A warm welcome to CS3’s seven new Board members
As the Center for Smart Streetscapes approaches the halfway point of our third year in operation, we’re growing one of the cornerstones of every National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center: our Innovation Ecosystem.
In a white paper, the NSF defines this term as the research economy, which is driven by fundamental research, and the commercial economy, which is driven by the marketplace.
In practice, this means our Center incorporates community, government, and industry input to connect our research to the realities of the market and the communities we work in. We also solicit real-world feedback from practitioners and act as a technology validator using our demonstration testbeds. Through our VALIDATE Accelerator, we provide a framework and mentorship for student and faculty startup teams to commercialize ideas and prototypes initiated by their research.
To provide a foundation for these pivotal Innovation Ecosystem activities, CS3 formed the Smart Streetscapes Advisory Board (SSAB), made up of the industry, government, and nonprofit stakeholders of the smart streetscape research we focus on. The SSAB gathers on a quarterly basis to provide feedback and pathways to innovation, identify opportunities for partnerships and translational research, and think through the long-term sustainability of the Center. The Advisory Board participates in CS3 convenings and workshops, and many of them mentor our students on everything from their post-grad career search to better understanding commercialization.
Over the last several months, we have had the pleasure to welcome a number of new industry and government members of our Advisory Board:
These organizations joined our returning inaugural members: NEC Corporation, HOK, and GridMatrix. For a full list of Board representatives as of February 2025, see below:
The Center is lucky to have these leaders, experts, technologists, and advocates to help us steer our vision and our research. We welcome them and look forward to sharing the work they do over the next year and beyond.
We certainly do not have every stakeholder at the table, and look forward to growing and evolving this group. If you are interested in learning more about joining our Smart Streetscapes Advisory Board, please reach out to Tara Lanigan, Senior Director for Strategic Partnerships, at tara.lanigan@columbia.edu.