Students will explore the benefits and challenges of working with a design team to address a complex product, problem, or system. Students will explore group dynamics, creativity in design teams, as well as the nature of complex problems and the various methods required to solve them.

This course will highlight the application of design methods and processes through projects that focus on deepening the students’ problem-solving skills, studio skills (two- and three-dimensional sketching, drawing, CAD), shop skills (modelmaking) and presentation skills. Emphasis will be placed on collaborating with multidisciplinary partners outside the industrial design program, and/or, when circumstances allow, with external resources such as clients or project sponsors.

The industrial design internship provides students the option to work in the industrial design field. Students must obtain permission of an instructor and complete the Internship Permission Form to enroll.

This course will explore the application of design methods and skills to projects addressing large-community and global problems requiring team-based, trans-disciplinary collaborations.

Industrial Design Independent Study provides students the means to study in a specialized area with an individual faculty member. With the assistance of their faculty advisers, students will propose a course of study. Students must obtain permission of an instructor and complete the Independent Study Permission Form to enroll. A 3.0 or higher GPA required.

This course is the second of a two-course studio sequence that provides a forum for discourse and experimentation in design. Course continues the methodology established in Design Laboratory I, and extends the scope to human-centered concepts, artifacts and systems at both local and global levels. Assignments will include topics such as: responsible design practices, universal design, environmental sensibility, project management and fabrication.

Industrial Design Independent Study provides students the means to study in a specialized area with an individual faculty member. With the assistance of their faculty advisers, students will propose a course of study. Students must obtain permission of an instructor and complete the Independent Study Permission Form to enroll. **NOTE: Student must have a minimum 3.0 GPA **

The second of a two-course thesis sequence, this course focuses on continued concept development of a thesis, concluding with the implementation and retrospective evaluation of chosen design problem. Solution is presented in a public exhibition, complemented by a written articulation of how the theories and methods employed in the project impact the current and future state of design in society.

Climate change, racism, lack of accessibility, poverty, moral disagreement, civil conflict, access to water, and piracy are all examples of enduring human problems. This shell course allows students to explore a single “human problem” across disciplines, bringing together knowledge from liberal arts, science, technology, engineering, mathematics, health, arts and design. Students will read transformative texts across a variety of disciplines and apply those texts to a single modern “human” problem in this project-based course. Students will pay particular attention to the social and ethical components within the texts, the problem, its causes, and proposed solutions. The possible problems are intentionally broad and reach across multiple disciplines. Students will be expected to apply their understanding to practice-based projects in interdisciplinary groups and then present their findings, demonstrating both the breadth and depth of their understanding, as well as their creativity. Throughout the semester and in each assignment, students will explore the ethical and social implications of the course topic, exploring the ways different disciplinary approaches assess and think about ethical and social problems and their possible solutions.