Watson Foundation

Earlier this month, Watson and Design for America were part of the Social Design Network Conference alongside partners and practitioners from 30 countries. For more than 25 years, SDN has connected researchers, educators, and practitioners who are rethinking how communities respond to shifts in technology, responsibility, and social change.

~ATTENTION MACAULAY STUDENTS~ This year we're launching the historic Civic Futures Lab at Macaulay Honors College at The City University of New York in partnership with The Watson Foundation and Design for America. The Civic Futures Lab is a bold, multi-year program designed to empower students, community members, and external partners to take on the pressing challenges facing New York City. Each year, the Civic Futures Lab begins with a Grand Challenge—a central question or problem that will guide our inquiry, research, and action. Through this challenge, students will gain experience in research, systems thinking, design, and public problem-solving while working alongside leaders in government, nonprofits, and academia. Grand challenges require collective will and collective action to address. All Macaulay students can help us choose the first Grand Challenge as a community. If you haven’t already done so already, we invite Macaulay students to share your thoughts on the most urgent issues impacting New York now and in the future via the Grand Challenges Survey. Your input will directly shape the focus of our inaugural Civic Futures Lab cohort. For more info on the Civic Futures Lab and a link to the survey, click the link below. Or, if you're a Macaulay student, use the QR code below to go straight to the survey. We need your civic voice! https://lnkd.in/eKtAmwgh

Wonderful to spend a few days at the Watson Conference at Williams College. Congratulations to the Thomas J. Watson Fellows on their presentations. Their projects ranged from portraiture to peace, extremophiles to education, and AI to agro-forestry. To learn about their projects, read more here: https://lnkd.in/eqt4Bndp

Wonderful to see Watson Fellows engage in the 2025 The Aspen Institute IDEAS Festival. Dan Bateyko, Jasmine Yiyuan Qin, Marquis Palmer, Melissa Lent, and Teagan Sweet, were selected to join a diverse cohort of over 150 young leaders from across the globe and engage in sessions that addressed the frontiers of AI, documentary film, music, national policy, sustainable technology, and many others. Speakers included Fareed Zakaria, Peggy Clark ('78), Sheila Johnson (Co-founder, BET), Susan Rice, and Wes Moore (Maryland Governor). Fellows were chosen for their past work, social commitment and ability to turn ideas into action.