SEAS Design Challenges
We invite students, postdocs, faculty, and staff from all schools to participate in SEAS Design Challeges. The goal of the design challenges is to produce a viable design-concept (could include a rough prototype, if possible) to win continued support toward development of an interdisciplinary technology-driven solution that could potentially be presented.
If you have any interest in patenting anything you build at this event, or if you have any questions about IP more generally, we encourage you to check out the FAQs for Students or email techventures@columbia.edu. Merely participating in the Design Challenge and using the limited funds provided by the Design Challenge would not be considered “significant use” under clause 4 of the FAQs for Students.
If you have any interest in patenting anything you build at this event, or if you have any questions about IP more generally, we encourage you to check out the FAQs for Students or email techventures@columbia.edu. Merely participating in the Design Challenge and using the limited funds provided by the Design Challenge would not be considered “significant use” under clause 4 of the FAQs for Students.
Current Challenge
The Opioid Epidemic
Addiction is devastating wide swaths of the population as it cuts across geography, age, gender, ethnicity, and socio-economic status. This complex problem involves issues that affect not only health, medicine, technology, policy, business, but also countless other facets of our society—and fields that are represented here at Columbia. The event will feature faculty experts from SEAS, Public Health, the Medical Center, among others. Final presentations occurred from 11 am - 2 pm on November 9th, 2017. Five teams have advanced as winners of the design challenge and are further developing their work. For more info, read the full story at here.
Addiction is devastating wide swaths of the population as it cuts across geography, age, gender, ethnicity, and socio-economic status. This complex problem involves issues that affect not only health, medicine, technology, policy, business, but also countless other facets of our society—and fields that are represented here at Columbia. The event will feature faculty experts from SEAS, Public Health, the Medical Center, among others. Final presentations occurred from 11 am - 2 pm on November 9th, 2017. Five teams have advanced as winners of the design challenge and are further developing their work. For more info, read the full story at here.
-Photos by Timothy Lee Photographers-
Past Challenges
Building a Smart and Sustainable City
Cities today are facing many critical challenges, both old and new. Columbia Engineering and Columbia Global Centers | Rio de Janeiro are jointly launching a design challenge on February 15th focused around bringing innovative engineering, sensing technologies, Internet-of-Things, and big data analytics to the multi-faceted challenges of smart cities.
Columbia Design Challenge: Urban Water
Columbia Engineering and The Columbia Global Center| Rio de Janeiro are launching a design challenge on December 7 focused around bringing innovative engineering, planning, and policy solutions to the multi-faceted challenge of urban water. Interdisciplinary teams might consider devising solutions to challenges of access, distribution and storage of water and its quality; challenges around collection and treatment of wastewater; challenges around addressing effects of extreme weather causing floods and mudslides.
The goal of the design challenge is to produce a viable design-concept (could include a rough prototype, if possible) to win continued support toward development of an interdisciplinary technology-driven solution that could potentially be presented in Rio in March 2016.
Rio de Janeiro, “the Marvelous City,” is a world-class metropolis, well-known for its beautiful beaches, annual Carnival celebration, and its upcoming role as host of the 2016 Summer Olympics. Along with all that Rio has in its favor, it faces some challenges as well. Like many other cities, Rio is challenged to provide its residents and businesses with clean water through access to reliable systems for distribution and storage, adequate systems to collect and treat wastewater, and responses to extreme weather events that cause flooding and landslides.
Factors to consider about Rio de Janeiro:
The design challenge will be organized as follows:
Monday, December 7
In a coordinated urban scale study, the Columbia Urban Design program will be studying the urban landscape of Rio with a focus on the Rio Paraíba do Sul river valley during their Spring semester design studio (January to June 2016). Students will investigate operative potential of scale as a strategy and develop a multi-scalar, ecological framework for designing the architecture, cities, and landscapes of the future. GSAPP and SEAS student design teams could potentially collaborate, incorporating and testing concepts from the Urban Water Design Challenge within the framework of their proposed urban design interventions in Rio. For more information, contact Kate Orff, ko2111@columbia.edu.
If you have any interest in patenting anything you build at this event, or if you have any questions about IP more generally, we encourage you to check out the FAQs for Students or email techventures@columbia.edu. Merely participating in the Design Challenge and using the limited funds provided by the Design Challenge would not be considered “significant use” under clause 4 of the FAQs for Students.
Cities today are facing many critical challenges, both old and new. Columbia Engineering and Columbia Global Centers | Rio de Janeiro are jointly launching a design challenge on February 15th focused around bringing innovative engineering, sensing technologies, Internet-of-Things, and big data analytics to the multi-faceted challenges of smart cities.
Columbia Design Challenge: Urban Water
Columbia Engineering and The Columbia Global Center| Rio de Janeiro are launching a design challenge on December 7 focused around bringing innovative engineering, planning, and policy solutions to the multi-faceted challenge of urban water. Interdisciplinary teams might consider devising solutions to challenges of access, distribution and storage of water and its quality; challenges around collection and treatment of wastewater; challenges around addressing effects of extreme weather causing floods and mudslides.
The goal of the design challenge is to produce a viable design-concept (could include a rough prototype, if possible) to win continued support toward development of an interdisciplinary technology-driven solution that could potentially be presented in Rio in March 2016.
Rio de Janeiro, “the Marvelous City,” is a world-class metropolis, well-known for its beautiful beaches, annual Carnival celebration, and its upcoming role as host of the 2016 Summer Olympics. Along with all that Rio has in its favor, it faces some challenges as well. Like many other cities, Rio is challenged to provide its residents and businesses with clean water through access to reliable systems for distribution and storage, adequate systems to collect and treat wastewater, and responses to extreme weather events that cause flooding and landslides.
Factors to consider about Rio de Janeiro:
- there is high demand for water resources for industry, agriculture, irrigation, hydroelectric energy generation, and public supply
- there is a high rate of water system leakage (Rio loses 58% of its water to leakages; 15% of the city’s total water supply is lost to illegal connections; Source: Latin American Green City Index, Siemens)
- 77% of wastewater is collected, but only 51% is treated, leading to pollution of waterways due to untreated sewage, which in turn causes public health issues (Source: Ministry of Cities, 2011)
- water-related disasters are a constant issue (floods, landslides, and displacement)
- contamination of drinking water threatens the health of residents (particularly in Rio's informal favela communities)
- standing water contributes to mosquito-borne illness and mold-related property damage
The design challenge will be organized as follows:
Monday, December 7
- 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM
Davis Auditorium
CEPSR 412 (Schapiro Building; Center for Engineering and Physical Science Research)Columbia Design Challenge: Urban Water Discussion Forum Presentations by experts and practitioners on the current state of water in Rio and summary of a small number of specific challenges for which low-cost interdisciplinary technology solutions and policies could have an immediate impact. Video links will be set up between Columbia and Rio de Janeiro sites to accommodate participation from both locations.
To help us plan the event logistics, please RSVP. - 12:30 PM – 1:00 PM
Pizza and refreshments provided outside Davis Auditorium - 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Rooms to be announced
Teaming sessions organized around specific challenge topics, resulting in preliminary design/policy/planning concepts.
The discussion and design sessions of this design challenge are considered Columbia-only and do not constitute Public Disclosure. By attending these proceedings, you agree to treat all subject matter related to solutions to the issues discussed or described during the proceedings – whether in the form of conversations, presentations, or otherwise – as confidential.
- 10:30 AM – 1:00 PM
Carleton Commons, back room, Mudd 4th Floor
Pitch sessions – two-minute pitches to a panel of Columbia and external experts who will provide feedback on early design/policy/planning concepts and select teams for continuing development and implementation. - Sign up to pitch (Not all team members need to be present to pitch)
Download the pitch template
- Selected teams continue to refine initial designs; begin implementation of proposals; order and purchase materials as needed for prototyping of selected pitches; continue iteration of designs. Partial support – both resources and advising – will be available to kickstart designs deemed promising during Tuesday’s expert pitch events.Milestone check-ins, TBD
Continue implementation of designs, including building hardware and software solutions, developing policies/plans; the goal is to produce a credible demonstration of the design-concept before January 26, 2016. Labs and Makerspace availability to be announced.
- 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM Presentation of minimum viable solutions – hardware, software and policies/plans – to a panel of Columbia and external experts. The panel will identify leading design concepts for continued development of deployable solutions and presentations in Rio in March.
- Representatives of selected finalist teams invited to present in Rio as part of an exhibition event open to the public. The Mayor of Rio de Janeiro will also attend.
- Columbia Business School
- Columbia Water Center | Contact: Margo Weiss, Director of Administration, mweiss@ei.columbia.edu
- Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation | Contact: Professor Kate Orff, ko2111@columbia.edu
- Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
- Mailman School of Public Health's Urban Health Initiative | Contact: Professor Gina Lovasi, glovasi@columbia.edu
- School of General Studies
- School of International and Public Affairs
In a coordinated urban scale study, the Columbia Urban Design program will be studying the urban landscape of Rio with a focus on the Rio Paraíba do Sul river valley during their Spring semester design studio (January to June 2016). Students will investigate operative potential of scale as a strategy and develop a multi-scalar, ecological framework for designing the architecture, cities, and landscapes of the future. GSAPP and SEAS student design teams could potentially collaborate, incorporating and testing concepts from the Urban Water Design Challenge within the framework of their proposed urban design interventions in Rio. For more information, contact Kate Orff, ko2111@columbia.edu.
If you have any interest in patenting anything you build at this event, or if you have any questions about IP more generally, we encourage you to check out the FAQs for Students or email techventures@columbia.edu. Merely participating in the Design Challenge and using the limited funds provided by the Design Challenge would not be considered “significant use” under clause 4 of the FAQs for Students.