Syracuse University Libraries’ Blackstone LaunchPad (LaunchPad) will be hosting the Intelligence++ showcase competition on Friday, April 21, from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Martin J. Whitman School of Management. Undergraduate and graduate student teams across Syracuse University, including SUNY-ESF students taking innovation and entrepreneurship courses at Syracuse, who are interested in competing can apply online by Saturday, April 15. Eight teams will be selected to compete for a chance to win $10,000 in prizes for student-designed products, services and technologies that can assist intellectually disabled people and their families.
The competition is the culmination of an innovative accessible design and entrepreneurship program, Intelligence++, which supports a key pillar of the campus academic plan around accessibility. An innovative, interdisciplinary initiative at Syracuse University focused on inclusive entrepreneurship, design and community, the project is available to all students across the University, including those with intellectual disabilities from InclusiveU, a program of the Taishoff Center for Inclusive Higher Education. The project is a partnership between Syracuse University Libraries, the School of Education and the College of Visual and Performing Arts’ (VPA) School of Design.
The foundation of the Intelligence++ program is an inclusive entrepreneurship and design course, DES 400-600, taught by Don Carr, professor in VPA’s School of Design, with support from Beth Myers, assistant professor of inclusive education in the School of Education and executive director of the Taishoff Center, and Linda Dickerson-Hartsock, adjunct faculty member in the Whitman School, founder of Blackstone LaunchPad and advisor for strategic initiatives at Syracuse University Libraries. The courses and studio workshops are taught in Bird Library.
The program focuses on three main concepts: accessible design, disability and inclusion, and innovation and entrepreneurship. It was launched in 2020 through a generous donation by Gianfranco Zaccai ’70 H’09 and the Zaccai Foundation for Augmented Intelligence. It is one of the only programs of its kind in the country.
Zaccai, a Syracuse University alum with an undergraduate degree in industrial design and an honorary doctorate in fine arts and industrial and interactive design, is a renowned global innovator and designer. He was co-founder of Continuum, now EPAM Continuum, a global innovation by design consultancy with offices in Boston, Milan, Seoul and Shanghai. He will be attending the April 21 event and offering advice and feedback to the students. He is a renowned champion of holistic and interdisciplinary innovation research, design and development.
Loretta Awuku, Sylvia Page and Johnson Akano—three graduate students pursuing linguistic studies master’s degrees from the College of Arts and Sciences—spent the past year researching and contributing to assessment and curricular development processes. The research team’s project, Peer-to-Peer Student Outreach…
Academic Affairs and Institutional Effectiveness (IE) presented awards to faculty and staff members, students, offices and programs and hosted a poster presentation during the One University Assessment Celebration on April 25 in the School of Education’s Education Commons. In her…
As the Syracuse campus transitions into the Maymester and Summer Sessions, Campus Dining reminds students, faculty and staff remaining on campus that some of their locations remain open throughout the summer months for all of their breakfast, lunch and snacking…
Over 30 bins of items were donated by students to ’Cuse Collections, an event hosted by Sustainability Management that provides the items to local community groups. Containers were placed on North Campus and South Campus to provide Syracuse University and…
“I think the Rolls-Royce of Falk College, undoubtedly, is the analytics program,” said David Falk, benefactor of the Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, to a room of senior sport analytics students and their families during their capstone poster…
If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.
