NYU Tandon’s Gunter Georgi Award Engineers Innovation from Day One

From Brainstorm to Breakthrough

Named in honor of a beloved professor known for his infectious enthusiasm and commitment to student success, Professor Georgi’s approach to teaching lives on in his namesake award. Every year student teams push themselves to design innovative, real-world projects. This semester’s work proved that the future of engineering is in extremely capable hands.

Adria, Kevin, Amanda, and Weier came up with their award-winning motion-detecting robotic arm during a group brainstorming session. They wanted to design something that could improve various fields, including research, manufacturing, and health care. “I also just think robotic arms are insanely cool,” adds Amanda, the team’s project manager.

Even with a clear idea, the team faced plenty of challenges, and the design went through many iterations. Kevin, the design lead, credits Tandon’s Introduction to Engineering and Design course for changing his view of success. Additionally, it’s the largest undergraduate course at NYU Tandon and a required class for hundreds of students each year. “Coming into Tandon, I thought good engineering meant getting things right the first time,” he says. “However, I learned that real progress comes from testing ideas, finding flaws, and improving designs through collaboration and persistence. It’s cliché, but you have to be willing to learn from your mistakes to improve.”

Support from the Start

While the students are the ones in the lab, they aren’t working in a vacuum. The winning team’s success highlights the massive support system built into Tandon’s first-year curriculum. Led by Program Director Ingrid Paredes, a dedicated team of faculty and teaching assistants (TAs) mentor students daily. For Adria, who developed the code for the robotic arm, that mentorship was the key to success. “For every roadblock we faced, our TAs and professors always helped guide us in the right direction. They encouraged us to keep pushing,” she says. Consequently, the team felt empowered to tackle roadblocks that once seemed impossible.

And for anyone worried about imposter syndrome, Kevin has some advice: Fear not. “Incoming students should not be intimidated if they don’t feel that they are ‘engineer enough’ at the start. Introduction to Engineering and Design is designed to help you think like an engineer, not to test how much you already know. It genuinely shapes how students see engineering. So, it’s not just mathematical equations or designs, but a way of thinking critically and responsibly about the world around us to improve it.”

Completing the CIRCUIT on Student Care

Tandon is always looking for new ways to support its students, and that starts with the team standing behind them. That’s why the engineering program was recently awarded an NYU Caring Culture Grant to ensure professors and TAs are as energized and inspired as their students.

The funds support CIRCUIT (Cultivating Inclusive Reflection, Collaboration, Understanding, and Impactful Teaching), an internal program that is also a promise to NYU students. By prioritizing the well-being and professional growth of educators and administrators, Tandon ensures their faculty is at their best when they’re helping you. The program includes three major milestones. Each one focuses on a different aspect of workplace well-being and professional development:

• First, Powering the Circuit (January) builds a supportive and trustworthy environment for the new semester through workshops and team-building activities.
• Next, Recharging the Circuit (April) focuses on professional development and mentorship.
• Finally, Closing the Circuit (August) celebrates the program accomplishments and paves the way for the next incoming class.