Wolverines on Wheels: Envisioning sustainable transportation on campus

Each and every project in the Socially Engaged Engineering & Design Course has a different trajectory. Although design topics may overlap, the group projects that are developed during this course are entirely open to possibility. 

One great example of this idea is Wolverines on Wheels, an active community of students passionate about providing opportunities for sustainable transportation on the U-M campus.

Though they are now an established student organization, Wolverines on Wheels (WoW) began as a group of four students in the Socially Engaged Engineering & Design Course presented with an opportunity to focus on Sustainability on Campus. 

Meet Justin Mason from the School of Information, Sunny Xu from the College of Engineering, Aleena Malik from the Ross School of Business, and Bea Kaskie from the School of Literature, Science, & the Arts. 

Together, they envisioned a campus that supports sustainable transportation, an enthusiastic biking community, and increased access to resources. And then, they envisioned how to make it happen. 

This is a spotlight on how Wolverines on Wheels took on the challenge of Sustainable Transportation on Campus. 

One of two WoW pop-up events in November 2024

Part I: Kicking off in Winter 2024 

Emphasizing the local challenges of genuine stakeholders is one of the key pillars of the Socially Engaged Engineering & Design Course.

Like all students who enrolled in SEED, Team 3 had varying experiences in stakeholder research and collaboration. But regardless of their proximity to the issue of sustainable transportation on campus – and specifically resources for biking – each of the teammates saw their project as an intriguing opportunity. 

For Bea Kaskie, sustainable transportation on campus was a very relevant challenge she was eager to explore. Through her involvement with Planet Blue Student Leaders and the Common Cycle Bike Co-Op, she recognized the need for a bike resource hub on campus – and saw SEED as the perfect jumping-off point, 

Diving right into speaking with stakeholders, researching existing resources, and envisioning what a bike resource hub could look like, Wolverines on Wheels practiced the Socially Engaged Design process. 

Though the sheer amount of potential paths they could take could be overwhelming and unclear at times, Mason, Kaskie, Xu, and Malik were always offered the support of the SEED instructors through meetings, ideation sessions, and regular opportunities for feedback. 

“It was really freeing to be able to do whatever you want in whatever direction you want,” says Justin Mason. “It’s definitely not like any other class that I’ve taken before. It’s a very unique experience.” 

Part II: Exploring different paths 

After laying the groundwork for their project by collecting research and brainstorming, they settled on designing a Bike Resource Hub on campus. They envisioned this Bike Resource Hub as a place for students to service their bikes and connect with others interested in sustainable transportation. 

But how to realize this vision? 

Using AI, Mason, Kaskie, Xu, and Malik produced images of their Bike Resource Hub which they shared with stakeholders in order to gather feedback and direction. Slowly, with much ideation supported by each other and the SEED instructors. 

“Our instructors were all great in supporting our design process,” says Sunny. “I think the main place they supported us was by giving us feedback on direction. We came up with a lot of directions in which we could take it, and ended up deciding that a resource hub would be the best thing we could do.”

But as is always the case with a Socially Engaged Design approach, the work doesn’t stop there – something that brought both inspiration and challenges to Team 3. 

“It was a challenge for me to make sure that our work was ingrained in actual solution development instead of just implementing it,” explains Bea. “I’m really comfortable breaking tasks down, but this time, we had to start from that beginning and circle back to make sure that it’s really coming from stakeholders and community members.” 

Through rounds of sharing AI-generated images with stakeholders, the vision became clearer, and Team 3 became the Wolverines on Wheels. 

At the end of the semester, the four teammates presented their prototype for their classmates, instructors, and stakeholders. After a semester’s worth of ideation, development, conversations, and reflection, the Wolverines on Wheels presented their vision for a Bike Resource Hub complete with a bike repair station, community space, and bike storage. 

AI-Generated Images created by the Wolverines on Wheels

Part III: Moving forward with The 2024 Summer Fellowship 

As the semester wrapped up, Mason, Kaskie, and Xu decided to continue their work through the funded SEED Summer Fellowship. 

“My great team members and the interesting project is why I continued,” says Sunny. “It felt like we did a lot of preparation and research during the semester to eventually establish WoW, so it felt like a waste not to continue my work through the summer fellowship.” 

During the summer, the trio identified that before a Bike Resource Hub could be created, the biking culture on the U-M campus needed to expand. Following this realization, WoW shifted towards the idea of a student organization.

With the support of C-SED, they were able to visit other bike-centered student organizations such as Kalamazoo Bikes on the campus of Kalamazoo College and MSU Bikes on the Michigan State campus. Through these visits, they were able to learn from those doing similar projects on other campuses and decide what they wanted to bring back to their own organization in Ann Arbor. 

Drawing from their many conversations and research, Kaskie, Xu, and Mason built upon their accomplishments from the Winter semester and laid the groundwork for a club that would go on to organize 3 group rides, provide 8 free bike rentals, provide 2 resource pop-events and distribute 170 free materials in their first semester. 

“​​We’re not reinventing the wheel on campus,” says Bea Kaskie. “People have been passionate about biking. People have been advocating for bike resources. People have been providing them to students. And so I’m just really excited about this to be a central space for people that have been doing in the past to come together and to know that their expertise and leadership is not only wanted but is needed.” 

Part IV: Looking back and continuing on

Since Team 3 first read the Sustainable Transportation on Campus Project Brief in Winter 2024, they have worked as a team supported by their enthusiastic instructors to experience Socially Engaged Design in a relevant and authentic context – an opportunity that is not available in many project-based courses. 

When asked if he had any advice for future SEED students, Justin Mason offered this:  “You don’t have to think about your final project in a right/wrong kind of way but more so framing your work around how to explain your idea to someone who has no idea what you’re talking about.” 

Bea Kaskie advises future students to “Be really open to different topics that maybe you don’t think you have a lot of expertise in. You’re able to bring your skills in new ways. There’s a lot of room to just restart and edit and learn from feedback from others and always keep growing.”

To see how Wolverines on Wheels has been expanding and the new places they are exploring, you can follow them on Instagram @wolverinesonwheels; check out their Planet Blue bike resources page; or email them @wolverinesonwheels@umich.edu. 

Interested in tackling a local design issue with a socially-engaged approach? Reach out to C-SED’s Program Engagement Implementation Lead, Lawryn Fellwock to learn more.