Harvard GSD – MAUD ‘23

(Co-Chair)

Aimen is an architect and researcher from Pakistan and is interested in advancing pragmatic conversations and theories about urban and socio-spatial justice issues in the global south, especially South Asia, both professionally and academically. She advocates strongly for the power of design thinking to enable change. She hopes to explore opportunities to make equitable cities that protect and uphold the aspirations of their inhabitants. In her free time, she likes to explore new ideas, skills, and topics through various mediums.

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/syedaaimenfatima/

Email: aimenfatima@gsd.harvard.edu

Harvard GSD – MDes ‘23

(Co-chair)

Kyle is an award-winning industry leader and NGO founder of August Green. Trained as a designer and environmentalist, Kyle works across mediums and sectors. His practice reinforces a throughline of sustainability, strategic thinking, and human-centered experiences realized within physical and digital realms. Since founding his studio in 2016, Kyle has led an interdisciplinary team of designers and thinkers, working on projects ranging from research and ideation to design and implementation while collaborating across the temporal boundaries of the Middle East, Europe, East Asia, and the United States.

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kyle-mertensmeyer/

Email: kyle_mertensmeyer@gsd.harvard.edu

Harvard GSD – MDes/MLA ‘23

(Head of Events)

Diana is a researcher and designer focusing on cultural geographies that connect feminist perspectives on class and work with questions of landscape labor, maintenance, and stewardship in post extraction territories in the Canadian Arctic. She is currently at Harvard GSD pursuing two Master degrees in M.Des Ecologies and Landscape Architecture. Diana's research praxis is shaped by fields in feminist STS, anthropology, and discard studies, particularly economies of waste

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dianaxguo

Email: dianaguo@gsd.harvard.edu

Harvard GSD – MAUD ‘24

(Social Media Manager, Educational Outreach)

Palak has a multi-disciplinary background working and learning across India. She is committed to engaging with public and private clients on social, environmental, and financial problems through collaboration, advocacy, participatory planning, and designing innovative solutions. Since her undergraduate studies at Mumbai University, she has been involved academically and professionally in pedagogical and research conversations involving the communities vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/--palakgupta--/

Email: palakgupta@gsd.harvard.edu

Harvard GSD – MAUD ‘24

(Website Manager, Educational Outreach)

Shanice is an aspiring Architect and urban designer with a particular interest in sustainable and resilient community design. Her past work has focused on green architecture and has recently zoomed out to the larger planning scale, considering policy, finances, and other urban stacks. She is also interested in contributing to architectural pedagogy, teaching K-12 classes, conducting workshops, and reviewing design work with young students.

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/shanice-lam-a5495318b/

Email: shanicelam@gsd.harvard.edu

Harvard GSD – MDes Ecologies ‘23

(Educational Outreach)

Ethica is interested in leveraging her background in the solar and civil infrastructure industries to create climate-focused solutions in the built environment. Her prior experience includes business operations and corporate sustainability management at a commercial and utility-scale solar company and infrastructure proposal development.

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ecburt/

Email: ethicaburt@gsd.harvard.edu

Harvard GSD – MDes Ecologies ‘24

(Educational Outreach)

Yimei is a researcher, industrial designer, and jeweler pursuing a Master in Design Studies in the domain of Ecologies. Before coming to Harvard Graduate School of Design, she had worked on research projects on seafood-waste-based biomaterials, playful interaction experiences that foster social equity, and soft activism through speculative jewelry making. As a designer, Yimei is interested in examining social and environmental challenges that arise from our ecological footprints and searching for design solutions to catalyze transitions for our society's resilience.

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/yimei-hu/

Email: yimeihu@gsd.harvard.edu