Nexus Maximus is Jefferson - East Falls’s signature annual event that brings together a broad range of disciplines to work in teams on big problems and opportunities. It is an excellent example of Nexus Learning, our unique and award winning approach to education – learning that is active, collaborative, engaged in the real world and infused with the liberal arts.
This fast-paced “sprint” project is designed to provide students a unique learning opportunity while solving a challenging real-world problem, all while having fun. We bring together students from across Jefferson’s programs, as well as students from other institutions such as Aalto University in Finland, KEA in Copenhagen, Pace University in New York, and the Paris-Est d. School in France. Nexus Maximus, held each September, has engaged over 1,000 students working together in teams of 4-6 to learn innovation processes and develop new concepts to address a global problem - Aging in Place, Adolescent Health, and Personal Health Data.
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Signs of Trust
Samantha Barreto, Sylvie Abookire, Ronak Pansara, Wiebke Muehlhoff, and Anthony Cho
Signs of Trust is a service that provides the homeless with the choice of designing their own signs that is formatted to be trustworthy and honest. Passerby would be able to give to the homeless, by scanning the QR code on the signs, and selecting a gift card option that would given to the homeless by the service.
Nexus Maximus V
The 2018 Challenge: "Improving Lives Through Healthy Communities" Teams will evaluate and seek innovation that supports the health and well-being of specific local community populations. The team’s project work will be supplemented with workshops on innovation, entrepreneurship, and content relevant to the theme, delivered by experts throughout the weekend.
Teams will also explore opportunities to leverage that data in meaningful ways that benefit and protect individuals and society. The team project work will be supplemented with workshops on innovation, entrepreneurship, and content relevant to the theme, delivered by experts.
Potential Areas of Exploration:
- Improving health care access
- Healthy community design
- New policies or business models to deliver sustainable value to the community
- Community diversity
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Happy Mind
Bailey Bourgeois, Erica Jacobs, Allison Wisneski, Amanda Torres, and Antii Makkonen
Center City is home to a vast majority of overworked 30 year old's with limited social lives and high stress levels which causes mental depletion and higher anxiety. Our solution to this problem is a mindfulness app for mobile phones that this specific group can participate in. The app would not only give you advice on your commute to work, but also give you invites to nearby social events and discounts to a number of stores in the area.
Nexus Maximus V
The 2018 Challenge: "Improving Lives Through Healthy Communities" Teams will evaluate and seek innovation that supports the health and well-being of specific local community populations. The team’s project work will be supplemented with workshops on innovation, entrepreneurship, and content relevant to the theme, delivered by experts throughout the weekend.
Teams will also explore opportunities to leverage that data in meaningful ways that benefit and protect individuals and society. The team project work will be supplemented with workshops on innovation, entrepreneurship, and content relevant to the theme, delivered by experts.
Potential Areas of Exploration:
- Improving health care access
- Healthy community design
- New policies or business models to deliver sustainable value to the community
- Community diversity
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Cross Like a Boss
Ezana Ceman, Madeleine Scuderi, Brandi Davis, Syming Cottrell, and Aryna Lysak
"Cross Like a Boss" is an innovative solution to addressing pedestrian safety in South Philadelphia through policy changes. Included in the campaign is an RFID chip scanner card located at every major pedestrian crash hotspot which (1) allows users such as older adults, persons with disabilities, and children to have longer time crossing the street and (2) turn on audio options saying the word "Walk" in different languages corresponding to the major demographics of South Philadelphia. In addition, our new crosswalk policies involve a button for LED flashing lights along the crosswalk which alerts drivers in advance that there is a pedestrian crossing.
Nexus Maximus V
The 2018 Challenge: "Improving Lives Through Healthy Communities" Teams will evaluate and seek innovation that supports the health and well-being of specific local community populations. The team’s project work will be supplemented with workshops on innovation, entrepreneurship, and content relevant to the theme, delivered by experts throughout the weekend.
Teams will also explore opportunities to leverage that data in meaningful ways that benefit and protect individuals and society. The team project work will be supplemented with workshops on innovation, entrepreneurship, and content relevant to the theme, delivered by experts.
Potential Areas of Exploration:
- Improving health care access
- Healthy community design
- New policies or business models to deliver sustainable value to the community
- Community diversity
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PhilaGreen: "Buy Green. Give Green. Live Green"
Irene Cooper, Will Bender, Victor Wright, Chelsea Nwanne, and Vannessa Njoo
We will use green roofs to reduce levels of air pollution in Philadelphia, while simultaneously working to improve the lives of low-income Philadelphians through the donation of a green roof. Our program “Live One. Give One.” prices property owners based on yearly income
Nexus Maximus V
The 2018 Challenge: "Improving Lives Through Healthy Communities" Teams will evaluate and seek innovation that supports the health and well-being of specific local community populations. The team’s project work will be supplemented with workshops on innovation, entrepreneurship, and content relevant to the theme, delivered by experts throughout the weekend.
Teams will also explore opportunities to leverage that data in meaningful ways that benefit and protect individuals and society. The team project work will be supplemented with workshops on innovation, entrepreneurship, and content relevant to the theme, delivered by experts.
Potential Areas of Exploration:
- Improving health care access
- Healthy community design
- New policies or business models to deliver sustainable value to the community
- Community diversity
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New Life
Madison Cotellese, Jahkiya Jack, DeVaughn Lambert, Hammad Chaudhry, and Mardochee Mallory
Our final project is a drug rehabilitation facility in South Philadelphia. It highlights the problems of current facilities and proposes solutions to them.
Nexus Maximus V
The 2018 Challenge: "Improving Lives Through Healthy Communities" Teams will evaluate and seek innovation that supports the health and well-being of specific local community populations. The team’s project work will be supplemented with workshops on innovation, entrepreneurship, and content relevant to the theme, delivered by experts throughout the weekend.
Teams will also explore opportunities to leverage that data in meaningful ways that benefit and protect individuals and society. The team project work will be supplemented with workshops on innovation, entrepreneurship, and content relevant to the theme, delivered by experts.
Potential Areas of Exploration:
- Improving health care access
- Healthy community design
- New policies or business models to deliver sustainable value to the community
- Community diversity
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LNP Mediators for Posterity
Yinelia de la Cruz, Stephen Adasonla, Kieara Martin, Yi Soo Hahm, Jaymi Phillips, and Holly Spring
We have decided to tackle substance abuse in Lower North Philadelphia by eliminating the stigma around mental health in low income communities. By preventing drug usage in teen and young adult mental awareness, we can combat issues like suicide and the opioid epidemic. Using mediators by partnering with university students we can offer positive role models into the school system, while also offering internships and residency opportunities.
Nexus Maximus V
The 2018 Challenge: "Improving Lives Through Healthy Communities" Teams will evaluate and seek innovation that supports the health and well-being of specific local community populations. The team’s project work will be supplemented with workshops on innovation, entrepreneurship, and content relevant to the theme, delivered by experts throughout the weekend.
Teams will also explore opportunities to leverage that data in meaningful ways that benefit and protect individuals and society. The team project work will be supplemented with workshops on innovation, entrepreneurship, and content relevant to the theme, delivered by experts.
Potential Areas of Exploration:
- Improving health care access
- Healthy community design
- New policies or business models to deliver sustainable value to the community
- Community diversity
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Integration through Green Murals
Linh Duong, Kirsty Kelso, Julie Thiel, and Alexis Cao
Green Murals allow Asian residents to share culture and traditions through food and horticulture. Green Murals are Outdoor plant-based vertical gardens with themes such as vegetables, herbs with food/medicinal recipes, and flower arrangements reflecting traditional/historical stories. It increases green space in South Philadelphia, educate people to eat healthy, attract tourists to the areas, and improve social engagement.
Nexus Maximus V
The 2018 Challenge: "Improving Lives Through Healthy Communities" Teams will evaluate and seek innovation that supports the health and well-being of specific local community populations. The team’s project work will be supplemented with workshops on innovation, entrepreneurship, and content relevant to the theme, delivered by experts throughout the weekend.
Teams will also explore opportunities to leverage that data in meaningful ways that benefit and protect individuals and society. The team project work will be supplemented with workshops on innovation, entrepreneurship, and content relevant to the theme, delivered by experts.
Potential Areas of Exploration:
- Improving health care access
- Healthy community design
- New policies or business models to deliver sustainable value to the community
- Community diversity
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Fish Bowl
Joseph Goggin, James Fang, Sam Orente, Jessica Horton, and Alyssa Milione
Our idea was to try to bring the people of Fishtown together by hosting events that appeal to all ages.
Nexus Maximus V
The 2018 Challenge: "Improving Lives Through Healthy Communities" Teams will evaluate and seek innovation that supports the health and well-being of specific local community populations. The team’s project work will be supplemented with workshops on innovation, entrepreneurship, and content relevant to the theme, delivered by experts throughout the weekend.
Teams will also explore opportunities to leverage that data in meaningful ways that benefit and protect individuals and society. The team project work will be supplemented with workshops on innovation, entrepreneurship, and content relevant to the theme, delivered by experts.
Potential Areas of Exploration:
- Improving health care access
- Healthy community design
- New policies or business models to deliver sustainable value to the community
- Community diversity
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CHAMP: Choosing Healthy Active Moving Play
Melanie Goldstein, Mica Lai, Omri Faroul, Valerie Leonard, Caroline McCarthy, and Suki Ghumman
CHAMP is an afterschool program to get kids to become more active and healthy. The money raised will be used to fix the playground and make the area safer for children to play.
Nexus Maximus V
The 2018 Challenge: "Improving Lives Through Healthy Communities" Teams will evaluate and seek innovation that supports the health and well-being of specific local community populations. The team’s project work will be supplemented with workshops on innovation, entrepreneurship, and content relevant to the theme, delivered by experts throughout the weekend.
Teams will also explore opportunities to leverage that data in meaningful ways that benefit and protect individuals and society. The team project work will be supplemented with workshops on innovation, entrepreneurship, and content relevant to the theme, delivered by experts.
Potential Areas of Exploration:
- Improving health care access
- Healthy community design
- New policies or business models to deliver sustainable value to the community
- Community diversity
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Neighborhood Socials in South Philadelphia
Cambria Graham, Khadijah Pearson, and Tytisha Harris
Our project focuses on the lack of community in the South Philadelphia area and the high crime rates that are a result of this. We propose a monthly social event to be hosted at the parks and rec centers that are being revitalized by the state. We will start a sponsorship with Amazon who now owns Whole Foods as well as Aldi’s to promote healthy eating as well as provide food for the events.
Nexus Maximus V
The 2018 Challenge: "Improving Lives Through Healthy Communities" Teams will evaluate and seek innovation that supports the health and well-being of specific local community populations. The team’s project work will be supplemented with workshops on innovation, entrepreneurship, and content relevant to the theme, delivered by experts throughout the weekend.
Teams will also explore opportunities to leverage that data in meaningful ways that benefit and protect individuals and society. The team project work will be supplemented with workshops on innovation, entrepreneurship, and content relevant to the theme, delivered by experts.
Potential Areas of Exploration:
- Improving health care access
- Healthy community design
- New policies or business models to deliver sustainable value to the community
- Community diversity
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Infastructure Revitalizing Community
Kyle Hanson, Caitlin Hagan, Jessica Trio, Mariah Cadzow, Adie Tierney, and Jihye Jang
Transforming an unused tunnel once used to hold a railroad into a package delivery system to deliver packages into Center City Philadelphia, the heart of the city, with minimal time waste and traffic blockage. Using foot and bike transportation to handle the "last mile issue". Lastly, in conjunction with the tunnel restructure,we are also proposing a city policy to limit large delivery trucks in center city during peak hours.
Nexus Maximus V
The 2018 Challenge: "Improving Lives Through Healthy Communities" Teams will evaluate and seek innovation that supports the health and well-being of specific local community populations. The team’s project work will be supplemented with workshops on innovation, entrepreneurship, and content relevant to the theme, delivered by experts throughout the weekend.
Teams will also explore opportunities to leverage that data in meaningful ways that benefit and protect individuals and society. The team project work will be supplemented with workshops on innovation, entrepreneurship, and content relevant to the theme, delivered by experts.
Potential Areas of Exploration:
- Improving health care access
- Healthy community design
- New policies or business models to deliver sustainable value to the community
- Community diversity
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Philly N' Me
Chi Hoo Hwang, Christopher Cherestal, Mackenzie Malcolm, Hannah Fitzpatrick, and Michael Griffith
Our purpose was to increase the awareness of education opportunities, for the under-privileged youth in the city Philadelphia. To do this, we have created a program which uses our holistic approach, focusing on creating a well-rounded student.
Nexus Maximus V
The 2018 Challenge: "Improving Lives Through Healthy Communities" Teams will evaluate and seek innovation that supports the health and well-being of specific local community populations. The team’s project work will be supplemented with workshops on innovation, entrepreneurship, and content relevant to the theme, delivered by experts throughout the weekend.
Teams will also explore opportunities to leverage that data in meaningful ways that benefit and protect individuals and society. The team project work will be supplemented with workshops on innovation, entrepreneurship, and content relevant to the theme, delivered by experts.
Potential Areas of Exploration:
- Improving health care access
- Healthy community design
- New policies or business models to deliver sustainable value to the community
- Community diversity
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What's Cooking?
Jake Isaac, Jessica Overpeck, Alisha Chacko, Kristina Kosztyo, and Tuomas Tapper
We decided to focus on a mobile solution to food insecurity and food deserts in Lower North Philadelphia. The approach will use education, cooking, and access to affordable whole foods. We created a business model for our mobile solution and this included many aspects, such as the problem, statistics, the solution, key partners, key activities, cost structure, revenue streams, future plans, etc.
Nexus Maximus V
The 2018 Challenge: "Improving Lives Through Healthy Communities" Teams will evaluate and seek innovation that supports the health and well-being of specific local community populations. The team’s project work will be supplemented with workshops on innovation, entrepreneurship, and content relevant to the theme, delivered by experts throughout the weekend.
Teams will also explore opportunities to leverage that data in meaningful ways that benefit and protect individuals and society. The team project work will be supplemented with workshops on innovation, entrepreneurship, and content relevant to the theme, delivered by experts.
Potential Areas of Exploration:
- Improving health care access
- Healthy community design
- New policies or business models to deliver sustainable value to the community
- Community diversity
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A Bag for a Bag
Nahye Kim, Gahyun Kim, Jasmyne Chester, and Teagen Hay
A sustainable self-sufficiency cycle for the homeless population in Kensington suffering from food insecurity and beyond.
The problem of food insecurity of the homeless will be improved, while increasing level of the public hygiene, sense of community, and self-sufficiency extent of the homeless beyond basic survival needs.
Nexus Maximus V
The 2018 Challenge: "Improving Lives Through Healthy Communities" Teams will evaluate and seek innovation that supports the health and well-being of specific local community populations. The team’s project work will be supplemented with workshops on innovation, entrepreneurship, and content relevant to the theme, delivered by experts throughout the weekend.
Teams will also explore opportunities to leverage that data in meaningful ways that benefit and protect individuals and society. The team project work will be supplemented with workshops on innovation, entrepreneurship, and content relevant to the theme, delivered by experts.
Potential Areas of Exploration:
- Improving health care access
- Healthy community design
- New policies or business models to deliver sustainable value to the community
- Community diversity
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Growing Garden
Stan Kim, Lon'yea Ellis, Rhouleisha Thompson, and Kristen Tekel
To make space efficient garden system to have more green spaces through out the area.
Nexus Maximus V
The 2018 Challenge: "Improving Lives Through Healthy Communities" Teams will evaluate and seek innovation that supports the health and well-being of specific local community populations. The team’s project work will be supplemented with workshops on innovation, entrepreneurship, and content relevant to the theme, delivered by experts throughout the weekend.
Teams will also explore opportunities to leverage that data in meaningful ways that benefit and protect individuals and society. The team project work will be supplemented with workshops on innovation, entrepreneurship, and content relevant to the theme, delivered by experts.
Potential Areas of Exploration:
- Improving health care access
- Healthy community design
- New policies or business models to deliver sustainable value to the community
- Community diversity
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Success in the Streets of Kensington
Melanie Perkins, Lindsay Wratcher, Halie Finke, and Friederike Stock
The third day of Nexus Maximus was spent working on our poster and getting our final ideas together to present the pitch to our audience. We all worked side by side in one of the DEC classrooms working on putting our thoughts into bullet points and developing the graphics for the board. My group member and I went to the poster workshop and got inspired to create the board layout. We wanted to keep the board as simple as possible with easy to read graphics and bullet points so that the viewer could easily follow our process and understand what our idea was. One of the neighborhoods that my group was assigned was Kensington and our project is based around the idea of bringing success from within the community and inspiring the residents of Kensington to pursue success in their futures. We decided to title our project “Success in the Streets of Kensington.” Using a storefront and a mobile truck, we would be able to reach the masses of students from the nearby schools to help them in their academics. The truck would visit the schools and offer services such as SAT prep and tutoring. We did not just want to base the idea around school but also jobs. The idea is to get these students ready for the future whatever path they decide to take whether it’s going to a university, trade school, military, or directly out into the work field. Success in the Streets of Kensington is designed to supply these students with the tools and resources they need to achieve success in their future.
Nexus Maximus V
The 2018 Challenge: "Improving Lives Through Healthy Communities" Teams will evaluate and seek innovation that supports the health and well-being of specific local community populations. The team’s project work will be supplemented with workshops on innovation, entrepreneurship, and content relevant to the theme, delivered by experts throughout the weekend.
Teams will also explore opportunities to leverage that data in meaningful ways that benefit and protect individuals and society. The team project work will be supplemented with workshops on innovation, entrepreneurship, and content relevant to the theme, delivered by experts.
Potential Areas of Exploration:
- Improving health care access
- Healthy community design
- New policies or business models to deliver sustainable value to the community
- Community diversity
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Phil Like Playing?
José Ignacio Saavedra, Amanda &. Alanoud, Louise Gamble, and Maureen Sledge
Through researching issues within central Philadelphia we decided we need to improve the health and overall well-being of the community members. In doing this we found that within the Center City, 56.3% of the population are made up of single adults, with the majority living alone.
They also have 65.8% of the population working in white collar jobs. These situations consist of long working hours which decrease the percentage in social interaction. This can also lead to other issues such as mental health, where stress levels are high.
Our solution to combat the problem is to create a smartphone app called ´Phil like Playing´. The idea behind this app is that users can create a profile to view sports fields and courts, then be able to book time slots for the selected area and invite other users with the app to join. These invitations can be public, i.e to all other users in the area, or private, where a specific user can be invited.
Nexus Maximus V
The 2018 Challenge: "Improving Lives Through Healthy Communities" Teams will evaluate and seek innovation that supports the health and well-being of specific local community populations. The team’s project work will be supplemented with workshops on innovation, entrepreneurship, and content relevant to the theme, delivered by experts throughout the weekend.
Teams will also explore opportunities to leverage that data in meaningful ways that benefit and protect individuals and society. The team project work will be supplemented with workshops on innovation, entrepreneurship, and content relevant to the theme, delivered by experts.
Potential Areas of Exploration:
- Improving health care access
- Healthy community design
- New policies or business models to deliver sustainable value to the community
- Community diversity
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Estuary: Mobile Support Service
D'Vine Savage, Kerwin Dasque, Laina Posner, Nhan Dung, Lily Postus, Arynn Pratt, and Ayana Curtis
Estuary: Mobile Support Service is a company that provides the Kensington community with the essentials to maintain and sustain overall health. We provide clean needles, food, water, clothing, and information/resources to help individuals with addiction, unemployment, housing etc. Our vision is to collaborate with several organizations within the Philadelphia area, such as Philabundance, and medical centers to provide the community with the best care.
Nexus Maximus V
The 2018 Challenge: "Improving Lives Through Healthy Communities" Teams will evaluate and seek innovation that supports the health and well-being of specific local community populations. The team’s project work will be supplemented with workshops on innovation, entrepreneurship, and content relevant to the theme, delivered by experts throughout the weekend.
Teams will also explore opportunities to leverage that data in meaningful ways that benefit and protect individuals and society. The team project work will be supplemented with workshops on innovation, entrepreneurship, and content relevant to the theme, delivered by experts.
Potential Areas of Exploration:
- Improving health care access
- Healthy community design
- New policies or business models to deliver sustainable value to the community
- Community diversity
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Fresh Express
Timothy Skill, Alaina Mclhenney, Minji Hong, Chinmay Joshi, Witali Brianzew, Abby Garrity, and Taegun Park
Our project culminated with the decision to create Fresh Express. We began the project searching to find the best way to help end food insecurity in Philadelphia but specifically in Center City. Our food truck solution will help to create a healthier lifestyle for those directly in Center City and eventually throughout all of Philadelphia.
Nexus Maximus V
The 2018 Challenge: "Improving Lives Through Healthy Communities" Teams will evaluate and seek innovation that supports the health and well-being of specific local community populations. The team’s project work will be supplemented with workshops on innovation, entrepreneurship, and content relevant to the theme, delivered by experts throughout the weekend.
Teams will also explore opportunities to leverage that data in meaningful ways that benefit and protect individuals and society. The team project work will be supplemented with workshops on innovation, entrepreneurship, and content relevant to the theme, delivered by experts.
Potential Areas of Exploration:
- Improving health care access
- Healthy community design
- New policies or business models to deliver sustainable value to the community
- Community diversity
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Track My Trip
Katie Taylor, Charlotte Calderwood, Anish Bachu, Chase Fike, and Danielle Samson
We came up with a smart phone app to promote more physical activity which incorporates a reward scheme. This in turn helps to benefit local businesses.
Nexus Maximus V
The 2018 Challenge: "Improving Lives Through Healthy Communities" Teams will evaluate and seek innovation that supports the health and well-being of specific local community populations. The team’s project work will be supplemented with workshops on innovation, entrepreneurship, and content relevant to the theme, delivered by experts throughout the weekend.
Teams will also explore opportunities to leverage that data in meaningful ways that benefit and protect individuals and society. The team project work will be supplemented with workshops on innovation, entrepreneurship, and content relevant to the theme, delivered by experts.
Potential Areas of Exploration:
- Improving health care access
- Healthy community design
- New policies or business models to deliver sustainable value to the community
- Community diversity
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INTGRT
John Cecil (Industrial Design), Veronica Reguero Cadilla (Industrial Design), Keaghan Caldwell (Sustainability Design), and Emmalee Vansciver (Interior Design)
We are a non-profit organization with the goal to resettle refugees into a small-scale community with opportunities of education, employment, and housing. With the focus on cities between a 5,000 to 60,000 population, refugees have the chance to utilize their skill sets to improve and evolve a current community without being strongly labeled as a “refugee.”
Nexus Maximus IV
The Challenge: Innovation for Refugees and Displaced Populations
One of the great challenges of our time is how to help refugees and displaced populations, and how to prevent the causes in the first place. Every minute, 24 people around the world are forced to flee their homes. That’s 34,000 people a day who leave everything behind in the hope of finding safety and a better tomorrow. The impact of war, political, racial and religious conflict, and environmental crises of famine and climate change, have caused great suffering and there is a great opportunity to do better.
The issues these populations and the countries who receive them face are diverse and complex. They include public health, housing/built environment, cultural integration, public safety, employment/economic and more.
How can innovation address these challenges? How do we create the social systems and products to support a healthy, safe and integrated program for refugees? How do we address the physical, emotional, and social needs of refugees to restore hope and opportunity? The solutions may be as far ranging as the challenges, exploring the acute needs during a crisis, as well as the chronic needs of the permanently displaced; looking at immigration and adjustments to new cultures. We encourage participants to draw upon all disciplines, from health professions to architecture, engineering to design, ethics, communication and every way of thinking we have, to find better ways to innovate on physical solutions, processes, policies, systems, and more.
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Bookbox
Suraksha Chandrasekhar (DMM); Anna Marinina (Computer Science); Gabrielle Schwartz (MBA, Marketing/Business Analytics); Erica Lomando (Interior Design); and Sarah von Lange (Health Sciences)
Bookbox is an app that unites the world through books. With a motto of "Donate a book, start a new chapter" Bookbox aims to facilitate the flow of donated books to refugees in Syrian refugee camps, with a goal of promoting education, self-learning and the will to build a future.
Nexus Maximus IV
The Challenge: Innovation for Refugees and Displaced Populations
One of the great challenges of our time is how to help refugees and displaced populations, and how to prevent the causes in the first place. Every minute, 24 people around the world are forced to flee their homes. That’s 34,000 people a day who leave everything behind in the hope of finding safety and a better tomorrow. The impact of war, political, racial and religious conflict, and environmental crises of famine and climate change, have caused great suffering and there is a great opportunity to do better.
The issues these populations and the countries who receive them face are diverse and complex. They include public health, housing/built environment, cultural integration, public safety, employment/economic and more.
How can innovation address these challenges? How do we create the social systems and products to support a healthy, safe and integrated program for refugees? How do we address the physical, emotional, and social needs of refugees to restore hope and opportunity? The solutions may be as far ranging as the challenges, exploring the acute needs during a crisis, as well as the chronic needs of the permanently displaced; looking at immigration and adjustments to new cultures. We encourage participants to draw upon all disciplines, from health professions to architecture, engineering to design, ethics, communication and every way of thinking we have, to find better ways to innovate on physical solutions, processes, policies, systems, and more.
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Amicus: Communication across languages
Brian Cipperly (Industrial Design), Rosario Herrera (Graphic Design), and Mike Savarie (Sustainable Design)
MOST INNOVATIVE SOLUTION AWARD
Our project is designed to serve as a means for speakers of different languages to communicate using pictorial icons, particularly to serve basic needs such as food and water. At a refugee camp or other first point of contact, a volunteer or aid worker can be wearing a t-shirt, giving away blankets, or using flash cards with the symbols printed on them and the refugee can communicate their needs.
Nexus Maximus IV
The Challenge: Innovation for Refugees and Displaced Populations
One of the great challenges of our time is how to help refugees and displaced populations, and how to prevent the causes in the first place. Every minute, 24 people around the world are forced to flee their homes. That’s 34,000 people a day who leave everything behind in the hope of finding safety and a better tomorrow. The impact of war, political, racial and religious conflict, and environmental crises of famine and climate change, have caused great suffering and there is a great opportunity to do better.
The issues these populations and the countries who receive them face are diverse and complex. They include public health, housing/built environment, cultural integration, public safety, employment/economic and more.
How can innovation address these challenges? How do we create the social systems and products to support a healthy, safe and integrated program for refugees? How do we address the physical, emotional, and social needs of refugees to restore hope and opportunity? The solutions may be as far ranging as the challenges, exploring the acute needs during a crisis, as well as the chronic needs of the permanently displaced; looking at immigration and adjustments to new cultures. We encourage participants to draw upon all disciplines, from health professions to architecture, engineering to design, ethics, communication and every way of thinking we have, to find better ways to innovate on physical solutions, processes, policies, systems, and more.
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Unite App: Connecting Refugees and Locals
Aubrey Coughlin (Interior Design), Anna Loimusalo (Information and Service Management), Anthony DiFranco (Industrial Design), Bennett Purdy (Textile), Mismilad Alhashim (Pre-med), and Winston Folkes (Occupational Therapy)
Unite is a social media platform which connects refugees with local organizations and anyone who wants to lend a hand, when they arrive in a new country. To make our concept more specific, we focused on the city of Berlin, the organizations which exist there and the people who are migrating there.
Nexus Maximus IV
The Challenge: Innovation for Refugees and Displaced Populations
One of the great challenges of our time is how to help refugees and displaced populations, and how to prevent the causes in the first place. Every minute, 24 people around the world are forced to flee their homes. That’s 34,000 people a day who leave everything behind in the hope of finding safety and a better tomorrow. The impact of war, political, racial and religious conflict, and environmental crises of famine and climate change, have caused great suffering and there is a great opportunity to do better.
The issues these populations and the countries who receive them face are diverse and complex. They include public health, housing/built environment, cultural integration, public safety, employment/economic and more.
How can innovation address these challenges? How do we create the social systems and products to support a healthy, safe and integrated program for refugees? How do we address the physical, emotional, and social needs of refugees to restore hope and opportunity? The solutions may be as far ranging as the challenges, exploring the acute needs during a crisis, as well as the chronic needs of the permanently displaced; looking at immigration and adjustments to new cultures. We encourage participants to draw upon all disciplines, from health professions to architecture, engineering to design, ethics, communication and every way of thinking we have, to find better ways to innovate on physical solutions, processes, policies, systems, and more.
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Half Full: A Personal Water Collection System
Matthew Cuccurese (Industrial Design), Andres Valbuena, Pooja Joshi (Occupational Therapy), Sophia Warne Rowe (Interior Design), and Samantha Ringer (Interior Design)
Our project focuses on the issue of water within refugee camps. We have proposed a system that can allow for individuals to be able to have their own source of drinking water with a device that can condensate water from the air, even in an aired region. This would allow them to use less water from the community's supply overall, and allow more water to be able to be rationed for uses like washing and cleaning than is currently rationed per person.
Nexus Maximus IV
The Challenge: Innovation for Refugees and Displaced Populations
One of the great challenges of our time is how to help refugees and displaced populations, and how to prevent the causes in the first place. Every minute, 24 people around the world are forced to flee their homes. That’s 34,000 people a day who leave everything behind in the hope of finding safety and a better tomorrow. The impact of war, political, racial and religious conflict, and environmental crises of famine and climate change, have caused great suffering and there is a great opportunity to do better.
The issues these populations and the countries who receive them face are diverse and complex. They include public health, housing/built environment, cultural integration, public safety, employment/economic and more.
How can innovation address these challenges? How do we create the social systems and products to support a healthy, safe and integrated program for refugees? How do we address the physical, emotional, and social needs of refugees to restore hope and opportunity? The solutions may be as far ranging as the challenges, exploring the acute needs during a crisis, as well as the chronic needs of the permanently displaced; looking at immigration and adjustments to new cultures. We encourage participants to draw upon all disciplines, from health professions to architecture, engineering to design, ethics, communication and every way of thinking we have, to find better ways to innovate on physical solutions, processes, policies, systems, and more.
