Garden Fresh Home
URBN STEAMlab and GARDEN FRESH HOME were founded by Dr. Shivanthi Anandan and D.S. Nicholas in 2012, with a focus on affordable urban food and green space in the urban environment. Our work is patented with two low-impact growing units for urban families without access to fresh food. This project integrates evidence-based design and fundamental research processes in science into the research of green space and food production within the home.
A short video about the latest work on the Garden Fresh Home growing unit for families who want access to healthy food.
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Transdisciplinary thinking in the design of efficient indoor and outdoor urban spaces
URBN Steamlab - Team BIO
Shivanthi Anandan PhD, Entrepreneurial Lead
Dr. Anandan has a PhD in Biology from UCLA and has over three decades of experience and expertise as a plant biologist and microbiologist. As a former tenured faculty member at Drexel University, she is successful in achieving her research outcomes and goals, achieving federal funding, staying on budget, and leading, training and mentoring a team of young researchers in her lab. She used her administrative and leadership skills in several academic positions, notably as a previous Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education at Drexel University, and as the former Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Lasalle University, both in Philadelphia, PA. She has been collaborating with Dr. Diana Nicholas, and they co-founded URBN Steamlab LLC several years ago. URBN Steamlab focuses on sustainable innovation and design for healthy urban living, and has prototyped a device, Garden Fresh Home, for the in-home growth of fresh produce.
Her LinkedIn profile can be found at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shivanthi-anandan-772568165/
URBN Steamlab - Team BIO
Michael Oguntuase, co-Entrepreneurial Lead
Michael Oguntuase is a cloud engineer, data analyst, and media strategist by training and received a BS in Engineering from the Bells University of Technology, and a BS in Information Communication Technology from the Ecole Superieure des Sciences, de Commerce et d’Adminsitration des Enterprises du Benin. He has previously worked for several years as a network engineer, systems analyst, and media strategist and analyst. He is currently a graduate student at Drexel University in the Master of Science of Business Information Technology program, and has been the Innovation fellow of the URBN Steamlab team during our program with the NSF ICORPS Northeast regional hub Propelus program and used his skills as a media strategist during our customer review process.
His LinkedIn profile can be found at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeloguntuase/
biodesign
We are engaged in developing a healthy growing system for urban housing. Our methods are inherently cross disciplinary.
URBN Steamlab - Team BIO
Diana Nicholas, PhD, Technical Lead
With over 20 years of experience in design, design research, and education, Dr. Nicholas is a tenured associate professor and the founding director of the MS Design program at Drexel University's Department of Architecture, Design, and Urbanism. She holds professional credentials in architecture and interior design and has completed her PhD from Antioch University's School of Leadership and Change. She leads an interdisciplinary research group, Drexel Design Research for Health (DRDR4Health), that collaborates with health and STEM researchers, community partners, and students to create and sustain health opportunities for urban families and uses design thinking and design research to co-identify and co-solve challenges in the current environment, drawing on her personal and professional background as a socially responsive designer and researcher of Middle Eastern descent. She is also a co-founder and co-owner with Dr. Anandan of URBN Steamlab LLC.
Her LinkedIn profile can be found at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-d-s-diana-nicholas-phd-ncidq-aia-leed-ga-550a783/
URBN Steamlab - Team BIO
Jonathan Deutsch, PhD, Industry Mentor
Dr. Deutsch is a food scientist by training with a PhD in food studies and management from New York University and is a tenured faculty member and founded the Drexel Food Lab at Drexel University; the Drexel Food Lab is “a "good food" product development and culinary innovation lab and works with students and colleagues to apply the same techniques the food industry uses to projects that make for a more sustainable, health-promoting, or accessible food system”. He serves as President of the board of the Upcycled Food Foundation; this foundation ”exists to prevent food waste by growing the upcycled food economy faster than it otherwise would. UFF accomplishes this through consumer education and partnerships with retailers. UFF aims to double the growth rate of the upcycled industry and prevent 10 billion pounds of food waste by 2030.”
His LinkedIn profile can be found at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-deutsch-ph-d-che-crc-364787/