Noor is a safety box and app designed specifically for women living in abusive households, allowing them to discreetly collect and document evidence of abuse. Created as part of Ria John's thesis, Empowerment in Disguise: Supporting South Asian Immigrant Women Experiencing Violence in the US, Noor envisions a supportive and empowering community for South Asian domestic violence survivors, offering the resources and solidarity they desperately need.

Ingeniously designed to resemble a menstrual product, the Noor box leverages the cultural stigma and taboos surrounding menstruation as a safeguard against unwanted scrutiny.

In her thesis, Longing for Belonging: Rediscovering Community Through Third Places, Prerna Sharma explored the transformative potential of community spaces. This journey culminated in People & Places, an event series that reflected her vision for dynamic environments where people can connect and create. Designed to bring together young creatives in a spontaneous, collaborative art project, the event fostered an atmosphere of energy, playfulness, and genuine connection.

Dandelight is a basic emergency kit for women and girls facing climate disasters and emergencies. Designed by Cyntia Abarca for her thesis, Changing Climate: Elevating Women and Youth as Agents of Action, the project addresses both energy access and the specific needs of women in crisis situations. The kit includes menstrual essentials and a solar panel charger, all housed in a waterproof, ergonomic fanny pack. As Cyntia explains, "Securing access in frontline communities presents significant challenges, from obtaining resources and communication to providing specific products for women and girls, with energy being crucial for access to all of these."

Natya.AI is an app designed specifically for Bharatanatyam dancers, offering real-time voice and visual feedback during practice sessions. Developed by Yukti Arora as part of her thesis, Democratizing Bharatnatyam: Investigating the Interplay Between Dance and AI, this project explores how Artificial Intelligence can bridge the gap between tradition and technology, making the 2,500-year-old Indian classical dance form more accessible to today's dancers.

Have you ever heard of a period party? Traditionally, it's a celebration marking the first period as a rite of passage. Blood Sugar ~ for any time of the month reimagines this tradition as a moment of care and celebration for menstruators at any stage of their menstrual lifecycle. Created by Sama Srinivas for her thesis, Let's Talk Periods: Practicing Menstrual Confidence Through Conversations, this period party and cake shop is all about “baking menstrual confidence into every celebration.”

AuraWear and its companion app, PulsePlay, form a cutting-edge system designed to deepen users' understanding of their identity and emotions. The two projects were created by Jiayuan (Wren) Wang for her thesis, The Me Within: Navigating Layers of Self which explores the duality of existence that spans physical and digital realms. AuraWear uses heart rate variability sensors to detect subtle emotional shifts, translating them into dynamic visual cues through lighting. Meanwhile, PulsePlay curates music playlists that align with the user's emotional state, guiding them through their emotional landscape. Together, this innovative integration of wearable technology and responsive musical feedback offers a unique path to self-discovery through the universal language of music.

Sama Srinivas' thesis, Let's Talk Periods: Practicing Menstrual Confidence Through Conversations, creates a variety of opportunities for menstruators and their communities to practice and build menstrual confidence through interventions such as literacy, humor, celebration, and love languages.

Rohitha Remala's thesis, Choosing to Stay: Helping Communities Combat Climate Migration, explores various design interventions catered to helping communities stay and rebuild their communities rather than having them migrate—by assisting them in reassessing the values in their native places. Her thesis focuses on how climate-induced slow violence (a term coined by Rob Nixon in 2011) acts as a psychosocial element of human well-being and focuses on deriving interventions for individuals, families, and communities, thereby providing a solution for a systemic issue through a system of designs.

Prerna Sharma’s thesis, Longing for Belonging: Rediscovering Community Through Third Places, looks into the ongoing epidemic of loneliness and how “Third Places” are an essential tool to help combat this issue. In today’s fast-paced urban world, amidst the chaos of daily routines and an ever-growing digital existence, there exists a yearning for connection and a sense of belonging. It is a longing that is innate to human beings, rooted in the essence of survival as a species—and yet, loneliness persists.

Rora Pan’s thesis, Dreamscapes of Healing: Exploring Therapeutic Avenues for Nightmares, explores therapeutic methods for addressing nightmares. It addresses a broad spectrum of challenges—catering to individuals seeking to manage their sleep experiences independently, as well as those seeking professional assistance, and targets both PTSD sufferers and the general population.

Nigel Keen's thesis, Foot Forward: A Circular Approach for the Future of Running, centers around the issue of running shoe consumption and its climate impact. It aims to slow the rate of consumption by introducing repairability as an option for runners. Material innovations and technological advancements in 3D printing allow localized production of repairable and customized parts for running shoes. This creates a unique opportunity to fine-tune the running shoe to the individual for a better fit and improved performance.  

Ria John's thesis journey began with her volunteer work at a South Asian organization dedicated to assisting immigrant women as they adjusted to American culture. This role, which involved serving as a conversation buddy, allowed her to engage directly with these women, offering them support and companionship during their transition. It was during one of these sessions that Ria met a young Bengali woman who confided that she was living with an abusive partner.

The woman's poignant words, "I feel like I am stuck in a Kabar (tomb); I am of no value," profoundly impacted Ria. This expression of utter despair and entrapment catalyzed Ria's academic exploration, laying the groundwork for her thesis, Empowerment in Disguise: Supporting South Asian Immigrant Women Experiencing Violence in the US.

HairTunes is an imaginative line of musical combs that subverts your expectations, creating a new yet practical multi-sensory morning ritual. As you style your hair, each comb makes unique sounds that inject excitement and vitality into your routine. Created as part of Xinyue Wu's thesis, Xinyue: Delight in the Everyday, HairTunes effortlessly reinvigorates the mundane act of combing and grooming.

In his thesis, Beyond the Right Stuff: Designing for Disability Inclusion in Space, Corey McClelland designed Wearable Anchoring solutions for individuals with mobility disabilities in microgravity environments. Space exploration has traditionally excluded individuals with disabilities. With an increased focus on inclusive and universal design, Corey aims to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to participate in space exploration and research.

How are we being shaped by technology? How will our bodies look and feel in the future? Who are we without technology? These curiosities have steered Erika Choe's thesis, Preserving Humanness: Where Bodies and Technology Meet.

Humans have always been deeply entangled with technology. From the first stone tools to modern phones and computers, technologies that surpass our physiological capabilities and enhance our experience of the world have shaped human history.

Technology makes what was impossible, possible. And while this can often be positive, it also holds its dangers. 27 years ago, Carl Sagan shared concerns about the impact we as a civilization would face if a technological monopoly strips us of our agency. In his book The Demon-Haunted World, he writes, "I have a foreboding…when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few…[the people's] faculties [fall] in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what is true."

Jose "Achi" Martin's thesis, Mods, studies the benefits of adaptive gaming for people with motor skill disabilities and explores industry-changing ideas that combat ableism in today's gaming landscape. Jose was inspired by his beloved older brother, who suffered a prenatal ischemic stroke resulting in semi-paralysis on the right side of his body. Since childhood, the two shared a passion for playing video games together, and Jose watched in awe as his brother played using just one hand. Twenty years later, this is still the case. 

Corey McClelland's thesis, Beyond the Right Stuff: Designing for Disability Inclusion in Space, centers around researching the challenges and opportunities of designing for disability inclusion in space. One major challenge is the lack of accessibility in space technology and infrastructure, as many tools and equipment used are not designed with the needs of individuals with disabilities in mind. Another challenge is the lack of representation of individuals with disabilities in the space industry. However, initiatives like AstroAccess and other disability-inclusive projects have pushed for change and increased industry representation. Corey's research has shown that individuals with disabilities have unique skills and perspectives that can be leveraged to create innovative solutions to space exploration challenges. The push for disability inclusion in space can also lead to a more accessible and inclusive society as a whole.

Cathy Tung's thesis, Well-rounded: Using Art to Enhance Interdisciplinary Learning, sheds light on the potential of art-integrated education to promote the development of hard and soft skills in children. Cathy highlights that traditional education, confined within classroom walls, can be mundane and unstimulating for children to engage with. Conversely, incorporating resources from art museums as a location-based learning tool can provide an interactive and engaging experience that presents opportunities for interdisciplinary learning. This approach can also address the budgetary constraints public schools face in providing adequate art education, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated budget cuts.

Arshi Auleear has experienced the toll that biases can take on one's professional career, especially gender bias. In her thesis, From Margin To Center, she aims to empower women in creative industries by shedding light on this pervasive issue. Despite more than 57% of design school graduates being women, only 3% hold creative director positions, with gender discrimination being a significant reason for this disparity. Arshi's research involves conducting over thirty interviews with subject matter experts and women designers, and well as facilitating a co-creation workshop with fifteen women from various positions. Her ultimate goal is to understand why women leaders leave the design industry and how to retain them.

Jaemin Cho's thesis, Beyond the Visuals: Reimagining Digital Accessibility for Blind and Low-Vision Communities, investigates the pressing question of how blind and visually impaired (BLV) users can read and interact with digital images in the post-text era dominated by images. With over 7 million people in America alone experiencing some form of visual impairment, digital accessibility is crucial. Through his thesis project, Jaemin questions the status quo and proposes practical solutions for content creators and BLV users to make digital images accessible for all.