Map the System Applications are Open
Applications Open Now for Spring ’22. Apply here by Jan. 31, 2022 @ 11:59pm CT.
Map the System is a global systems thinking competition that prepares students to understand and help resolve complex social and environmental problems confronting our communities. Participating students work through a fast-paced 8-week systems thinking research project, after which they present their findings to a panel of judges at the annual Vanderbilt University Map the System competition. The winning Vanderbilt University teams advances to the Global Finals hosted by Oxford University in England. Vanderbilt undergraduate students may participate in Map the System to fulfill the requirements of Immersion. Check out some of the amazing areas we are focusing on this semester! Don’t see one that resonates with you? Apply to compete with your own topic either alone or with a formed team. To learn more about Map the System, click here.
Gender Inequity in the Global Coffee Sector (with the International Women’s Coffee Alliance)
This project asks teams to contemplate the following:
- What social, economic, environmental, and/or political factors account for the prevalence of gender inequity in the global coffee industry?
- What factors account for women coffee farmer’s inequitable access to land, credit, and/or
other resources that are essential to achieving prosperous livelihoods in the industry? - What factors account for the underrepresentation of women in upper-level management
positions in the global coffee sector
Nashville’s Construction Waste and Recycling Crisis (Supporting the Metro Solid Waste Division)
This project asks teams to contemplate the following:
- What economic, political, and infrastructural factors contribute to the proliferation of
high levels of construction and demolition (C&D) waste in Nashville’s landfills? - What policies and market incentives can encourage C&D projects to divert from
landfilling their waste? - How can the government facilitate the creation of a marketplace for recycled C&D
materials?
Inequitable Education Access in Nashville (with Education Advocate Michael Oher)
This project asks teams to contemplate the following:
- What factors account for inequitable access to educational opportunities for children in
Nashville? - How does Nashville’s school choice program create inequitable access to educational
opportunities for Nashville’s youth?”
Sexual Misconduct Reporting and Support @ VU (Supporting Vanderbilt’s Title IX Office)
This project asks teams to contemplate the following:
- Students will explore how to improve Title IX Reporting at Vanderbilt.
Urban Development and Environmental Justice in Nashville (Supporting the Nashville Mayor’s Office)
This project asks teams to contemplate the following:
- How does rapid urban development in Nashville create and/or exacerbate environmental
injustices for low-income and/or communities of color? - How do public participation processes used by Metro Government unintentionally create
and/or exacerbate environmental injustices for low-income populations and/or
communities of color?
Food Access Inequities in Nashville (Supporting the Nashville Food Project)