Urban Technology at University of Michigan week 127
Welcoming Batch Two
Skies over campus are encaustic and gray, a long gloaming. Though the meteorological delights of January in southeast Michigan are subtle, the weather provides great contrast for the activities indoors. This was a big week: we officially welcomed a new class of first-year students. Fifty-two weeks ago we were at ~20. This week we were joined by ~50 more, bringing the degree program’s total headcount up to 70!
💬 Hello! This is the newsletter of the Urban Technology program at University of Michigan, in which we explore the ways that technology can be harnessed to nurture and improve urban life. If you’re new here, try this short video of current students describing urban technology in their own words.
CALL FOR PROPOSALS - We’re offering three people $15k protogrants in support of experimental software and hardware projects that advance decarbonization, climate resilient infrastructure, just energy transitions, and/or circular economies.
We want to know how hardware and software can aid in planning, designing, building, operating, analyzing, and living within cities that are as digital as they are physical. How can carefully-applied technology help grow tendrils of this bright green future in present-day soil?
MORE DETAILS AT PROTOGRANT.IO
🌱 Growth
We started developing our curriculum in 2020, welcomed our first students in 2022, and now are joined by our second batch of students just this week in 2023. The pace is accelerating, as evidenced in numerous ways, including the fact that this newsletter used to be weekly when I had something called “free time.” Those days are behind us, and it’s all for the better. Another way in which the growth of the degree program has become visceral is body heat.
Wednesday afternoon Malcolm McCullough held his first meeting of UT 101, “Why Cities?” where we finally greeted the second batch in person as one group. First a few students arrived, then more, and more and more and more until we had to turn down the thermostat in the classroom. It was a great moment to see. BEHOLD, we’re now numerous enough to create a microclimate. The 50 champions pictured above join as first-year students from fifteen states and seven countries. Onward!
🖼 Postcard from Studio
See those floating globes in the distance? That’s us. More on this later.
These weeks: Winter holiday break. Start of the semester. Head colds and table vendors. Vestaboard fidgeting. Admissions for batch three. Ramping up plans for Spring semester. 🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃