Blog Updated on June 1.
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| LOTEC TEAM: Back L to R: Joe Persaud, Derrek Clarke, Steve Burke, Challey
Comer, Henry Gordon-Smith, Melisa Pernalete (and 'little LOTEC), Saami
Sabiti. Front L to R: Adriana Kliegman, Esperanza Garcia, Floren
Poliseo, Melissa Boo, Prof. Lynnette Widder (Advisor) |
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| Henry Gordon-Smith, LOTEC Capstone Manager, presenting at the Final Presentation for the Columbia Sustainability Management Capstone Workshop of Spring 2013 |
In the past few weeks, I've designed and
built the website for my Sustainability
Management Capstone team,
with whom we call ourselves #LOTEC (otherwise known as Living On The Edge
Capstone). I did not know I was capable of putting this together, but if I can do it, anyone can!
Tonight, our LOTEC platform/website was
finally presented to the public. Our
advisor, Lynnette
Widder, invited guests from different backgrounds, from architects to
economists, to view the strategies that my LOTEC team have developed throughout
the course of the semester, along with our platform, presented.
In
our Capstone team, we were fortunate enough to have a hybrid of professions of
individuals who offered a multitude of skills in the work that we did together.
This is what is great about sustainability. Sustainability is a
multidisciplinary approach that addresses three integral/key dimensions
of: environmental, social, and economics (at least!) within it's solutions. Our
#LOTEC team is a great example of that. From architects, to engineers, to
agriculturists, to communication specialist, to business managers, our
strategies and work clearly shows the breadth that sustainability can create.
I've mentioned this many times to my team, but it's truly been a great honor to have worked with brilliant individuals to develop our goals helping social entrepreneurs working in decentralized technology in the urban periphery of Mexico. I may be biased, and though I was a little bit envious that everyone else in my team had clients to work with, I thought I had the best job working with each and every member of the team as I had the opportunity to closely work with each team to design our deliverables and develop the platform of which our tools and strategies presented in. I collaborated with each of the group strategies (Communication, Mapping, and Metrics) extensively to best portray their strategies/tool on the website, which will be publicly shared soon (keep an eye out for that!). Our team definitely brought into reality a favorite and 'uberly' cheesy phrase that I use: "Team work makes dream work!" Building this website has also given me the confidence to change and improve this outdated blog of mine (which I still find to be embarrassingly prematurely designed, at times). Perhaps, when I am done with school, I can make the time to make this blog look more professional.
"This is the most obsessively documented, self aware capstone” our guest, Professor Stayajit Bose had said after our presentation tonight. Visit our blog and follow us on twitter (@ThinkLOTEC).
Some pictures from our presentation tonight:
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| Melissa Boo presenting LOTEC's Mapping Strategy |
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| Steve Burke presenting LOTEC's Communication Strategy |
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| Floren Poliseo presenting LOTEC's Social Impact strategy |
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'Tis the blogger presenting the LOTEC platform |
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| THE END! BOW. |
The
Capstone Workshop is the final degree requirement of Columbia University’s
Master of Science in Sustainability Management program. Our capstone works with
three (3) social entrepreneurs in Mexico, Isla Urbana, Sistema
Biobolsa and Yansa each working within the urban
periphery. Our mission is to
strengthen three social entrepreneurs through dynamic communications
strategies that will empower them to leapfrog sustainable alternative
technologies on the urban-periphery.
