Among other marketing duties, Architecture and Construction Management Education Specialist, Glenn Katz, works with our IDEA Studio. The Autodesk IDEA Studio is a scholar-in-residence program located in San Francisco that supports researchers who are using Autodesk software in imaginative ways to solve real world problems. Learn more and submit a proposal by February 15, 2013 to be considered for the summer cycle!

Here are some answers to frequently asked questions about the IDEA Studio.

What is the IDEA Studio?
The IDEA Studio is a scholar-in-residence program that takes place in the Gallery at One Market in San Francisco. We support researchers who use Autodesk software in advanced, imaginative ways to solve real world problems.

Who participates in the IDEA Studio?
University faculty, graduate students, and researchers from industry. Here’s a sampling of past projects:

• Chaotic Mixing for Engineered Wetlands - University of California at Berkeley
• Pixels to Objects to Intelligence - University of Southern California
• Hyper-Threads - Zaha Hadid Architects

Why participate?

• Grants of up to $30,000 are provided to selected project teams to support residency participation.
• Residents have ample access to Autodesk experts - from engineers to research scientists to executives - and Autodesk technology.
• Residents work in an inspirational studio space in the Gallery at One Market.
• A typical residency is 1 to 3 months.

What do participants say about the IDEA Studio experience?

• "Our informal ‘hallway chats’ and firsthand exposure to Autodesk customer projects made our time in the Autodesk Gallery even more valuable - and inspirational….We had ideas that might not have emerged or been shared if we were working in isolation. That’s the joy of working as a team in a space that fosters collaboration."
  Evan Variano (Assistant Professor from the UC Berkeley Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering)

• "Access to Autodesk technology and people through the IDEA Studio program has really elevated this research. It allowed us to do things faster and to do things that we would not have been able to do otherwise."
  Laura Klein (PhD student from USC)

What is the proposal process like?
Applicants for the summer cycle should submit a proposal via our Proposal Submission Page by February 15, 2013. The proposal should include:

• Project name or topic and a two- or three-sentence statement on its purpose and nature
• How the project uses Autodesk software in an imaginative way to solve a real-life problem
• How guidance by Autodesk employees would help towards reaching project goals
• The technology the project will use and level of experience with that technology
• Information about those who the work will help or interest
• Grant amount requested

Check out this video.

I have been fortunate enough to be involved with some of these projects. I was floored when Dr. Evan Variano shared his results that wetlands more effectively take impurities out of water if dual pumps are turned on and off at random intervals. I got valuable feedback on how Project Photofly could be improved through Ph.D. candidate Laura Klein's presentation regarding how she used it on the USC campus. The IDEA Studio is truly win-win for industry and academia alike. Please email IDEA@autodesk.com if you have questions.

Educational opportunities are always alive in the studio.