2025 Coastal Design Competition

About | Design Team Proposals | Timeline | Contacts

About

The CERF Coastal Design Competition is an initiative inspiring students and faculty across disciplines to address community-based challenges of climate change. The goal of the competition is for university-based teams to propose research, design solutions, and innovative strategies to make our coastal environments more resilient in the face of climate change and other pressing challenges. The Coastal Design Competition focuses on critical issues such as coastal settlement, ecosystem restoration, flood protection, and economic development, while highlighting the capacity of faculty-led transdisciplinary teams to solve coastal problems and respond to climate change.

The competition requires an emphasis on data-driven design and actionable plans that work with and for the priorities of Galesville, Maryland, a 370-year-old waterfront community bordered by Chesapeake tributaries on three sides. Shoreline erosion, antiquated stormwater management infrastructure, flooding, sediment, water quality concerns during wet weather, inadequate waterfront access, and sea level rise are all concerns facing Galesville that can be addressed by the design competition teams. The Coastal Design Competition organizers will work with community members to organize in-person or virtual site visits for the teams to maximize the priorities of the local community from the start of the design process.

Submit a Design Team Proposal

Proposals are due 30 March 2025.

Call for Design Team Proposals

Deadline Extended to 30 March - Submit a Proposal Today! 

We seek proposals from faculty interested in taking part in the 2025 Coastal Design Competition. Teams must be interdisciplinary (e.g., architecture, engineering, ecology, policy, planning, law). They may cross disciplines/departments within a single academic institution or be a collaboration across two or more institutions. Connections with groups underrepresented in these disciplines are encouraged along with diverse teams and thoughtful inclusion of regional Minority Serving Institutions. Faculty-student teams may partner with architecture and engineering firms, but research and design must be faculty-led. Teams will be provided flexibility to develop designs in a mechanism that works best for their collaboration (e.g., spring semester course, extracurricular activity, paid internship program) as long as submissions meet the competition deadlines.

Supporting materials, including detailed site information, webinars, and community engagement opportunities, will be made available to selected teams in early 2025. Final designs will be juried, and winners will be announced by a panel of experts during the conference. Limited funding is available to support students from finalist teams to attend the CERF conference and present their designs to be judged by experts and community members.

Information you need to submit a Coastal Design Competition Team proposal:

  1. Lead convener. Name and full contact information.
  2. Co-convener. Limited to one additional convener. Name, affiliation, and email address.
  3. Faculty team members. May be different from conveners. Include departmental/disciplinary, institutional, and professional (if applicable) affiliations.
  4. Faculty team expertise. Describe faculty team expertise in addressing coastal resilience issues and how diversity, equity, and inclusion were considered in faculty team composition.
  5. Methodology. Under 300 words. Describe the proposed method of student engagement (e.g., class[es]; extracurricular; paid; for credit) and how diversity, equity, and inclusion will be considered in student team composition. Describe the role (if any) of outside partners (e.g., advisors from architecture and engineering firms).
Submit a Design Team Proposal

Proposals are due 30 March 2025.

Download Flyer

Please feel free to share this flyer to faculty who may be interested in hosting a competition team.

Timeline

  • Teams Research and Design: January - October 2025 (Spring, Summer, Fall Semesters, or Quarters)
  • Team Registration: August 2025
  • Design Proposals Submitted: October 2025
  • Final Competition Presentation: 9-13 November 2025 at the CERF Conference - Teams of up to 5 students invited for the final competition will receive travel support for the conference, including registration, travel & lodging.

Contacts

If you have questions, please contact Coastal Design Competition committee chairs Tiffany Troxler ([email protected]) and Jori Erdman ([email protected]).