Engineering design is a complex technical pursuit mediated by social process such as communication, negotiation, and shared agreements. Given the complex orchestration of craft, human cognition, and social dynamics, a wide range of perspectives, including technical problem-soving, social networks, and theory/philosophy, is important for studying designing. The overall goal of the project is to understand and improve engineering design process by studying both the cognition of an individual designer and the group dynamics.

Current projects:

Dazzle  - Building collaborative tools for contributing individual information to a team's shared frame

The Design Exchange - A site for the design research community of practice, for sharing and analyzing design research methods and stories

Design Metaphors - Studying the use computational metaphor tools for enhancing framing and creativity in Designers

Communicating Empathy - Understanding how to communicate design research in a way that conveys empathy for end users

Past Projects:

Time Variation of Design "Story Telling" in Engineering Design Teams

Creativity in New Product Development Teams: Metrics and Methodology for automated Assessment

Relationship Conflict and Feeling Communications in Design Teams