Top-Yard, a startup from Nicole Adler (MDE '19), is a turnkey solution to transform a drab, unsafe roof into a livable urban oasis. The startup has developed an easy-install modular roof deck kit-of-parts (with add-ons such as for solar, organics, and water capture) and bundled it with a streamlined implementation process, to make the process as simple as possible for building owners. Ultimately, Top-Yard aims to be the platform for reinvention of the roofscape.

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Students used nanotechnology to create a novel, aquatic-themed board game called Cave Diver. The Cave Diver team, comprised of Aaron Appleton (M.Ed. ’21), Danielle Davis (A.B. ’21), Mike Deloge (M.Des. ’22), and Doria Spiegel (MDE ’22), focused their game around inverse opals, which are nanostructured porous materials that refract light to create structural color.

Read more about the project in this...

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What is it like to be a Master in Design Engineering student at the Harvard Graduate School of Design? In this series of candid conversations between students, Tomi Laja (MArch II ’22) speaks with Nupur Gurjar (MDE ’21) about her journey from an architect and set designer in India to a student at the GSD, taking courses at Harvard Law, Kennedy, and Business Schools, and career paths in MDE.

Read the full interview here: ...

Planet Bee, a startup launched by four Harvard students (Takeo Tokunari, Kelsey Burhans, Tomohito Okuda, and Jenny Jiang), is working to make the sustainable practice of traditional beekeeping a more economically attractive endeavor for people living in the rainforest.

Read more in the article from Harvard SEAS: https://www.seas.harvard.edu/news/2021/03/buzzworthy-solution 

Harvard University’s Science and Engineering Complex (SEC) has been certified by two international building certification programs as one of the healthiest, most sustainable, and energy-efficient laboratories in the world. Starting in fall 2021, the MDE studio space will be located in this complex.

Read more about the SEC Complex: ...

Kiran Wattamwar (MDE '19) is a former Civic Digital Fellow and reflects on her experience in this interview for the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

The Civic Digital Fellowship is a 10-week program offered by nonprofit Coding it Forward, which places tech students at...

Naya Studio, a startup created by Saad Rajan (MDE '19) and Vivek Hv (MDE '19), uses artificial intelligence to turn client ideas into real products. The startup grew out of the duo's Independent Design Engineering Project in the MDE program.

Read more in Fast Company's December article: https://www.fastcompany.com/90584520/these-harvard-grads-want-to-turn-your-doodles-into-gorgeous-custom-furniture

Hyka Therapeutics, a startup created by Jeronimo Beccar (MDE '19), uses technology to enhance treatments for depression. The startup grew out of Jeronimo's Independent Design Engineering Project in the MDE program.

Read more in the Harvard SEAS article: https://www.seas.harvard.edu/news/2020/08/finding-patterns-behavior-personalize-care 

The student team of Ed Bayes (MDE '21), Nick Collins (MDE '22), Anirban Ghosh (MDE '21), and Milan Wilborn (Ph.D. SEAS) won the Harvard Innovation Lab Ingenuity Award Grand Prize for a GSD student project called Foresight, a soft robotic wearable navigation device that helps people with visual impairment feel the environment around them.

Read more in the SEAS article: https://www.seas.harvard.edu/news/2020/07/improving-assistive-technology