Class of 2021 Award Winners

Valedictorian and Illig Prize – Noah Huber-Feely
Salutatorian – Alexander Paskov
George Vincent Wendell Prize – Adheli Gonzalez
Morton B. Friedman Memorial Prize for Excellence – Tingjun Chen
Graduate Student Life Leadership Awards – Christophe Jean-Michael and Aimee Rose Moses
Doctoral Graduate Student Life Leadership Award – Shreya Narasimhan

The full program is available online.

Faculty Award Winners

Edward and Carole Kim Award for Faculty Involvement
Ali Hirsa, Professor of Professional Practice
Yevgeniy Yesilevskiy, Lecturer in the Discipline of Innovation and Design

Janette and Armen Avanessians Diversity Award
Chris Boyce, Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering
Augustin Chaintreau, Associate Professor of Computer Science

About the Study

Journal: Nature Scientific Reports

Title: Visual Behavior Modelling for Robotic Theory of Mind

Authors: Boyuan Chen, Carl Vondrick and Hod Lipson, Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science, Columbia Engineering.

The study was supported by NSF NRI 1925157 and DARPA MTO grant L2M Program HR0011-18-2-0020.

COI: The authors declare no competing interests.

Overview

COVID-19 has changed our world. Whether through fear for our health, or a sense of responsibility towards others, or compliance with regulation, how we interact with other people has changed. Even after a vaccine, for many the feeling of vulnerability may continue. In this new world, how do we help young people—highschool to 25—connect socially? How we enable the vital human exchanges that are part of maturing as an individual and finding oneself continue in a safe way.

Project Goal

Your goal is to design a product or service to enable more natural social interactions in a world shaped by COVID-19.

Problem Definition & Specifications 

Think broadly, and then articulate a specific challenge. Examples might include: a face mask that people want to wear, a video system that supports natural conversation, a place to enable remote social entertainment, a remote tactile device so you can give someone a hug or a pat on the back… or play a game of foosball. Identify specific customers and learn from them what they want; ideate and prototype solutions and evaluate with your customers; iterate, refine, and then present a prototype and vision for how your idea will help young people interact socially. [We highly recommend that your team includes at least one person with previous experience in human-centered design or that you join http://designatcolumbia.com/ to learn about the process]

Assessment 

• Your efforts will be judged according to: 
• Clear description of user(s) 
• Thorough understanding and new insights into users’ needs 
• Idea based on needs and new insights 
• Convincing prototype of the experience 
• User feedback incorporated into design 
• Compelling idea that would help someone