Spring 2026: External Engagement Studio

By: Strategic Design & Management
May 30, 2026

External Engagement Studio connects MS Strategic Design & Management students with external partners to explore real-world organizational, social, and strategic challenges. The Spring 2026 studio includes client-based projects developed by student teams across research, strategy, systems thinking, and design.

Microsoft

Student projects developed in partnership with Microsoft.

AI for Gig Workers

Cristina Patiño, Baran Kirkgoz, Eishaa Verma, Ana Maria Lara

This project explores how AI can support creative freelancers and gig workers who often operate as “companies of one,” managing clients, pricing, taxes, legal needs, and community-building without institutional support. The team proposes Folio, an AI-powered community platform that connects freelancers to relevant peers, localized knowledge, tools, and opportunities while reducing operational burden without replacing creative work.

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Navigating U.S. Healthcare

Raaghavi Sivaneson, Ilteris Cerit, Estefany Chavez

This project focuses on the challenges international students face when navigating the U.S. healthcare system, especially during pre-arrival and early post-arrival moments. The team proposes Caremate, a multilingual small language model integrated through the school system to help newly arrived students understand insurance, find care, continue treatment, and make healthcare decisions grounded in their prior healthcare context.

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Haven: Empowering Social Workers with AI

Timo Vreux-Gerbier, Shuruthi Saravanan, Mariam Mamaladze, Ethan Hoppin

This project examines how responsible AI could support social workers in complex public-service systems, particularly within homelessness services and nonprofit operations. The team proposes Haven, an AI-supported workflow tool designed to organize inputs, flag missing information, reduce administrative burden, and support social workers while preserving trust, privacy, human judgment, and local organizational context.

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Housing Works

Student projects developed in partnership with Housing Works.

Housing Works: Expanding the Circle

Shrutee Patil, Anusha Kunjibettu

This project explores how Housing Works can move people from casual customers to an active community by designing the moments between arrival and belonging. The team proposes a connected engagement system across retail, café, donation, events, and loyalty touchpoints, using mission-based nudges, QR interactions, post-purchase storytelling, and community badges to help visitors see their participation as part of Housing Works’ broader social impact.

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Transgenerational Mentorship

Emma Nakashin, Melanie Editka, Fox Vergara

This project proposes a circular mentorship program to help Housing Works become a future-ready, transgenerational New York brand while staying faithful to its organizational DNA. Built around circularity, human agency, and legacy, the program creates mutual learning between junior and senior employees through structured modules on storytelling, working styles, leadership, trends, real challenges, and reflection.

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Bird

Student projects developed in partnership with Bird.

The Future of Bird Starts Before the First Ride

Ananya Gupta, Brian Varghese, Rafael Vicente “Ravi” Co

This project focuses on first-time, low-confidence, transit-dependent riders who see Bird scooters but do not yet trust or understand how to use them. The team proposes an Integrated Bird Node with designated parking zones, ground signage, organized return markings, safety features, and a “try before you ride” area to make Bird feel more approachable, trustworthy, and easier to start.

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Micro-Mobility and Community

Aashima Takkar, Shubhank Vyas, Sphinx L. Rowe, Suniti Khurana

This project reframes Bird’s neighborhood entry as a question of community consent, trust, and accountability before deployment. The team proposes a Neighborhood Entry Protocol where Bird works with cities, local businesses, residents, and community stewards through sensing, negotiation, and soft launch phases so that micromobility becomes something designed with neighborhoods, not imposed on them.

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Using Social Interactions to Onboard Non-Traditional Riders

Radhika Upmanyu, Priya Giriyapur, Dhwani Shrivastava

This project explores how hesitant first-time riders are more likely to try Bird when supported by people they already trust. The team proposes a group-based onboarding experience with SMS invites, browser-based guest access, clearer ID and payment explanations, host-supported unlocking, group ride controls, and referral nudges to turn the first ride from a solo transaction into a shared social experience.

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Mobility Equity

Ignacio Artiles, Pallavi Chattoraj, Ricardo Gonzalez, Leah Savage

This project examines the gender gap in micromobility and asks how Bird could reposition itself as a mobility equity partner. The team identifies safety, storage, visibility, navigation, and belonging as core barriers for women and proposes product and service improvements such as baskets, drink holders, phone/navigation mounts, better lighting, seated scooter options, and a broader “Fly Your Way” strategy that designs for constrained users to make Bird better for everyone.

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Bayer

Student projects developed in partnership with Bayer.

Adoption of Innovation Sprints

Mugdha Sanketh, Pablo Llinas, Supritha Shivakumar, Ziyi Su

This project explores how Bayer can scale its Innovation Sprint model across the organization while reducing dependence on a small central facilitation team. Team NorthBound proposes a more self-sustaining sprint ecosystem through concepts such as an Innovation Sprint Launchpad, Value System, and Broadcast, helping teams prepare for, track, communicate, and translate sprint value more clearly across Bayer.

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Sprint Enablement Hub, Sprint Buddies, and Pulse Check

Meghana Reddy, Haniya Khan, Pathanin Jennarongsak, Ana Botero, Mikki Hoffmann

This project focuses on the human and social infrastructure needed to make Bayer’s Innovation Sprints scalable, supportive, and consistent. Team Synapse proposes a connected system made up of a Participant Sprint Enablement Hub, Sprint Buddies, and Pulse Check to help participants feel prepared, supported, recognized, and connected before, during, and after the sprint experience.

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Sprint Intelligence Ecosystem

Kashish, Lily, Sienna, Sudhiti

This project examines Bayer’s Innovation Sprint ecosystem as a systems challenge involving facilitation dependency, fragmented knowledge, inconsistent guidance, and limited continuity after sprints. Team WayPoint proposes a three-layer Sprint Intelligence Ecosystem designed to embed guidance, preserve organizational memory, and help Bayer teams run high-quality innovation work more independently while maintaining trust, rigor, and scalability.

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NASA

Student project developed in partnership with NASA.

Creating a LEO Ecosystem that Expands Science

Team Messier 13: Oas, Timmy S., Deeksha, Isha, Jasmine, Chris, Pietro, Srija, Shefali M., Brunda, Layoon, Sasha, Lara

This project explores how NASA, the ISS National Lab, and future commercial Low Earth Orbit systems can scale science beyond the centralized ISS model into a decentralized orbital ecosystem. Team Messier 13 proposes a portfolio of six concepts called CosmoCure, ThrustFund, Vantage, LabSync, OrbitHop, and Meridian spanning earth-based partnerships, transit logistics, and in-orbit coordination to expand access, funding, crew intelligence, research marketplaces, shared launch capacity, and human care in LEO.

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