed an idea that became the Learning Barge, a floating classroom to educate students about sustainability.

Led by Crisman, UVA Architecture School students built the vessel they collaboratively designed. The 120- by 32-foot steel barge is totally off the grid and known as one of America’s greenest vessels. 

a ship called ”the Learning Barge” docked on the Elizabeth River in Portsmouth, VA

The Learning Barge is a floating classroom on the Elizabeth River in Portsmouth, built in collaboration with UVA’s School of Architecture. (Contributed photo)

Dunbar’s new role as an environmental sustainability and resilience practitioner fellow will end in December. While on Grounds, she will work on student engagement and guest lecture for the Global Studies program and the Environmental Institute. 

On the Learning Barge, students learn about sustainability practices like producing energy from sun and wind, collecting rainwater, filtering gray water using native plants in an onboard wetland and using recycled materials and green technologies.

The barge is powered by solar panels and wind turbines. Rainwater is collected from the roof and filtered for use onboard. Students manually pump this water into a clear basin – seeing their water use in real time while washing their hands to learn about water conservation, according to Dunbar. 

“Our wild idea seemed like an impossible experiment, but we made it happen with the Elizabeth River Project and so many generous and enthusiastic partners,” Crisman said. “Years of UVA architecture studios and construction workshops, followed by a hot summer working at the Chesapeake shipyard with 16 students, produced a self-sufficient vessel that has brought the river community together and achieved so much over these past 15 years.”

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The barge has changed over those years. Once gray and now painted blue, the floating school has expanded to six learning stations that can hold, in total, about 100 students at a time, booking a year in advance. 

“There is nothing like it,” Dunbar said. “We say it’s the first floating wetlands classroom because of the live wetlands aboard that filter water from handwashing and serve as a habitat for periwinkle snails.”

She said the local maritime community has made regular operations, which would otherwise have been costly, a sustainable reality. A local shipyard, BAE Systems Norfolk Ship Repair, maintains the barge as a “River Star” business that supports student education around the Elizabeth River. During storms and hurricanes, tugboats donate their services to move the barge to a safe harbor.

The late UVA President Emeritus John T. Casteen III was a big supporter and financial contributor to the project. “He was very proud of the project, partially because he grew up in Portsmouth on the Elizabeth River,” Dunbar said.

overhead shot of an event aboard the Learning Barge

The Learning Barge is a floating classroom on the Elizabeth River in Portsmouth, built in collaboration with UVA’s School of Architecture. (Contributed photo)

In 2019, Dunbar earned the Presidential Award in Excellence for Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring for her work on the barge, which has now hosted more than 115,000 students. She noticed that the other 13 recipients of the award had doctoral degrees, so “When they asked me what to do with this prestigious award, I said, ‘I guess I’ll go back to school.’”

She did. She received her master’s and doctoral degrees in public administration and urban policy with a focus on environmental policy and marine debris, later going on to teach environmental policy and ethics at Old Dominion University. During her master’s program, she wrote a curriculum for teachers on marine debris.

During her UVA fellowship, she will expand on her research on the Elizabeth River to seek solutions to marine debris pollution. Along with Crisman, Dunbar will also work on a book to document how thousands of students and citizens have experienced sustainable practices and environmental restoration on the Learning Barge for the past 15 years.

Media Contacts

Allison Barrett Carter

Communications Director UVA Environmental Institute

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