Project Framing • Global Competition Guidance • Course-Based Education
As a pre-doctoral instructor at the University of Washington, I taught a 400-level course called Sustainability Studio, which I designed in partnership with the EKIPA Innovate 2030 global innovation challenge. EKIPA provided the real-world sustainability context, and I integrated it into the curriculum as a semester-long project, dividing students into teams to develop competitive proposals.
Amy was an environmental planning student in that class, and her team’s proposal focused on increasing the sustainability and efficiency of wind turbine fleets using Internet of Things (IoT) technology. Their idea proposed replacing existing barcodes on turbine components with dynamic IoT sensors that could reduce costly site visits, optimize maintenance schedules, and improve inventory management at a global scale. The project combined environmental systems thinking with scalable, data-driven innovation.
Throughout the quarter, I mentored Amy and her team through the full project cycle—from concept framing and technical refinement to the final pitch. Their work earned first place internationally in the EKIPA Innovate 2030 challenge, recognized for its creativity, feasibility, and global relevance. After graduating in 2023, Amy pursued her interest in wellness and cultural exchange by teaching yoga abroad and now plans to return to the U.S. to work on sustainable transportation infrastructure in rural and mountain communities.
