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GCSP ENTREPRENEURIAL EXPERIENCE: FOR SUSTAINABILITY

Pheonix, Arizona 2019

GCSP ASU: Welcome

I worked in multidisciplinary teams of international members to solve sustainability issues. We conducted research for sustainable design and development, participated in tour labs, and finalized a business plan. The program began on June 9th and ran until June 28th. It was scheduled from 9 am to 5 pm on weekdays with some excursions included throughout the three weeks. The schedule includes around 120 hours of work, excluding any outside work to complete the project and continued research.

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While the program has a more entrepreneurial mindset, most of the work leading up to the product and business plan involved a lot of research. While working in a multi-institution interdisciplinary team, we needed to research, design, and develop a product or service. The research component is present throughout the program and as we finalized the project. This continued as we learned to push the product into the market and complete the business aspect of the program.

We practiced entrepreneurial and business competency while completing this project.


The program focused on sustainability. While the project is fluid in regard to the specific topic, a large focus was to explore and research the applications of sustainability in both the public and private sectors. The program also included field trips, site visits, and tours to explore the local area and gain a larger global prospective amongst other Grand Challenge Scholars. The overall effort and knowledge gained from the experience relates to my Grand Challenge of providing access to clean drinking water. 

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GCSP ASU: About

MY PROJECT

Solar Compost Toilet

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GCSP ASU: About

My team was made up of two mechanical engineers including myself and a biochemical engineer. We worked with Stardust Industries, a local deconstruction company that recycled, resold, and repurposed home parts. Stardust had 3 main issues, move the porcelain supply off their warehouse store, test and sort the available solar panels, and find a way to keep the non-recyclables out of landfill. 
My team decided to focus on the first issue and tackle the hard to recycle and hard to resell porcelain. More specifically, toilets. Old, outdated and used with no one wanting to buy them out of style the product was not moving off the shelves. We decided to restyle the toilet by eliminating the bottom portion and replacing it with a compost storage. We offered different models with and without the water tank that had a double purpose. We worked with another team who was focused on the solar panels to offer a model that would provide ventilation powered by solar energy. Lastly, we worked to tackle the final Stardust issue by repurposing the wooden frames of the house that were ending up in landfill. We decided to turn the frames into sawdust for the compost and offer it as a subscription to customers. 
We visited Stardust industries twice and retrieved a toilet model to work on. We presented a prototype of the design, with the hardest part proving to be cutting the porcelain base into shape. We presented each week to a panel of judges with the ASU GCSP Program. We also pitched to the Stardust board of directors and worked with Josh Loughman as our liaison. Karen Jayne and Chelsea Pickett of Stardust worked to help us tour the facility. Ben Lewis and Jared Schoepf helped solve the porcelain shaping. Joan Lowell served as our business advisor.

GCSP ASU: About
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