From: Lisa Gerber Date: July 10, 2025 Subject: Grand Challenges Summer Program Update
Summer update
July 2025
Marking Our Anniversary
This year marks the third anniversary of the Grand Challenges Program as a required component of the undergraduate curriculum for all Dyson majors. Over the past three years, we've empowered hundreds of students to tackle real-world challenges and apply their skills to societal issues while addressing needs in communities near and far. As we reflect on our journey and look ahead, we’d love to hear from our recent Dyson alumni (classes of 2022 through 2025) and our project partners. Your insights are invaluable in helping us improve.
Survey respondents will be entered into a drawing for a $75 Buffalo Street Books gift card, which can be used for online or in-store purchases.
Scaling Our Impact
New partnerships, courses, and opportunities are allowing us to scale our work and amplify our impact.
Impact Competition:Thanks to generous support from the Impact Competition Foundation, over 40 teams presented at two events to showcase their Grand Challenges capstone project and compete for prize money awarded as a nonprofit donation to support their project goals. Top prizes of $10,000 went to Team Kalamkari (the 1M1B Foundation) and Team Siendo Naturaleza.
Presentation Grand Prize – Superior Impact $10,000: TeamSiendo Naturaleza
Presentation Runner Up – Outstanding Impact $5,000: Team Opus Ithaca
Presentation Finalist – Excellent Impact $2,500: Team AstraZeneca
Presentation Finalist – Excellent Impact $2,500: Team Whirlpool Feel Good Fridge
Outstanding Impact Poster $1,250: TeamSakhimfundo Youth Program
Outstanding Impact Poster $1,250: TeamAvocet Health Partners
Impact Internship:We launched an Impact Internship in partnership with the Impact Competition Foundation and several of our project sponsors. Underclass students applied to implement the recommendations of upperclass project teams and were matched to mentors at Shared Kitchen Ithaca, the OKB Hope Foundation, and the Coalition for Healthy School Foods. Through this summer internship program, we are strengthening connections between semesters and classes.
Center for Teaching Innovation Award:The Grand Challenges Program was awarded an Innovative Teaching and Learning Grant for work to enhance the project capstone course by integrating strategic touchpoints that promote critical reflection and support both student learning and partner engagement.
International Courses: This academic year, Grand Challenges project teams traveled to London, South Africa, and Peru. These international project courses included classroom time to explore the scope of the project and an immersive in-country experience to understand the cultural context and human dimensions for the work.
Students on the Grand Challenges Abroad course to Peru in April 2025.
Fall 2024 and Spring 2025 - By the Numbers
Number of project teams: 40+ (with 10 returning project partners)
Number of project courses fulfilling the Grand Challenges requirement: 16 (including 3 international courses)
Estimated hours of project work by students: 12,000 hours
Funds given to directly support work with communities as donations to nonprofit project sponsors: $48,000
MBA Coaches who support project teams and receive training in collaboration with the Johnson Leadership Program: 18
Thoreau Fellows guest speaking in AEM 1101, Design Your Dyson: 10
Student Spotlight: Jon Duval
How has your Grand Challenges experience shaped your perspective on business and social impact?
During my Grand Challenges courses, I saw that the mission of most businesses goes beyond the idea of improving company value. I was able to witness firsthand that a business serves to enhance the lives of its customers first and foremost.
Can you share a memorable moment or breakthrough from your project experience? Before going to Amazon, our team had spent weeks focusing on how to build a profitable turmeric company. However, during our visit, we quickly realized bottom-line performance was the least of our worries, and the purpose was really about impacting a greater community.
What’s one lesson or skill you’ll carry forward from this experience into your future career? The people of Siendo Naturaleza introduced me to the detail-oriented ideology of approaching problems with patience and care. As I venture into the real world, I want to use this attitude when building ideas so they leave a long-lasting and meaningful impact on others beyond myself.
Partner Spotlight: Whirlpool Feel Good Fridge, Deena Anwar and Kyle Trewhella
What was the primary challenge the team addressed for your organization, and what were you hoping to achieve? Our goal was to expand the reach of Feel Good Fridge in Ithaca and the surrounding cities. Working with the Grand Challenges team and the Food Bank of the Southern Tier, we were able to accomplish that goal. The primary challenge of the program is always outreach; even though we can donate cold storage, some schools and pantries do not have the resources or manpower to maintain and stock the units.
How did the student team contribute to your organization’s mission or current initiatives? The student team was very active in reaching out to over 30 pantries and schools not covered by the Food Bank of the Southern Tier, which allowed us to make additional partners. The team also volunteered at the Food Bank of the Southern Tier, truly going above and beyond and showing their dedication to this initiative.
What advice would you give to other organizations considering a partnership with Grand Challenges? Time management is a key factor in productivity. Our student team did a great job of staying active throughout the semester and distributing the workload, which allowed them to be flexible during busy periods like exam week and still complete project deliverables.
Program Updates
The Dyson Grand Challenges Program continues to evolve and is seen as an exemplary experiential learning and social impact program both within Cornell and among peer institutions. The Charles H. Dyson School was also recently named the #2 undergraduate business school in the country by Poets & Quants.
This year, we’ve redesigned our core courses to better align with real-world problem-solving and to emphasize skill-building around key career competencies such as systems thinking, stakeholder engagement, and ethical decision-making. A newly launched project archive now allows anyone to explore past initiatives toward business for a better world and highlights the amazing work of our students and partners.
To further enhance the program’s reach and relevance, we plan to establish a student council that will play a pivotal role in identifying high-impact, community-driven projects and partnerships for their peers to undertake. Our commitment to immersive and transformative experiences remains strong, with expanded opportunities for students to engage both locally and internationally. These efforts ensure that Dyson students are not only learning about global challenges—they’re actively shaping solutions.
There are many meaningful ways to get involved with the Grand Challenges Program and support the next generation of business leaders. Whether you're interested in shaping student learning through a project partnership, sharing your expertise as a guest speaker, mentoring a student team, or making a financial contribution to sustain and grow the program, your involvement makes a lasting impact. Our external stakeholders, alumni, and project partners bring invaluable real-world insight and inspiration to our students, and your support helps ensure that Grand Challenges continues to thrive as a hub for purpose-driven business education.
Open Call for Fall and Spring Projects
The Grand Challenges Program culminates in a semester-long, client-facing experiential learning project, in which teams of 4-5 seniors work under the close supervision of a faculty member on a real-world problem at the local, regional, national, or global level.
Grand Challenges team project topics may include (but are not limited to): corporate finance, market research, consumer behavior, decision-making, strategy, market entry, data analytics, innovation or new product development, and operations. Students may also support organizations in concept development, social media or website development, incorporation or tax status determinations, business plan development, competitive analysis, event planning or fundraising, and any work that is community-engaged and addresses one of the United Nations Sustainable Development goals such as equity, hunger, poverty, and climate action.
