Dartmouth · Thayer School of Engineering
ProblemGenomeProject
A living, structured collection of unsolved problems for design and engineering education — mapping the DNA of problems across domains so students start somewhere that matters.
Method
How it works
Like the Music Genome Project (Pandora) and Art Genome Project (Artsy), we tag problems with structured attributes — “genes” — that reveal deep cross-domain connections no individual expert would notice.
Expert sources
AI agents process research papers, NSF solicitations, patent filings, and standards roadmaps — extracting unsolved problems with their constraints and context.
Genome tagging
Each problem is tagged across 8 dimensions: constraint type, domain, scale, failure mode, breakthrough needed, stakeholder complexity, temporal dynamics, and tractability.
Cross-domain patterns
Problems in unrelated fields that share structural DNA become visible — enabling the kind of cross-pollination where creative solutions originate.
Classification
The taxonomy
Eight categories of structured attributes classify each problem, creating a multidimensional map of the problem space.
Collection
Recent problems
Find a problem
worth solving
Instead of reinventing the syringe, start with a well-framed problem that has real constraints, real stakeholders, and a real reason it matters.
Explore the collection