The Role of Heuristics in Creative and Innovative Robust Designs: Understanding Both Individual and Team-Based Design

该奖项是根据2009年《美国复苏和再投资法案》(公法111-5)提供资金的。该奖项的研究目标是开发科学和工程创新的方法。这项研究调查了设计师如何在创作过程中使用启发式或认知策略来确定特定的解决方案，以及团队协作如何使用团队成员之间的多个启发式作为一种方法来生成健壮的设计-满足用户需求的设计，尽管消费者对不同消费者的偏好不同，消费者的偏好/需求随着时间的推移而变化。这个研究项目的目标是了解支持创造性、创新性和健壮设计的认知启发式。将使用实验室实验和实地研究相结合的方法来最大限度地控制和改进对真实世界环境的泛化。成果包括在设计团队中研究和识别认知启发式的新方法，教授和促进最佳和健壮的产品设计创造的软件，以及在多学科设计团队中有效创新的测试建议。如果成功，这项研究的结果将导致在工程、科学和工业中创造新的高质量设计的新方法。通过识别专家使用的启发式方法，并促进新手使用成功的认知启发式方法，我们将增加设计的创造力和创新，就像在科学和工程中看到的那样。这将对开发新产品的行业产生直接影响。这些研究成果的另一个直接应用是在工程设计中改进教学技术，促进创造力和创新。这些教学技术可以转移到其他类型的专业培训(如社会科学、人文科学)、工业和教育环境，如K-12和高等教育，从而提供新的方法，在各种教学环境中鼓励和灌输设计方面的创造力和创新。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The research objective of this award is to develop methods for innovation in science and engineering. The research investigates how designers use heuristics, or cognitive strategies, to identify specific solutions in the creative process, and how team collaboration may use multiple heuristics across team members as a means to generate robust designs---designs that meet user needs despite variability in consumer preferences over different consumers and changes in consumer preferences/needs over time. The goal of this research program is to understand the cognitive heuristics that support creative, innovative, and robust designs. A combination of laboratory experiments and field studies will be used to maximize control and improve generalization to real world settings. Deliverables include a new methodology for studying and identifying cognitive heuristics in design teams, software to teach and facilitate the creation of optimal and robust product designs, and tested recommendations for effective innovation in the context of multidisciplinary design teams.If successful, the results of this research will lead to a new methodology for the creation of novel and quality designs in engineering, science and industry. By identifying the heuristics used by experts, and facilitating the use of successful cognitive heuristics by novices, we will increase creativity and innovation in design as seen in science and engineering. This will have direct consequences for industry in the development of new products. Another direct application of these research findings is improved instructional techniques in engineering design that foster creativity and innovation. These pedagogical techniques can transfer to other types of professional training (e.g., social sciences, humanities), industry and educational settings such as K-12 and higher education, thus providing new approaches to encouraging and instilling creativity and innovation in design across an array of instructional settings.