Building the Campus of the Future: 3D Technologies in Academe 

 FIU’S CARTA Innovation Lab was invited to join Dartmouth, Gallaudet, Hamilton College, Harrisburg University, Harvard, Lehigh, Syracuse, University of San Diego, Yale, Case Western, Stanford, MIT and others in a research project supported by HP Global and EDUCAUSE exploring The Campus of the Future.  As part of the project, MBUS now has a new HP/EDUCAUSE “Campus of the Future” Special Projects Lab featuring the following 3D visualization equipment: 1) HP Sprout Pro G2 Blended Reality Workstation; 2) HTC Vive Head-Mounted Display and Sensors and workstation; 3) HP 3D (DAVID) Structured Light Scanner Pro S3. Faculty and students have begun to use the equipment in their research.

E.U. Grant for Sustainable City Proposal (CRUNCH)

College of Communication, Architecture + the Arts (CARTA) Professor Thomas Spiegelhalter, CO-Director of the Structures and Environmental Technologies Lab (SET) and a EU licensed Architect, Engineer and Town Planner, has been awarded along with a team of international researchers, a total award amount of $1.9 million dollars.

The awarded, collaborative research project is called “CRUNCH – Climate Resilient Urban Nexus Choices, Operationalizing the Urban Food-Water-Energy (FWE) Nexus”. CRUNCH has been developed by an international collective combination of project partners (with the necessary capacities and expertise) initiated by Prof. S. Lehmann (UK) working closely together via a series of meetings with FIU Principal Thomas Spiegelhalter over the last year. The three-year CRUNCH project consists of strategically selected 19 university/industry/business partners from 6 countries (UK, The Netherlands, Sweden, Poland, USA, Taipei/China); The only 2 non-EU countries USA and Taipei, China, are partly led by Spiegelhalter whereas all CRUNCH members are working closely together with different work packages of Strategic Innovation Trajectories (SITs).

The selected six participating municipalities are the Non-European Cities Miami (USA) and Taipei (Taiwan/Chinese Taipei). and the European Cities Southend-On-Sea (UK), Eindhoven (Netherlands), Gdansk (Poland), and Uppsala (Sweden). For example, Principal Spiegelhalter’s FIU team is focusing together with the City of Miami and industry/business partners through the new CRUNCH Urban Living Lab (ULL) at the Miami Beach Urban Studios (MBUS) and Miami Town Down. This area was specifically selected; because it is constantly challenged by sea-level rise, flooding’s with impacts on community, economy and infrastructures.

Prof. Thomas Spiegelhalter leads a research team at ULL-MBUS involving Dr. Tiffany Troxler (FIU Sea Level Rise Director), Information Architect Albert Elias, and post docs with graduate research students.

The project was selected from a pool of 79 projects as part of the joint call ‘Sustainable Urbanization Global Initiative’ (SUGI), organized by Urban Intelligent Europe JPI, EU Horizon 2020 and the Belmont Forum with support from the European Commission. Fifteen projects were selected. For more information on the project: https://jpi-urbaneurope.eu/news/the-15-projects-that-will-take-on-the-food-water-energy-nexus/

MDCPS Museum Program Partner

The Museum Education Program represents over twenty museums, galleries, and outreach programs. The museum educators are art teachers who have been chosen for their ability to plan tours, develop educational resource guides, and create relevant and interesting tours of permanent collections and traveling exhibitions. This unique program has become a national model recognized by the National School Boards Association as one of the outstanding curriculum ideas in the United States. The Miami Beach Urban Studios is happy to be a part of this wonderful initiative, over 10 schools have visited our space all thanks to Marlon Zuniga.To learn more please click, here.

Highland Oaks middle  school

Morningside elementary

Riverside Elementary

HIVE Preparatory Academy

Earnest R. Graham K-8

Norwood Elementary

Oak Grove Elementary School

Phillis Wheatley

EWF Stirrup Elementary School

Archbishop Curley Notre Dame

Young Mens Preparatory Academy

Archbishop Coleman Carroll

St. Phillips

Youth Co-Op Preparatory School

Charles R. Drew K-8th Center (Miami Children’s Initiative | Liberty City)

Miami Bridge

OJUS Elementary School

STEAM Designation Partnership with Ojus Elementary School

(STEAM) School Designation program’s primary goal is to promote STEAM and STEM education and integration among its disciplines.

The STEAM and STEM school designation criteria includes: STEM competitions, professional development, partnerships, equity and accountability. In addition, the STEAM and STEM School Designation will strengthen science, mathematics, visual and performing arts, accelerated and Career and Technical offerings.

Miami-Dade County Public Schools aspires to engage and prepare all our students in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics (STEAM) to ensure our community has the next generation of inventors, explorers, innovators, artists and leaders

Schools that meet the designations will be promoted to the community to ensure all stakeholders are aware of the great choices M-DCPS offers in the areas of STEAM and STEM education. Three distinct recognition levels (Bronze, Silver and Gold) will be offered to schools to encourage on-going growth and performance in the area of STEAM and STEM

Conduct up to 4 sessions or workshop with 3rd through 5th grade students. Some include, engineering rapid bridge building, Virtual Realty scanning funding made possible through Karen Fryd, the Director of the South Florida Youth Foundation.

Knights Arts Challenge

This project explores a new multidisciplinary event on the theme of sea level rise. The site-specific includes videos, electronics, instrumentalists, singers, and dancers. The work is tentatively scheduled for premiere in December 2018. Team leaders include Orlando Garcia and Jacek Kolasinski, John Stuart, Campbell McGrath, Augusto Soledade, and Faena Art. This will take place  at Faena Hotel in Miami Beach. They were awarded, $30,000 by the Knight Foundation Challenge Grant Program, Knights Arts Challenge.

John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

The CARTA Innovation Lab is supported by South Florida’s Knight Foundation $185,000 grant, which invests in Miami’s emerging innovators and entrepreneurs.  The Lab includes a MakerBot Innovation Center, 30 MakerBot Replicator Desktop 3D Printers, 1 MakerBot Replicator Mini Compact 3D Printer, 1 MakerBot Replicator Z18 3D Printer, 5 MakerBot Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanners, a comprehensive MakerBot MakerCare protection plan, and a large supply of MakerBot PLA Filament–of course. FIU’s CARTA the only arts/design school in the country to house a MakerBot Innovation Lab, the lab is able to serve up to 60 students at one time, with one printer between every two student workstations.

City of Miami Beach Cultural Anchor Grant

Growlight Breakthrough Partnership

Breakthrough Miami 10th graders whoparticipate in our groundbreaking Knight-sponsored Growlight program. A 4 Week summer camp.  Thanks to a generous loan of laptops from Dell, Rhino3D software from Robert McNeel & Associates, and Michael Larkin of Bercow, Radell, Fernandez & Larkin PLLC. the Breakthrough children are well on their way to a super-exciting summer experience where they will study the City of Miami Beach, city government, the environment, design, art and technology, all under the guidance of our graduate architecture students and the talented Breakthrough/FIU team at the Urban Studios where they will have the unique opportunity to learn about transparency in government and 3D print the future!

Mayors’ Institute on City Design

National Endowment for the Arts, American Architectural Foundation, and United States Conference of Mayors. Team lead Marilys Nepomechie and Mark Marine, will receive $50,000 to host the Annual Mayors’ Institute on City Design at the Miami beach Urban Studios.