SBU team in final of Climate Exchange Innovation Challenge

Students develop advanced solutions for stormwater management in NYC

In 2023, Stony Brook University was named an anchor institution of The New York Climate Exchange, a world-leading climate solutions center with a future home on Governors Island in the city’s harbor.

In April, Stony Brook students were invited to compete in the first-ever Climate Exchange AI Innovation Challenge, where teams from eight universities presented groundbreaking solutions to stormwater management challenges in New York City. As a result of their strong performances, one team from Stony Brook has been invited to compete in the finals: graduate students Caroline Fabian, Nathan Hirtle, Ian Maywar, and Harmanveer Singh.

“The New York Climate Exchange has been brainstorming unique ways to leverage this new partnership between academic, community, business and government institutions for more than a year,” said Kevin Reed, associate provost for climate and sustainability programming at Stony Brook and chief climate scientist at The Exchange. “The AI ​​Innovation Challenge is the result of these discussions, combining student ingenuity with corporate tools to tackle one of New York City’s most pressing climate challenges: managing stormwater flooding.“

According to the competition guidelines, students will develop stormwater management solutions using IBM® watsonx.ai™ technology and the Call for Code platform, insights and datasets from Moody’s, and community touchpoints from GOLES. IBM is also one of the key Climate Exchange institutions.

“New York City and many cities around the world are experiencing the effects of climate change through increased rainfall, particularly during extreme events,” Reed said. “When you combine this with aging infrastructure systems, the challenge becomes urgent. But like most climate impacts, the challenge is complex and requires new ways of thinking to develop potential solutions. That’s where our students come in.”

“I am very excited to see how this challenge will leverage Stony Brook’s strengths in climate-related research and AI,” said Carl Lejuez, provost and executive vice president at Stony Brook. “The need for innovative solutions and creative thinking about climate impact is enormous, and it’s no surprise that Stony Brook students are leading the way. This challenge is one of many dynamic opportunities made possible by our leadership in the New York Climate Exchange.”

The first phase of the competition started in April and took place online. Reed and Rong Zhao, director of the Software Systems Division, Center for Excellence in Wireless and Information Technology (CEWIT)), led the Stony Brook effort. Following a kickoff meeting, more than 50 Stony Brook students worked on projects that address the stormwater challenges facing urban and coastal communities in New York and other metropolitan areas.

On two consecutive Fridays, events took place all day long, giving students the opportunity to gain valuable knowledge. guidance, advice and feedback from a team of mentors consisting of faculty from the School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (SoMAS), the College of Business, and the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, as well as representatives from industry partners and The Exchange.

Mentors were unable to interact with participants except during the activities that took place on those two Fridays. A representative from the architecture and engineering firm H2M gave a talk, and Stony Brook hosted a webinar for participants to learn about the stormwater and sewer challenges facing New York City and similar municipalities. Stony Brook’s programming was offered to all of the participating universities, giving those students access to Stony Brook’s expertise, an example of outreach designed to facilitate a collaborative effort to address an increasingly important global challenge.

“I am inspired by the students who are so committed to tackling real-world problems and advancing sustainability,” said Climate Exchange mentor Dominique Lee. “The recent severe storms and flooding in states across the U.S. and around the world highlight the critical nature of water management and serve as a wake-up call to the urgent need for their enthusiasm and innovation. The Exchange’s first event has laid the foundation for a promising movement toward climate action, innovation, and solutions. Fueled by the intellect and creativity of university students who recognize the importance of preserving our environment, both locally in New York and globally, this initiative holds great promise.”

After completing Phase 1, the top five teams were selected for the final round. Finalists include two teams from Pace University, two teams from Georgia Tech, and the Stony Brook team.

“We got to work with watsonx.ai, a platform that uses large language models in addition to other machine learning technologies,” said Maywar, a master’s student in Stony Brook’s marine science program. “Our idea is to use 311 calls as a dataset to train large language models to develop a pathfinding algorithm to redirect people trying to get from point A to point B using mapping software to steer them away from areas prone to flooding in a flood event. It’s exciting to work on a project like this.”

The second phase officially begins on August 1 and will continue through the summer and fall, with the final presentations scheduled for the last weekend of October in New York City.

“I’m confident that our students, working with The Exchange partners, will discover innovative approaches to stormwater management,” Reed said. “I’m sure we’ll see some of these solutions in action in the future.”

–Robert Emproto