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

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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.