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.
Parsons Festival 2025: Narwhal Tank Impact Ventures Showcase
Join Parsons School of Design’s Entrepreneurs Lab, in partnership with The Impact Entrepreneurship Initiative, for the first-ever Narwhal Tank, a unique venture pitching event designed to showcase The New School’s most impactful student and alumni ventures from across our ecosystem that are addressing pressing social and environmental challenges. Developed to create more just and verdant societies, come to support our budding entrepreneurs, give audience feedback, and help vote on the awardees “most likely to create impact.” ORGANIZERS: Parsons ELab: Founded in 2014, Parsons Entrepreneurial Lab is a design-led research lab dedicated to innovation and entrepreneurship. Nurtured within the School of Design…
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MS SDM Capstone Symposium Spring 2025
The MS Strategic Design and Management program proudly celebrates the achievements of its 2025 Graduating Class at the MS SDM Capstone Symposium Spring 2025. We invite you to join students, faculty, alumni, and industry leaders for an evening of insightful project presentations, dynamic dialogue, and community celebration. The MS Strategic Design and Management Capstone Symposium showcases the culminating work of graduating students in the Spring 2025 cohort. Held during the weeks of April 29th and May 13th, the Symposium features final capstone presentations developed through months of research, strategic exploration, and design-led problem-solving. The MS SDM program, housed within the School of…
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MS SDM Students Win First Place at the Rotman Design Challenge 2025
MS SDM Students Win First Place at the Rotman Design Challenge 2025 We’re excited to share that five students from the MS SDM took first place at the 2025 Rotman Design Challenge (RDC)—an international competition focused on applying design thinking to complex business problems. The challenge, sponsored by Intact Insurance, invited students to reimagine the future of insurance by designing services that go beyond the standard claims experience to create deeper, more meaningful customer engagement. Meet Team North Star , Team North Star included: Ananya Harshini Alana Rhodin Yash Sonwaney Youngjun Shin Meenu Jain The team was supported by their mentor,…
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The Ethics of AI 2025 Conference
Parsons Students probe AI’s Ethical Crossroads at 2025 Conference In a bold fusion of design and ethics, the Ethics of AI Conference 2025 invited students and scholars alike to reimagine the future of artificial intelligence—not through policy papers or code, but through speculative artifacts that raise pressing socio-ethical questions. Held at Parsons School of Design, the exhibition was a thought-provoking journey into tomorrow’s dilemmas, curated entirely through the lens of critical design. Guided by designer and educator Andrew Shea, the exhibition showcased immersive, interactive projects by graduate students that explored some of AI’s most pressing ethical challenges—from memory manipulation and…
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Navigating Change: Museums, Nonprofits, and the Future of Cultural Institutions
On February 27, 2025, Jennifer Rittner facilitated a discussion with Dr Sharon Counts and Sruthi Sadhujan on how nonprofits and cultural institutions navigate change while maintaining their core mission and values. Sruthi Sadhujan, a brand strategist for nonprofits, shared her journey into organizational change, emphasizing that branding in the nonprofit space extends beyond logos and taglines—it’s a transformative process that affects culture, power dynamics, and institutional identity. She introduced a four-part framework for evaluating change: Treasures – Legacy practices and traditions that hold enduring value and should be preserved. Baggage – Outdated ways of thinking or operating that no…
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Spring 2025 Portfolio Masterclass and Alumni Review Session
Reflections on the Spring 2025 Portfolio Masterclass and Alumni Review Sessions We are thrilled to share that the Spring 2025 Portfolio Masterclass and Alumni Review Sessions were a success! The sessions were designed to provide the MS SDM students with invaluable tools and guidance to enhance their professional portfolios and advance their careers. Thanks to the incredible dedication and expertise of our alumni, the event exceeded expectations and proved to be an enriching experience for all involved. A Masterclass on Crafting an Effective Portfolio The Portfolio Masterclass, led by the talented Paul Benson, took place on February 6th. In this…
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Parsons ELab’s longitudinal study “Closing The Gender Gap in Funding” Workshop
Friday Jan 17, the Parsons ELab’s hosted a longitudinal study workshop, “Closing The Gender Gap in Funding,” focused on identifying and addressing the systemic barriers female founders face. Female-identifying founders receive under 3% of all the funding available in the U.S. For Black, Brown, and Latina, it drops even lower. This flies in the face of all the data that shows investing in women creates better returns with less risk and lifts whole communities. This isn’t a zero-sum game or less for some and more for others, but a win/win when we invest in women. Working with stakeholders on imagining…
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Good Interventions ’25 – Open Call
Good Interventions is an annual exhibition of intangible design projects that address the pressing issues of our time by bringing together the power of design and social sciences. For its fourth edition, fifteen projects will be selected to be exhibited. The School of Design Strategies organizes the program, which will take place in its permanent exhibition as a portal in the Platform of Design Strategies. Social sciences think with concepts. But can we think by making? Design thinks with things. But can we design with concepts? In what ways can science be used as a tool to make sense of…
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Design & UX research Guest Lecture
We’re thrilled to share that our guest lecture with Jennifer M. Brennan and Alex Chao, Google’s leading UX Researchers, was a great success! During the session, MS SDM students had the opportunity to explore the world of Design and UX Research, gaining valuable insights into how these concepts are applied in the tech industry. The event provided a fantastic opportunity to deepen their understanding of the research field, with many participants benefiting from the expert advice and answers to their questions. A big thank you to everyone who joined us – it was truly an inspiring and enriching experience!
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Creating Connections MS SDM Fall 2024 Symposium
The first annual MS Strategic Design & Management Fall 2024 Symposium is coming up on November 22, at 1opm at The New School. This symposium will explore how Strategic Designers create connections within systems, among stakeholders, to new opportunities, in complex ecosystems, in communities, and around the world. Through panel discussions, participatory workshops, Pecha Kucha-style presentations, posters, and product demos, students will share project work and emergent discourses that serve to inform practices in strategic design. FOLLOW THIS LINK TO FIND PROGRAMING INFORMATION
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