As a busy and sleep-deprived graduate student, Arshlavi Auleear had a revelation when she started taking intentional breaks and naps. She felt less stressed, more energetic, and was increasingly productive. In response, she designed Nu-age, an app and service that promotes napping as a tool for increasing productivity and wellness.

Students Erika Choe and Cheryl Zhang were disturbed to learn that 20% of adopted dogs are returned to shelters each year. “This tough transition not only strips dogs of their sense of safety—it also reintroduces negative stressors and potentially euthanasia.” In response, Cheryl and Erika designed Bowow, a 'Google Translate' app for dog owners to better understand the meaning behind their pet's barks.

Margarita Zulueta's upcoming thesis, Accepting Fat, proposes fat acceptance through design offerings to combat anti-fat bias. Specifically, her project Flex—a speculative new fleet incorporated into Southwest Airlines—addresses discrimination in airplane systems through the lens of seating.

Avocados are highly nutritious but also increasingly controversial. Controversial?! Those of us who love avocado toast might be shocked to learn the truth: From its high food mileage to giving rise to "green gold" cartels, the rising popularity of the fruit has significant environmental and social implications. When first-year student Charvi Shrimali researched these issues further, she became motivated to find local alternatives to high export produce in her native India. Her proposed solution? Closer Home Eats is a speculative startup that proposes popularising and rebranding the Indian variant of avocado known as butter fruit. The project aims to counter the high food mileage and extinction of plant species due to rising monoculture.