Cornerstone Design

As Colorado School of Mines progresses into its next 150 years of producing leaders in science, technology, engineering and math, it’s providing new opportunities to help shape an innovator’s mindset and set graduates up for success in industry and business.

Mines students in the Spring 2024 Cornerstone Design Competition took on the challenge to make existing objects more useful and less wasteful.

Earth has a waste problem. Processing materials, fuels and food contributes to up to half of greenhouse gas emissions – and recycling isn’t a perfect solution, either, requiring its own energy to re

Teams in the Spring 2023 Cornerstone Design Competition worked to find creative and innovative ways to solve issues related to water, like drought, floods, overconsumption and pollution.

Student teams worked on projects that addressed environmental, social problems associated with waste

Winning the semester-long design challenge – and the $1,000 grand prize – was a solution to improve the computer user experience for older individuals.

Winning the semester-long design challenge – and the $1,000 grand prize – was a solution for making temporary housing for refugees more durable, sustainable and easily deployable.

Winning the semester-long design challenge – and the $1,000 grand prize – was a solution to improve spatial awareness for hearing impaired cyclists.

Winning the semester-long design challenge was a solution to improve adherence to COVID-19 capacity limits in restaurants, retail stores and other spaces.

McNeil Hall was named in honor of alumnus and trustee Charles “Charlie” McNeil ’71 and his wife, Judy McNeil, who recently made a $5 million gift to Mines to support entrepreneurship and innovation programming.