Smart / Sustainable Environments Design Studio (SEDS)
Who Are We
SEDS is an option for Capstone Students who wish to focus on projects in either or both Smart Environments and Sustainability realms. For Smart Environments, we offer projects in See-Sense-Respond, “Internet of Things,” and extending and enhancing human capabilities through technology. For Sustainable, we offer projects that support “the capacity of our human society to continue indefinitely within Earth’s natural cycles.” Many fit both categories!
The Studio environment provides some flexibility to staff students on multiple projects through your two-semester experience. This means that first semester and second semester Capstone Students are also able to work together on important projects!
Submit a Project
Our Capstone clients and sponsors provide project ideas, technical guidance, industry expertise, and often financial support. If you have questions about a project idea before submitting your project, email us.
Mines Greenhouse
Long-Term Vision, CAD isometric
Mines Greenhouse
Plan view of 2021 Geodesic dome pilot. (AutoCAD by Julianna Valenzuela)
Mines Park PV analysis
Helioscope model for a Mines Park solar garden
Mines Park PV exploration
Helioscope rooftop solar exploratory model
Mines Park Composting strategy
Initial concept for compost collection bins for Mines Park area (CAD by Louise Angel)
WasteWatchers initial test
Plastics separation test for recyclability
City of Golden Solar Array
Field optimization for City of Golden PV goals (AutoCAD by Jessica Ellis)
Mines Greenhouse
First pilot pillar!
Check out this overview of “Smart Environments”
…and this Video description of “Sustainability”
Thank You to our Partners and Clients
SEDS Leadership
Leslie Light
Associate Teaching Professor
- BS in Product Design Engineering, Stanford University
- MBA in Entrepreneurship/Entrepreneurial Studies, University of Pennsylvania – The Wharton School
- 20+ year career in R&D and project management, including a decade of optimization & management at John Deere, and a decade of product development and management including:
- Appropriate Technology, innovation, and humanitarian engineering at iDE (International Development Enterprises), expanding market based solutions to dollar-a-day farmers around the globe
- Engineering in India including thermodynamic steam instrumentation and consumer product design
- Product development and business consulting in South Africa, Kenya, and Chile
- Passionate about bringing user-centered design principles learned at school and in her career to Mines’ open-ended technical problem-solving programs and courses
- Research interests include the impacts user empathy activities and active learning strategies, and affecting creative impulses.
Education:
Experience & Specialties:
Personal:
- Raising two children in the Denver Front Range area for over a decade
David Grimm
Project Advisor
Education:
- BS in Civil Engineering, Georgia Tech, High-Honor Co-op
- MSCE, Lehigh, API-sponsored Master’s Thesis on local buckling of tubular columns
- Registered Professional Engineer (PE) in three states
Experience & Specialties:
- Nearly 40 year career on energy projects, independent project management, and structural engineering, including: first-of-their-kind offshore facilities in Gulf of Mexico and North Sea, major retrofits of a reinforced concrete office building in Indonesia, a decrepit offshore platform in Azerbaijan, construction operations worldwide, development of inspection & maintenance programs, damage investigations, a new orphanage in Uganda, a first-of-its-kind weather station in Gulf of Thailand, and planning for – and actual participation in – an emergency typhoon evacuation
- Developed and taught three courses at Mines: Construction Engineering, Project Engineering, and Preservation of Historic Structures, along with being a Capstone Project Advisor.
Personal:
- Native of rural Ohio
- He and his wife Debra have three married daughters and seven grandchildren, and split their time residing in Colorado and Texas. Along with spending quality time with family & friends, he especially enjoys traveling, woodworking, military history, historic structures, hiking, biking, and the challenges of fly-fishing.