November 2010

Trash into technology

It's been said one person's trash is another person's treasure. Hannah Rose Mendoza and Jonathon Anderson, assistant professors of interior architecture, want to refresh the world by recycling trash into design and construction materials.

Their success depends on your vote.

Mendoza and Anderson have applied for a $250,000 Pepsi Refresh Challenge grant to create a high-tech, low-impact design lab at UNCG, open to students, faculty and the community. Designers would use the lab to experiment with and re-imagine trash, an abundant resource, as a design material.

Just getting in the door for the Challenge wasn't easy, Mendoza says. Pepsi accepts only a thousand applications per month, and those slots fill up in less than 30 seconds. The proposals are detailed online, and the top two vote-getters will get funding.

Voting began at 6 a.m. Nov. 1 and closes at 6 p.m. Nov. 30. Each person can vote every day.

To vote for the UNCG project, Reimagine today's trash into tomorrow's technologies:

1. Visit http://www.refresheverything.com/search/?q=uncg.
2. Create a user account or login through your Facebook account.
3. Vote for Reimagine today's trash into tomorrow's technologies (or search for UNCG).
4. Return to the page each day to vote again.

Watch the You Tube video promoting the project at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDSAzTmOyTQ.