Welcome: Melanie Fessel

Meli just arrived from Germany and fell in love with New York.
She studies architecture at the Technical University of Berlin.

New Design Researchers: Ben Shepard & Patrick Collins

Ben Shepard studies Philosophy and Visual Art at The University of Chicago. He's a founder of the Chicago-based experimental-culture collective Ex-Lab, and currently researches food systems, untapped desires and the possibility of socialism in the 21st century.

Patrick R. Collins was born in the farmlands of Iowa, one man's young dreams of becoming a cowboy popped as the realization that times were a-changing and a livlihood rounding up steer just wouldn't make it in this day and age. New York City's air quality was one area in which he could make a difference. He is producing an outline of resources which could help our city further reduce air pollution emissions.