leadership
The Cornell University Solar Decathlon team is led by five highly motivated, undergraduate and graduate students.
- Architecture: David Bosworth, deb52@cornell.edu
- Architecture: Kristen Distefano, kbd9@cornell.edu
- Architecture: Siobhan Rockcastle, sfr25@cornell.edu
- Engineering: Andrew Chessen, arc46@cornell.edu
- Engineering: Bernardo Menezes, bcm32@cornell.edu
The team is organized into the seven subteams, each led by a subteam leader who reports to one of the overall team leaders.
Faculty advisors provide guidance and promote a culture of hands-on education, while remaining removed from design decisions. They ensure that the team safely achieves its educational goals while allowing students the freedom to make mistakes and learn from them. The approach of our faculty advisors is a key way in which Cornell’s team is fundamentally different from most Solar Decathlon competitors.
Leadership:
- David Bosworth, Master’s in Architecture ’10 , lives on an old 3 1/2 acre farm in Dryden, is building a Stirling engine, and is an avid gardener.
- Andrew Chessen, Materials Science & Engineering '08, Master of Engineering in Operations Research & Information Engineering '08, has been a soccer referee since age 12.
- Kristen Distefano, Master’s in Architecture ’07 , is engaged to a chef and is considering moving to Portland, Oregon.
- Bernardo Menezes, Operations Research & Engineering ’07, is from Brazil, has moved eleven times to four different countries, and plays Ultimate Frisbee on one of Cornell’s club teams.
- Siobhan Rockcastle, Architecture ’08 , has a bet with her dad, the Dean of Architecture of a certain Solar Decathlon competitor of ours, that if Cornell outperforms Maryland in the final standings he will pay for a year of her grad school. If she loses, however, she has to work for his firm for a year… with no pay!
Faculty:
- Martha Bohm, Lecturer, Architecture, believes strongly in teaching design/build as a way to develop sustainability intuition and ingrain collaborative skills.
- Matthew Ulinski, Lecturer, Hansen Director of Instructional Labs, College of Engineering, is involved with every project team in the College, but is only an official advisor for this one.
- Nicholas Rajkovich, B. Arch '00, formerly a visiting assistant professor in architecture. Served as an advisor to the 2005 and 2007 teams. Has just now recovered from the sleep deprivation he accumulated on the Mall in the fall of 2005.
- Zellman Warhaft, Associate Dean of Diversity Programs and Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, was convinced to sign the paper that started the team in 2003, and had no idea what he had gotten himself into. The connections between the engineers, architects, landscape architects, and business students make this a unique project and a joy to be a part of.
- Jerry Wells, Professor, Architecture, co-taught the CUSD studio in a completely untraditional manner for the Architecture department, focusing on a team-oriented, design/build project.
