Hi, my name is Tristan Sokol and I

Projects I have worked on ↓

The Problem

5.4 billion pounds of plastic water bottle waste enter the landfills of the world every year. Each of these bottles will take almost 400 years to decompose. Every bottle ever produced and every bottle that continues to be produced will be our landfills for many generations to come.

Our Solution

Bottleshare is a system of vending machines that allow users to check out reusable water bottles instead of using disposable bottles. When a bottle is returned to the machine it will be washed and stored to be filled with clean water for the next user.

Where We Are Now

Right now we are working in the Design For America: Northwestern offices in Evanston IL. We are working on our first full fidelity prototype. Learn more at Bottleshare.us !

Design for America is an award-winning nationwide network of interdisciplinary student teams and community members using design to create local and social impact. During my time at Northwestern I played an intergeral part of managing and creating the culture of the Northwestern studio, as well as the national framework.

Nice shoes is a team I formed in 2009 to compete in Northwestern's annual Design Competition . Each year the team is responsible for designing, building, wiring, programming and troubleshooting an autonomous robot before the competition in the spring.

Wrestlepocalypse, a Vertigo Production, is a professional wrestling show at Northwestern University. It was first performed on May 25, 2007, in Shanley Pavilion. The show has been re-mounted every year since and is traditionally performed at the end of Spring Quarter, the night before Dillo Day a.k.a. "Dillo Eve". I made the website.

I helped bring Northwestern's student-run radio station WNUR 89.3 FM into the 21st century by migrating it to Wordpress and giving the students another channel of content delivery.

Tristan Sokol

(479) 530-2981
584 Lincoln Street Evanston, IL 60201

Education

Huntsville High School, Huntsville AR
Northwestern University, Evanston IL
Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering
Bachelor of Science in Manufacturing and Design Engineering
Anticipated Graduation: June 2013
Cumulative GPA: 3.4/4.0

Experiences

Bottleshare Co-founder 2011 - Present

A Design For America project aimed at reducing the waste from plastic disposable bottles; Currently user testing with the City of Evanston

Design For America Studio Lead 2011 - 2012

A national movement of students tackling social entrepreneurship issues using the design process; As a studio lead I organized project teams and taught the design process to new students

Design Competition 2010 - Present

A two-quarter intensive mechatronics project to design and build a autonomous robot that competes against other students' robots

Creative Action Lab under Dr. Liz Gerber Researcher Summer 2011

Researched brainstorming and idea generation, designed and tested mock-ups for brainstorm aiding phone apps and a creative generation board game

Work History

Evanston Athletic Club Climbing Instructor 2012-Present

Teaching youth ages 5-14 and adults how to enjoy sport climbing twice a week in a safe and friendly setting

Northwestern University School of Communications - WNUR 89.3 FM Webmaster 2011-Present

Designed and coded the new wnur.org, including a conversion to the wordpress CMS; also maintaining the website to meet the needs of the community

RPIScoreboard.com Developer 2011

Part of a team of developers to create a sports media website, intensive use of PHP and MySQL

Camp Orr High Adventure Base Climbing Instructor 2009

Insctructed scouts during intensive weeks at a sleepaway camp

Skills

Programming: C++, PHP, HTML/CSS, MySQL
Programs: Adobe Creative Suite, Matlab, Mathematica, UG NX, Omnigraffle
Machine Shop: Mill, Lathe, CNC programming, Laser cutting