Photography courtesy of Sophie Mallinson

NC State’s Climate and Sustainability Academy (CaSA) celebrated its first anniversary Dec. 2, bringing together faculty, staff, students and partners for an evening of connection and reflection at the Gregg Museum of Art and Design. The academy invited guests to celebrate a year of growth and look ahead to new opportunities for collaboration across campus and beyond.

As attendees arrived, they mingled over hors d’oeuvres and reconnected with colleagues and friends. New connections quickly formed, reflecting the academy’s expanding network of partners working toward shared goals in climate and sustainability.

The evening’s program began with a welcome from Gregg Museum Director Sarah Segerlin, who spoke to the importance of cross-campus collaboration and the role of the arts in advancing STEM education. Segerlin highlighted CaSA and the museum’s partnership on its featured exhibition, House of Ideas: Plants in Art, which explores the intersection of art, design and environmental learning.

Senior Vice Provost Rob Dunn followed with remarks underscoring the university’s support of the academy and its growing impact.

CaSA Executive Director Erin Seekamp and Deputy Executive Director Christopher Galik reflected on a year defined by collaboration, innovation and student engagement. From new partnerships across campus to applied projects in communities across North Carolina, the academy has focused on building a strong foundation for long-term impact.

A Year of Impact

Over the past year, CaSA expanded collaborations across campus and into surrounding communities. In partnership with the University Sustainability Office, the academy launched NC State PACKlab, which uses NC State’s campus as a living laboratory to test ideas and drive real-world sustainability solutions.

CaSA also deepened its community engagement through continued implementation of FutureScape, a serious climate change game. Additionally, CaSA advanced interdisciplinary research through Networking and Ideation Events, designed to spark new research collaborations both on and beyond campus.

Signature student programs — the Blue Economy Innovation Program, the Coastal Community Resilience Immersive Training Program and the Sustainable Futures Fellows — collectively engaged more than 150 undergraduate and graduate students and supported the launch of three new courses. Student ambassadors from these programs, along with participants in the KIETS Climate Leaders Program, attended the celebration wearing Wolfpack Red scarves to signify their roles. Throughout the evening, they connected with guests and shared how their involvement with CaSA has shaped their academic and professional paths.

Celebrating Creativity and Vision

A highlight of the celebration was the recognition of winners from CaSA’s student tagline design contest. The fall contest invited students to design a creative, memorable tagline that represented the spirit of the academy.

CaSA awarded first place to Karthik Gomada (2026 MS Computer Engineering) for his design, Think Climate and Do Sustainability. Gomada explained, “It is a clear and concise call to action for sustainability.”

Honorable mentions were awarded to Anna Lewis (2027 Business Administration) and Asia Faulk (2028 Fashion and Textile Management). Lewis’s design and tagline, Cultivating Knowledge that Grows Change, represents North Carolina’s landscape and “embodies the education that leads to a more sustainable future,” she said. Faulk, meanwhile, took her design beyond the competition. Having designed a graffiti art “tag” of the CaSA acronym, Faulk spray-painted a large-scale version of it in the Free Expression Tunnel on campus. 

Guests received stickers featuring the winning designs, taking home a tangible reminder of the creativity and vision shaping the academy’s future.

Looking Ahead

In the coming year, CaSA will begin to weave Long View Project expertise into the Sustainable Futures Fellows program, strengthening support for interdisciplinary, futures-thinking ideation, as well as tiered mentorship and applied climate solutions. The academy is also preparing to launch the CoNNECT Lab, an initiative focused on turning complex data into accessible visualizations that bring communities and leaders together to shape resilient, future-ready solutions.

As CaSA enters its second year, the academy will continue to expand partnerships and support interdisciplinary research. Furthermore, CaSA will forge new pathways so that students, faculty and staff can deepen their engagement with the crucial climate and sustainability work being done throughout the state.