PANGARO CYBERNETICS PRIZE for OUTSTANDING DESIGN PROPOSAL
OVERVIEW OF THE 2026 CYBERNETICS PRIZE
The primary purpose of the Pangaro Cybernetics Prize is to create incentives for incorporating the systemic rigor and explanatory models of Cybernetics into novel design proposals, aimed at the most difficult 21st-century obstacles to “wicked challenges”, including climate change, artificial intelligence, and social justice.
Cybernetics is a systems discipline uniquely suited to wicked challenges because it forefronts information and purpose for guiding design and action in today’s complex entanglements of natural, technological, and social systems.
Students working individually or in teams are encouraged to tap the resources and network of Lab4C to incorporate concepts and methods into their design proposals for the Prize. Entries may incorporate current coursework or thesis project, or a novel design direction.
The primary criterion for this $5,000 Prize is to increase human agency in the face of complex systems through design. (See further explanation on the Cybernetics Prize Page.)
The Cybernetics Prize competition will be held every year in the Spring semester.
SUBMITTING: WHO SHOULD APPLY & WHY
Submissions to the Cybernetics Prize are invited from individual CMU students registered in any program during the current academic year, or teams led by a student registered in that period.
2026 PANGARO CYBERNETICS PRIZE WINNERSThe window for submissions for the 2026 Cybernetics Prize is closed and will re-open in January 2027.
The competition is especially well-suited to students who…
The Judging Panel will select the winner of the $5,000 cash prize. The winner and finalists / honorable mentions will have their submission added to a repository of valuable approaches to critically important 21st-century design challenges.
The Pangaro Cybernetics Prize is supported in part by the generosity of Philip G. Dorn.