Workshop: Driving Innovation Through Design - Engineering in the 21st Century; held at Northwestern University, April 15-16, 2010

这项资助的目的是举办一个研讨会，汇集来自工程、商业、经济、新闻、艺术和建筑、教育和社会政策等不同学科的大学管理人员（院长/系主任）、教师和研究人员以及行业从业者，就设计在帮助大学实现二十一世纪使命方面可能发挥的作用进行实质性的讨论。本次研讨会的目标是：(1)深入了解工程教育和设计领域面临的跨学科问题；(2)通过共同分享创造、培养和维持成功的跨学科研究和教育项目的经验，促进大学管理者与设计学院和研究人员之间的互动和对话；(3)寻求协同研究和教育努力，以建立设计作为创新和跨学科交叉连接的途径。提高美国学生的创造力和革新性是国家竞争力和社会福祉的使命，这需要对现有的大学制度进行创新变革。如果成功，本次研讨会将为设计研究确定方向，帮助教育和实践。它还将有助于在理解大学在应对日益复杂和相互关联的世界时所面临的挑战方面取得突破。研讨会将在设计中涉及的许多不同学科之间建立一个开放和富有成效的对话。通过邀请大学管理人员，研讨会将产生有效的对话，以获得关于在大学环境中建立新的跨学科项目的丰富信息和见解。

The objective of this grant is to conduct a workshop that will bring together a group of university administrators (Deans/department heads), faculty and researchers, and industrial practitioners, across a variety of disciplines such as engineering, business, economics, journalism, arts and architecture, education and social policy, to hold a substantive discussion of the role that Design may have in helping universities achieve their mission in the twenty-first century. The goals of this workshop are: (1) to reach a deeper understanding of the transdisciplinary issues faced in engineering education and the world of design; (2) to foster interactions and facilitate dialogue between university administrators and design faculty and researchers by collectively sharing experiences of creating, cultivating, and sustaining successful interdisciplinary research and education programs; and (3) to seek synergistic research and educational efforts towards establishing Design as a path towards innovation and transdisciplinary cross-connection. Improving the creativity and innovativeness of U.S. students is a mandate for national competitiveness and social well-being, which calls for innovative changes to the current university system. If successful, this workshop will define directions for research in design that help inform education as well as practice. It will also contribute to breakthroughs in understanding the challenges that universities face in responding to an ever-more complex and interconnected world. The workshop will create an open and productive dialogue among the many different disciplines involved in design. By inviting the university administrators, the workshop will generate effective dialogues to gain rich information and insights about establishing new interdisciplinary programs within a university setting.