Alyssa Lau

What attracted you to the Keller Center?

The Keller Center is an innovation hub that welcomes all student with open arms. I went to the Keller Center with an idea to organize a competition focused on creating environmental solutions and Stephanie Landers was open to learning more about it. She assisted my project from start to finish: from sending advertisements to list serves to shaping the fundamentals of the the project, she was a critical personal in success of Ideathon.

What advice would you have for students about getting involved at the Keller Center?

For those interested in working with the Keller Center, don't be afraid to reach out but also keep in mind that having a detailed project outline is important to begin to working with the advisors at the Keller Center. Advisors are happy to help and will give you feedback on how to improve your idea given that you are passionate about the project. Having some research done beforehand and specific questions is always beneficial to your meetings.

How have you benefited from your involvement with the Keller Center?

My organizing team and I created 10 teams that proposed practical solutions for environmental issues in major cities. The most inspirational proposals were those from interdisciplinary teams. For example, challenged by the growth of single-use plastic products, a phenomenon that is contributing to a growing amount of waste and higher level of methane and a result of Beijing's new food delivering system, Carbon Cracker, invented a new APP to incentivize the use of reusable containers. More importantly, our post-event survey indicates that participants generally felt a sense of accomplishment, that they have contributed to the environmental scene, and would recommend Ideathon to their peers.