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Emanuel Papageorgiou at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Stamps student Emanuel Papageorgiou (BFA '19) is a finalist in the 2018 Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum’s Call for Student Entries. The theme for this year's competition was "mobility."

As one of five finalists nationwide, Papageorgiou’s work will be featured in The Road Ahead: Reimagining Mobility, an interactive exhibition showcasing provocations and proposals for a reimagined streetscape within a more inclusive city. The exhibition will be on view at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City December 14, 2018-March 2019.

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Detail of Papageorgiou's plans showing electric autonomous mobility solutions.

"My IP professor Bruce Tharp suggested that I apply," Papageorgiou said. "I can’t wait to travel to New York City on February 25, where I’ll be presenting my work to a panel of industry professionals.”

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Emanuel Papageorgiou (right) with Bruce Tharp

"When I heard about the competition I immediately thought about Emanuel,” Professor Tharp said. “With his project for a discursive design studio that I ran last semester as well as his current independent senior thesis project, it is clear that he has experience and strong interest in pushing the technical and social boundaries of public transportation."

Papageorgiou's work is entitled Conceptualizing Campus Transportation and is a redesign of the University of Michigan's transportation system, including two electronic autonomous busses, a re-imagined Central Campus Transit Terminal, and re-defined on-campus transportation experience. According to Papageorgiou, he began Conceptualizing Campus Transportation as part of his Sophomore Studio coursework. He revisited the project a year later during his Discursive Design studio prior to finally completing the project during the summer of 2018.

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Detail of Papageorgiou's plans showing electric autonomous mobility solutions. Click to view full version (PDF).

“Effective transportation centers and new mobility systems like shared, electric, and autonomous vehicles hold the key to revitalizing current methods of transportation, making them more sustained for the future and accessible to the masses,” Papagrorgiou said.

“Coming together in public transportation infrastructure not only eliminates the dependence on personal vehicles for urban mobility but fosters communication, acting as a place that facilitates unplanned interactions and empathy between riders.”

Learn more about Emanuel Papageorgiou’s work: www.epapag.wixsite.com/design