On February 14, members of Penn State’s School of Architecture submitted an entry to the Buckminster Fuller Challenge–described as “Socially-Responsible Design’s Highest Award” by Metropolis magazine. The Challenge reviews submissions from around the world and will award $100,000 to the solution with the highest potential to “solve humanity’s most pressing problems.” This money will go toward the development and implementation of the chosen solution.

The team here at Penn State–comprised of Associate Professor of Architecture Darla Lindberg and members Danielle Rivera, Marcus Shaffer, Jing Li, Amy Snipes, David Mosemann, Adam Longenbach, Zachary Jones, Matthew Underwood, Karen Paiva Henrique, Kyle Schillaci, Chad Garrety, Gabriel Ibias, and Scott Tucker–submitted an entry entitled “MaNGO”. MaNGO, in short, addresses “frustrations and failures on both sides of aid distribution” in cases of environmental disaster or emergency.

In the words of Professor Lindberg, the team expects “to be a serious contender for the award” and that the team is “very excited about the opportunity to become part of a network that is advancing and accelerating the practice of comprehensive, whole systems thinking and design to develop the kind of high impact global solutions we so desperately need.”

To learn more about MaNGO, read its entry on the Buckminster Fuller Challenge website or watch the project’s video here.