Students
Students come to the Parsons MS SDM program from all over the world. Their experience combines studios, seminars, networking, events, symposia, and more. This page will inform you about student projects like First Year Studio and Second Year Studio, student resources, and other opportunities.
BIRD – #3 – EES 2025
From Chaos to Cohesion: Interventions in E-Bike Parking. Transforming how people park e-bikes by making the bike part of the conversation. By Razor Focusing on peak times. Partner: BIRD Students: Rohit Apoorba Kareena Kavya Professor: John Payne
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MICROSOFT – #2 – EES 2025
BRIDGIT AI-Powered assistant designed for specialized education Partner: Microsoft Students: Alana Arpit Azelia Yash Professor: Pinar Guvenc
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BIRD – #2 – EES 2025
Smart Parking. The problem statement focused on addressing Bird’s parking challenges within the city. Our research, conducted across various locations in New York City, involved observing bike and parking infrastructure, studying user behavior, and identifying key issues. We discovered that users frequently encounter unpredictability in bike and parking availability, leading to significant time loss. After several rounds of brainstorming, we developed the Smart Park solution, which includes two main components: a hybrid zone-based docking system (combining dockless functionality with low-infrastructure docking) and a loyalty program. This approach addresses the critical issue of bike redistribution by incentivizing user behavior. Ultimately, our…
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NASA – #3 – EES 2025
A Day in the Life Without NASA Meant to show life on Earth without the advancements made possible by NASA, this advertisement, titled ” A Day in the Life Without NASA”, highlights the various ways in which NASA impacts our everyday lives, often in ways we aren’t even aware of. From medical advancements, GPS navigation, and smartphone cameras to vacuum sealed food packaging and everyday items such as wireless earphones and cordless vacuums, NASA’s achievements in space are vital to life on Earth. The advertisement is intended to be distributed across NASA’s owned media including their website and social channels,…
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NASA – #2 – EES 2025
Reality Show with NASA What type of content do humans most enjoy watching? We enjoy the Reality Show. By making Reality show of NASA, we aim to get more attention from the public audience to NASA. Studio Instructor Mark Kroeckel Designers Ren Hasuda Najun Liu
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NASA – #1 – EES 2025
OrbitArchive Orbit Archive addresses a critical gap in how space history is documented and remembered. While dominant narratives tend to spotlight technological achievements and national milestones, they often overlook the cultural, scientific, and artistic contributions of underrepresented communities. This exclusion narrows our understanding of humanity’s evolving relationship with space. Through research and landscape analysis, we found a lack of inclusive, accessible platforms where global voices—particularly those marginalized in institutional archives—can be preserved and shared. This gap points to a broader need for respectful, well-curated spaces that honor diverse cosmologies, traditions, and creative expressions related to space. Our solution is a…
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Public Policy Lab – EES 2025
RESEARCH REPORT External Engagement Studio X Public Policy Lab The Public Policy Lab (PPL), a nonprofit innovation lab focused on designing policies and programs for low-income and marginalized Americans, Partnered with Parsons’ MS in Strategic Design & Management students (2024-25) to help evolve its design approach. Students in the External Engagement Studio (EES) were challenged to integrate future-oriented thinking into PPL’s standard, human-centered design process (the PPL Release Model). The goal was to reimagine civic design so that it accounts for the needs of future generations without compromising the immediate goals of clients or overburdening design teams. Project Challenge How…
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BIRD – #1 – EES 2025
The Energy of Mobility Powered by People. Bird seeks to enhance sustainable urban mobility by launching a low-infrastructure, publicly supported, station-based bike-share model designed specifically for underserved neighborhoods. Our project addresses major user pain points, including challenges in finding available bikes, frequent low battery issues, and concerns about safety. We reimagine micromobility through the concept of “reducing energy”, not only in terms of environmental impact but also by minimizing user effort and improving operational efficiency. We began by conducting interviews with New Yorkers and analyzing global micromobility trends in places like the UK and France. Through affinity mapping, systems thinking,…
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MICROSOFT – #1 – EES 2025
ALIGN Our project, Align, focuses on improving productivity tools for individuals with ADHD by addressing key executive function challenges—specifically, planning and prioritization. While many existing productivity platforms assume a linear, neurotypical workflow, users with ADHD often struggle with fragmented tools, overwhelming interfaces, and difficulty determining where to start or what to prioritize. To better understand these challenges, we conducted surveys and interviews with neurodivergent professionals and analyzed how current tools like Microsoft CoPilot, Asana, and Google Calendar support (or fail to support) these users. Our research revealed that productivity tools often add to the cognitive load rather than reduce it—especially…
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HOUSING WORKS – EES 2025
How can Housing Works evolve its retail experience to drive innovation in a values-driven market while staying true to its social mission? With Gen Z leading the charge in conscious consumerism, this project explored how the nonprofit can deepen engagement by embedding circularity, creativity, and community into every touchpoint. Through desk and participatory research, stakeholder interviews, workshops, and journey mapping, we audited Housing Works’ ecosystem and identified gaps in how the brand connects with its evolving audience. We also analyzed mission-aligned competitors to understand how loyalty and sustainability are being used to drive long-term relationships. The result: a two part…
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