History

In 2005, a team of student researchers led by Lauren Dietrich and Mike Lin were awarded a $10,000 grant in the first round of the US Environmental Protection Agency's People, Prosperity, and the Planet (P3) design competition to develop a research program centered around a new green dormitory on Stanford campus. Over the following year, the concept grew and evolved into the Lotus Living Laboratory, a diverse group of interdisciplinary student researchers bridging the social sciences and humanities with engineering.

In the spring of 2006, the group presented their research to EPA officials and competed in the National Student Design Expo in Washington DC. The Stanford Lotus Living Lab group was selected as winners of the P3 competition and awarded a $75,000 grant to continue their research and to "develop and share sustainable pathways." As part of this second grant, Stanford researchers set forth a goal to connect students from across the nation to discuss sustainable design and form a partnership for a more responsible future.

In the late winter of 2007, Lotus Living Lab students Nick Enge and Lauren Leonard were given the charge of organizing a conference that would serve this purpose. After extensive research, they invited 30 students from 10 schools to be participants, and the first meeting of the Lotus Live partnership convened at Stanford University on April 14, 2007. The partnership is now compiling information, and beginning to reach out to even more students across the country, and the world.

Lotus Live Principles

In the words of former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, "Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family." At Lotus Live, we understand this, and are striving to give the power to change to world to all people, by educating them about sustainability. In order to best provide this education, Lotus Live is freely open to all people at all times. In addition, an email link or suggestion box appears on each page so that readers can contribute their own valuable ideas easily at any time. To make things even more accessible, and to actively facilitate the dissemination of information, all factual data and original research provided by Lotus Live may be freely used by anyone for any purpose. All that we ask is that you cite your sources, and provide a link to us when you use any information from our site.

Questions

Why "Lotus"?

Why Don't You Say More About Problems?

Your Solutions Are Too Utopian...

Partners

Grant Winners:

• Lauren Dietrich, Mike Lin, and the Lotus Living Laboratory

Founders:

• Nick Enge and Lauren Leonard, Stanford University

Founding Partners:

• Katie Unsworth, Colby College
• Jen Fuh, Duke University
• Meredith Lanoue, Harvard College
• John Thomas Vogel II, Harvard College
• Annika Eberle, Harvey Mudd College
• Samuel Eisenberg, Harvey Mudd College
• Autumn Petros-Good, Harvey Mudd College
• Andrew deCoriolis, Oberlin College
• Morgan Pitts, Oberlin College
• Engin Ayaz, Stanford University
• Lauren Finzer, Stanford University
• Tyler Huebner, Stanford University
• Emily Humphreys, Stanford University
• Greg Katz, Stanford University
• Jonas Ketterle, Stanford University
• Philip Morrison, Stanford University
• Sasha Novis, Stanford University
• Sam Ramirez, Stanford University
• Jen Tobias, Stanford University
• Emma Yuen, Stanford University
• SiSi Chen, UC Santa Barbara
• Mike Slezak, University of Iowa
• Holly Moriarty, University of Iowa
• Sara Tansey, University of South Carolina
• Khaled Tarabieh, University of Pennsylvania

Partners:

• Vi Do, UC Berkeley

If your school or organization would like to join our partnership, please contact the Lotus Leaders.

References:
(1) National Air Traffic Controller's Association
(2) Celestrak
(3) BusinessWeek 2006
(4) Hobbes Internet Timeline
(5) Internet Growth Statistics