Right at the beginning of their time at Colorado School of Mines, undergraduate students are tasked with a challenge : How can an everyday object or system be made better?
Students in the Fall 2025 cohort of Cornerstone Design examined existing products and systems and uncovered their shortcomings for specific user groups, communities and individual stakeholders. “Student teams tackled a wide variety of challenges in society,” said Yosef Allam, director of Cornerstone Design. “Students were expected to research and engage with stakeholders facing challenges, iterate on and validate a problem definition, then deploy the design process to address the area of concern. Student projects aimed to serve a broad spectrum of stakeholders and communities.”
Allam said this semester’s projects spanned from smaller, specific design challenges, like making IV needles more comfortable for medical patients, to more widespread concerns, like reducing PFAS in the environment. Some teams took on the challenge of investigating how to address the dangers in street recyclers in lower income communities in Colombia.
Cornerstone students work on their projects in the Labriola Innovation Hub, opened on campus in 2024.
“The Cornerstone Workshop in the Labriola Innovation Hub has been a buzz of activity each semester as students learn new hands-on skills and apply them towards realizing functional prototypes of their new redesigns,” Allam said.
Cornerstone teams from each class section presented their projects in a showcase Dec. 11. The top teams were honored by a panel of judges and subject matter experts.
Winning first place and the $1,000 grand prize was burrobinds. The team worked to better secure bicycles on campus – and in turn reduce bicycle thefts – by creating a device that works better than a traditional lock. Consisting of two devices, one attached to the bike rack and another to the bicycle frame, the system incorporates RFID technology, GPS and an alarm for a cost effective, easy to use and efficient solution.
Members of the winning team include Kolby Landen, Daxton Politis, Tyler Smith, Sam Strong and Nathaniel Yen.
Second place and a prize of $500 went to Team 4, which worked on solutions for reducing waste in industrial workspaces. Members of Team 4 include Lynn Li, Mick Magdaleno, Madyson Ortiz, Ethan Overton and Addi Tudor.
Third place and a prize of $250 went to Sleek Solutions. The team redesigned the classic pump bottle to limit waste and frustration while also maintaining convenience. Members of Sleek Solutions include Will Logan, Halli Millet, Thanh-Tam Nguyen, Alissa Rivera and Mohammed Smikri.
The Subject Matter Experts pick was Bright Leaf, which proposed a solution for upcycling textile waste and using it to create insulation and stuffing for clothing and hobby items, making a lower-cost product that’s more accessible for small businesses. The team was awarded $250.
Members of Bright Leaf include Michael Borkowski, Elijah Aldridge, Andre Nahai, Garrett Bohn and Ethan Zuklic.
New this semester, Cornerstone teams were encouraged to apply for the InnoHub E&I Prototyping Fund, a collaborative program offered through Labriola that provides funding for student-led teams to build prototypes and bring their ideas into reality.
The ProtoFund gives student teams a chance to take the ideas and projects they developed in Cornerstone to the next stage of prototyping and testing, 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.
