Spring 2024 HPI–MIT Workshop
Mar 21–Mar 22, 2024
About
The Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI)–MIT Research Program “Designing for Sustainability,” funded by the Hasso Plattner Foundation, is a multi-year partnership to drive joint scientific research in multidisciplinary teams at both institutes. It focuses on sustainable design, innovation, and digital technologies, through the allocation of approximately ten grants, ranging from $50,000 to $200,000 per year.
As part of the program, this two-day workshop is designed to give researchers an opportunity to present their work, and create further synergies.
This is not a public program.
Schedule
THURSDAY, MARCH 21
Building 7, Long Lounge (4th floor)
- 8:30–9am: Breakfast
- 9–9:15am: Welcome
- Ralf Herbrich, Managing Director, HPI, & John Ochsendorf, Founding Director, MIT MAD
- 9:15am–12:30pm: Presentations / ZOOM LINK
- 9:15–10:30am: Session 1
- 9:15am: Patrick Baudisch; Stefanie Mueller
- 9:30am: John Fernandez; Svafa Grönfeldt; Gerard de Melo; Frank Pawlitschek
- 9:45am: Robert Hirschfeld; Martin Rinard
- 10am: Tobias Putrih
- 10:15am: Regina Barzilay; Bernhard Renard
- 10:30–11am: Break
- 11am–12:30pm: Session 2
- 11am: Larry Susskind, Urban Infrastructure
- 11:15am: Cem Tasan, Reuse
- 11:30am: Joe Paradiso, Sensing Systems
- 11:45am: Kaitlyn Gee; John Hart
- 12pm: Ralf Herbrich; Deblina Sarkar
- 9:15–10:30am: Session 1
Massachusetts Ave, Front steps of Building 7
- 12:30pm: Group picture
N52, Courtyard Room (3rd floor)
- 1–2pm: Lunch
- 2–3:30pm: Project meetings
- 3:30–4pm: Optional Visit / Explore objects from across our galleries that harness art, science and technology in their creation.
- 5–7pm: Project Team Dinner
FRIDAY, MARCH 22
Building 7, Long Lounge (4th floor)
- 8:30–9am: Breakfast
- 9am–1pm: Presentations / ZOOM LINK
- 9–10:30am: Session 1
- 9am: Danielly de Paula, Digital Health
- 9:15am: Hiroshi Ishii; Julia Von Thienen
- 9:30am: Connor Coley; Bernhard Renard
- 9:45am: Faez Ahmed, Generative AI
- 10am: Gerard de Melo; Andres Sevtsuk
- 10:30–11am: Break
- 11am–12:30pm: Session 2
- 11am: Caitlin Mueller, Design + Construction
- 11:15am: Brandon Clifford, Digital Fabrication
- 11:30am: Sarah Williams, LCAU
- 11:45: Christian Doerr; Keri Pearlson
- 9–10:30am: Session 1
- 12:30pm: Lunch
- 2–3:45pm: Project meetings
- 4–4:45pm: Media Lab Tour: Tangible Media Group
- 5–7pm: Project Team Dinner
You may access a list of other events taking place at MIT on the days of the workshop here.
Areas of Interest
- Design education
- Autonomy regarding mobility
- Digital technology
- Human-computer interactions
- Materials
- Urbanism
- Geomorphology
- Polymer degradation
- Textiles
- Artificial intelligence
Participants
HPI
- Muhammad Abdullah
- Bert Arnrich
- Jakub Bartoszewicz
- Patrick Baudisch
- Vincent Beerman
- Niclas Boehmer
- Marco Cipriano
- Christian Doerr
- Jan Enkmann
- Sedigheh (Sarah) Eslami
- Ralf Herbrich
- Henrike Heyne
- Luca Hilbrich
- Robert Hirschfeld
- Marcus Kölling
- Lucy Li
- Michael Mansfeld
- Moritz Matthey
- Toni Mattis
- Gerard de Melo
- Melania Nowicka
- Danielly de Paula
- Frank Pawlitschek
- Marija Petrovic
- Bernhard Renard
- Pia Francesca Rissom
- Philipp Steigerwald
- Ariel Dora Stern
- Tim Strauch
- Julia von Thienen
- Paulo Yanez
MIT
- Navid Azizan
- Regina Barzilay
- Rounaq Basu
- Norhan Bayomi
- Anushree Chaudhuri
- Jungwoo Chun
- Brandon Clifford
- Connor Coley
- Cathy Fang
- John E. Fernandez
- Kaitlyn Gee
- Svafa Grönfeldt
- John Hart
- Maryam Hosseini
- Sumaiya Iqbal
- Hiroshi Ishii
- Shivam Kajale
- Jillian Kwong
- Jean-Baptiste Labrune
- Liu Liu
- Pattie Maes
- Caitlin Mueller
- Stefanie Mueller
- John Ochsendorf
- Joe Paradiso
- Keri Pearlson
- Tobias Putrih
- Martin Rinard
- Jordan Safer
- Deblina Sarkar
- Ticha Melody Sethapakdi
- Andres Sevtsuk
- Cem Tasan
- Sarah Williams
- Maria Yang
Practical Information
- Connect to wifi
- Online map of MIT campus
- Overview of the Designing for Sustainability program and the June Call for Applications
Pictures will be taken. If you do not wish to appear in photographs, please let us know.
For questions, feel free to contact:
Marion Cunningham, [email protected]
Adélaïde Zollinger, [email protected]
2022–23 Funded Projects
TELESYMBIOSIS
Aims to shift from an egocentric to an ecocentric work approach in design, considering the impact on human-nature relationships. It focuses on creating perspective-taking objects to help designers empathize with diverse needs in ecosystems, promoting sustainable design.
Principal Investigators: Prof. Dr. Bert Arnrich (HPI), Prof. Hiroshi Ishii (MIT, Media Lab)
SIDEWALK BALLET
A scalable urban analytic approach for explaining social qualities of urban streets: Conducts a large-scale analysis of social interactions on urban streets, considering demographics, design features, and land use. It seeks to understand what makes some streets more vibrant and lively than others.
Principal Investigators: Prof. Dr. Gerard de Melo (HPI), Prof. Andres Sevtsuk (MIT, DUSP)
PREDICTING FUNCTIONAL EFFECTS OF GENETIC VARIANTS
Combines proteomics, transcriptomics, and clinical health records to predict the functional effects of mutations in voltage-gated ion channels using AI methods.
Principal Investigators: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Renard (HPI), Prof. Connor Coley (MIT, Chemical Engineering)
2D MAGNETIC MATERIAL FOR SUSTAINABLE AI
Focuses on designing 2D magnetic material-based stochastic computing devices to create energy-efficient computers, contributing to environmentally sustainable Artificial Intelligence.
Principal Investigators: Prof. Dr. Ralf Herbrich (HPI), Prof. Deblina Sarkar (MIT, Media Lab)
CULTURE AND THE SUPPLY CHAIN
Explores developing a shared value model of cybersecurity that can be transmitted and adopted by organizations throughout the supply chain, aiming to advance cybersecurity norms and practices adoption.
Principal Investigators: Prof. Dr. Christian Doerr (HPI), Dr. Keri Pearlson (MIT, Sloan School of Management)
AUTOMATIC EXAMPLE GENERATION FOR BABYLONIAN PROGRAMMING
Bridges the gap between domain experts and programmers by introducing interactive examples meaningful to all stakeholders in the programming environment, making software development more participatory.
Principal Investigators: Prof. Dr. Robert Hirschfeld (HPI), Prof. Martin Rinard (MIT, CSAIL)
AI-POWERED STARTUP DESIGN FOR THE ANTHROPOCENE
Explores AI-augmented decision-support systems to improve startup success forecasting, especially for enterprises addressing planetary challenges.
Principal Investigators: Dr. Frank Pawlitschek (HPI), Prof. Dr. Gerard de Melo (HPI), Prof. John Fernandez, (MIT, Architecture and ESI), Prof. Svafa Grönfeldt (MIT, SA+P, designX)
PERSONALIZING PRODUCT DESIGN WITH MINIMAL MATERIAL WASTE
Investigates how to allow customers to personalize products while optimizing material use in novel digital manufacturing processes.
Principal Investigators: Prof. Patrick Baudisch (HPI), Prof. Stefanie Mueller (MIT, EECS)
SECURING THE GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN
Despite growing standards, this project addresses the unintended cybersecurity risks introduced by some regulations in supply chains.
Principal Investigators: Prof. Christian Doerr (HPI), Dr. Keri Pearlson (MIT, Sloan School of Management)
GENERATIVE MODELS FOR NOVEL ANTIMICROBIALS
Explores the use of AI to design novel therapeutic agents and combat antibiotic resistance, a critical global health threat.
Principal Investigators: Prof. Bernhard Renard (HPI), Prof. Regina Barzilay (MIT, CSAIL)
Information
21–22 March, 2024
MIT, multiple locations
Cambridge, MA