A team of students from Harlem’s Columbia Secondary School received the Best Management of Water Resources award at the national Future City STEM competition, held in February in Washington, D.C. The contest encourages middle schoolers to design cities to solve societal issues. Aileen Colon, Amalia Dayle, Annette Salas, Amber Springer and Sophia Vinasco created their city, Cosmopolis, with help from teacher Philip Hubbard, and won Future City’s regional heat in January, according to a press release. Bentley Systems presented the national award. Students from Edlin School in Reston, Va., won the competition’s grand prize.

The New Sunshine State?

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced in March that he would set aside $1.4 billion for renewable energy projects, mostly solar in nature, which his office called the largest such commitment by a state. “We believe the future is a clean energy economy,” he said, criticizing the Trump administration’s focus on fossil fuels. The 26 large-scale projects that will benefit include a hydroelectric facility in Lewis County, a wind farm spanning Allegany and Cattaraugus counties, and 22 utility-scale solar installations statewide. The Solar Energy Industries Association, in a release, called it a “historic commitment to solar energy.”

NYC’s Infrastructure Payday

New York City is expected to get a $2.8-billion boost in capital spending, says a New York Building Congress analysis released in March. The city wants to increase spending to $11.8 billion in 2019 from $9 billion in 2018, and to raise it another $1.7 billion in 2020. The analysis also found that capital commitments will be an “unprecedented” $79.6 billion from fiscal years 2018 to 2022. “We are thrilled at the level of investment in core infrastructure being proposed by Mayor (Bill) de Blasio,” said Carlo A. Scissura, president and CEO of the Building Congress.

NYBF Gives $65K in Grants

The New York Building Foundation (NYBF) has given $65,000 to nonprofits that help to advance the design, construction and real estate industries. Recipients of the grants are: Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation’s Emerging Leaders Program; Center for Architecture Learning by Design’s NY program; NY Helmets to Hardhats; Science of Smart Cities program at NYU Tandon Center for K12 STEM Education; Pathway to Apprenticeship; and the Puerto Rico Relief and Rebuilding Fund.