Reimagining everyday items and figuring out how to make them better was the objective for first-year Mines students in the Spring 2026 cohort of Cornerstone Design.
Final projects were presented at the Cornerstone Design Competition on May 7. Teams were judged on their projects and winners selected by a panel of judges.
Winning first place and a $1,000 prize was Refuel Athletics. The team designed a cost-effective and customizable endurance fueling system for athletes that uses reusable flasks to improve portability and reduce the environmental impact of single-use plastic.
Members of the winning team were Skyler Gillham, Jack Sheehan, Julien Frazier, Jackson Rogers and Hayden Hooper.
Second place and a prize of $500 went to Automotive Material Recovery Unit. The team aimed to minimize the waste caused by EV batteries from end-of-life vehicles, creating a system that sorts battery cells safely. Team members were Steven Prososki, Ari Mastor, Theron Bohner and Sean Carcia.
Third place and a prize of $250 went to Sedimenterials, Inc. The team created a sediment processor that offsets the cost of dredging sediment from aging dams and recycles it into usable material. Team members were Mya Brousseau, Joy Chao, Brady Gemperline, Coby Suhr and Will Toschik.
“Cornerstone Design provides students with an authentic, semester-long project-based experiential learning experience. Students are tasked with investigating, scoping and defining an open-ended problem they articulate and validate themselves through human engagement and research outside the classroom,” said Yosef Allam, director of Cornerstone Design. “Throughout the project experience, students learn to apply professional skills, such as formal technical oral, written and visual communications, project management, team dynamics support and common workplace tools and software.”
New this year was integrating learning activities – enhanced value awareness, risk analysis, market analysis and explicit embracement of ambiguity – into project deliverables. Also added to the experience this year was AI-enhanced idea generation, problem definition, report revisions and final design visualization renderings.
“In surveying all of the student projects, faculty this semester were particularly impressed with the breadth, creativity and innovation across the field, identifying and addressing stakeholder and community needs – there were so many unique efforts,” Allam said.
About Mines
Colorado School of Mines is a public R1 research university focused on applied science and engineering, producing the talent, knowledge and innovations to serve industry and benefit society – all to create a more prosperous future.
