Stony Brook Places Second in New York Climate Exchange
‘AI Innovation Challenge’
first-ever New York Climate Exchange AI Innovation Challenge. Not pictured: Nathan Hirtle.
A team of students from Stony Brook University placed second in the first-ever New York Climate Exchange (NYCE) AI Innovation Challenge, where teams from eight universities presented cutting-edge solutions to stormwater management challenges faced by New York City.
The team, composed of graduate students Caroline Fabian, Nathan Hirtle, Ian Maywar and Harmanveer Singh, created an app called eFlood, which leverages artificial intelligence to help residents find safe and efficient routes to their destination during a flood.
“The AI Innovation Challenge showcased the talent, creativity, and collaborative spirit of Stony Brook,” said Rong Zhao, director of the Center of Excellence in Wireless & Information Technology (CEWIT). “Students worked together, mentored by CEWIT staff and industry partner volunteers to solve complex challenges that will impact and shape our future.”
“Our team’s project addressed limitations in navigating flooded regions in New York City during storm water events,” said Singh, who is studying for his PhD in atmospheric science. “Our proposed solution incorporates NYC 311 calls and NYC Micronet sensor data to identify these flooded regions. Subsequently, the solution returns the user with a path which avoids these designated regions.”
Singh said CEWIT provided invaluable expertise and mentoring to the SBU team when devising the solution.
“The competition itself was a great opportunity to reflect on how AI, specifically large language models, can be leveraged to reduce the toll of storm water damage on localities,” said Singh. “The judges provided insightful feedback on which areas of the project development to hone in on and how to best consider the solution’s community impact.”
“It was a great experience meeting like-minded students from other universities and talking about climate solutions at the competition,” said Maywar, a master’s student in Stony Brook’s marine sciences program. “It was awesome touring Governors Island and seeing what The New York Climate Exchange has in store for the future. We’re proud of our second-place finish and are excited to see what’s to come from NYCE.”
“On behalf of The New York Climate Exchange, I’d like to congratulate you on your
outstanding achievement of second place in the Exchange’s first-ever AI Innovation
Challenge,” said Stephen Hammer, CEO of The New York Climate Exchange. “We, along
with our partners at IBM and Pace University, were impressed by the creativity, technical
innovation, and community-centered approach you brought to this competition. We appreciated
that you framed the solution in terms of concrete problems faced by real users. Overall,
you showcased a timely and useful tool. It is well-designed in terms of data sources
and informed by community needs.”
“On behalf of The New York Climate Exchange, I’d like to congratulate you on your outstanding achievement of second place in the Exchange’s first-ever AI Innovation Challenge,” said Stephen Hammer, CEO of The New York Climate Exchange. “We, along with our partners at IBM and Pace University, were impressed by the creativity, technical innovation, and community-centered approach you brought to this competition. We appreciated that you framed the solution in terms of concrete problems faced by real users. Overall, you showcased a timely and useful tool. It is well-designed in terms of data sources and informed by community needs.”
“New York City, and many cities around the world, are experiencing the impacts of climate change through increasing rainfall amounts, particularly during extreme events,” said Kevin Reed, associate provost for climate and sustainability programming at Stony Brook and chief climate scientist at The Exchange. “When you combine this with aging infrastructure systems, the challenge becomes urgent. New ways of thinking are needed to develop potential solutions. And that is where our students come in. The AI Innovation Challenge brought together student ingenuity with corporate tools to address this complex challenge.”
“I am really excited to see the ways in which this challenge intersects 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 across climate impacts is enormous, and it is no surprise to see Stony Brook students leading the way. This challenge is one of many dynamic opportunities made possible thanks to our leadership in The New York Climate Exchange.”
The competition’s first phase kicked off in April 2024. Reed and Zhao led the Stony Brook effort, and more than 50 SBU students worked on projects addressing stormwater challenges faced by urban and coastal communities in New York and other metropolitan areas.
Under the guidelines of the competition, students developed stormwater management solutions using IBM® watsonx.ai™ technology and the Call for Code platform, Moody’s insights and datasets, and GOLES’s community touchpoints. IBM is also one of The Climate Exchange’s anchor institutions.
At the completion of phase one, the top five teams were selected as finalists, including two teams from Pace University, two teams from Georgia Tech, and the Stony Brook team. The second phase officially started August 1 and carried through summer and into the fall. The final presentations took place in New York City in November.
“I am very proud of what the Stony Brook team accomplished,” said Reed. “Not just with the second-place finish, but with the effort and passion that they put into the challenge. It really demonstrates that Stony Brook students are creative thinkers when it comes to developing climate solutions for our state.”