Faculty and Students Display Work at Annual Showcase

From examining alternatives to juvenile incarceration to improving the fit of surgical gloves, faculty and students from across the college are working on the forefront of design research and creative scholarship. Underlined titles are linked to the full research poster.

Title: 21st Century Development
Team Members: Director Richard Graves (Center for Sustainable Building Research)

21st Century Development strives to provide a healthy environment for all people and living systems now and in a dynamic future. Professionals from architecture, engineering, and other fields are partnering with public, private sector, and nonprofit leaders to reimagine the practice of development and bring 21st Century Development concepts to life around the world. 21st Century Developments should benefit all living systems by enabling human and natural systems to coevolve and regenerate. They are resilient and sustainable, thriving in the midst of change and seeking to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all.

Title: Addressing the Contamination Issue in Fashion Sharing: Does Ownership Type of Shared Goods Matter?
Team Members: Assistant Professor Naeun Lauren Kim (Retail Merchandising), Dr. Byoungho Ellie Jin (NC State University)

Since the early 2000s, there has been a growing trend in the sharing of commodities by renting or purchasing second-hand goods through online platforms—a phenomenon known as collaborative consumption (CC). One of the major concerns among CC users is the issue of contamination (i.e., feeling ‘grossed out’ when sharing items with anonymous others). Still, very little is known about how CC companies can handle this issue. The purpose of this research is to examine the issue of contamination through exploring the effect on consumers’ CC intentions by ownership type of shared goods.

Title: Air-transit Network in Minnesota
Team Members: Zheyang Yuan (Architecture)

This project proposes and explores the possibility of an air transit network in Minnesota as a lower cost and more equitable transit solution. This research explores the implementation of an air transit network and its impact on unemployment, job vacancy, and the imbalanced population between rural and urban Minnesota.

Title: Developing a Method of Measurement Comparison for 3D Scans and Gloves
Team Members: Assistant Professor Linsey Griffin (Apparel Design), Susan Sokolowski (University of Oregon), Elisheva Savateev (Human Factors), Md Arif-Ul-Anwar (Apparel Studies)

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, one million workers were treated with acute hand injuries in 2014. 70% of those injuries were due to workers not wearing any gloves. 30% of the injuries were acquired by workers who did wear gloves. Adding to the challenge, it has been reported that there is gender disparity in glove fit, where 62% percent women versus 30% men reported ill-fitting, bulky gloves. There is an opportunity to understand this challenge better and foster future practices through human factors research to collect better 3D anthropometric scan data, to design and size gloves appropriately for women.

Title: Bruce Vento Elementary School Partnership
Team Members: Professor Abimbola Asojo (Interior Design), Judy Myers (UMN Extension), Former Principal Scott Masini (Bruce Vento Elementary School)

Through a partnership with Bruce Vento Elementary School in St. Paul, a calming room, teacher sanctuary, family-style dining and parent room were implemented in the school to build community and create a trauma-sensitive environment. The Bruce Vento Model has been implemented in other school districts in both Minneapolis and St Paul.

Title: Design and Operation for Dynamic Countermeasure Garments
Team Members: Rachael Granberry (Apparel Studies), Santo Padula II (NASA), Amy Ross (NASA), Assistant Professor Julianna Abel (Mechanical Engineering), Assistant Professor Brad Holschuh (Apparel Design)

Countermeasure garments are required by NASA regulation to be worn inside NASA’s Orion crew survival suit (OCSS) during Earth reentry, landing, and egress to protect astronauts from symptoms of cardiovascular deconditioning syndrome (CDS), such as dizziness or fainting. NASA currently uses an undersized, elastane compression garment to eliminate mobility and deflation risks; however they are difficult and time-consuming to don. Additionally, these garments are not dynamic and may not apply sufficient medical compression if the body experiences significant change during time in space. This research presents a dynamic, skin-tight compression garment design concept and operation using thermally-responsive contractile fabrics. Shape memory alloys integrated into fabric architectures enable a garment to be loose and compliant while the smart material is inactive below room temperature and become tight and stiff when the material is activated by increasing the temperature just above skin temperature.

Title: Congruence Effects in Online Customer Reviews: The Mediating Role of Perceived Information Relevance
Team Members: Garim Lee (Apparel Studies), Associate Professor Hye-Young Kim (Retail Merchandising)

An investigation of the message appeals of online customer reviews has arisen to better understand the persuasive role of online reviews. Kotler and Keller (2008) identified two types of message appeals: emotional and rational. Emotional message appeal can elicit consumers’ emotions to arouse purchase willingness, whereas rational message appeal uses benefits highlighting product attributes and functions. Previous research (e.g., Kang & Park-Poaps, 2010) has widely explored consumers’ shopping orientations, which largely originate from hedonic and utilitarian conceptions. However, the congruence effect between message appeal of online customer reviews and shopping orientation has not been sufficiently established. To address this research gap, this study aims to investigate how a congruence between the message appeal of online reviews and shopping orientation affects the perceived relevance of information presented in an online customer review and, in turn, leads to consumers’ purchase intention.

Title: Deep Winter Greenhouse Design for Year-round Low Energy Food Production
Team Members: Research Fellow Daniel Handeen (Center for Sustainable Building Research)

A Deep Winter Greenhouse (DWG) is a greenhouse designed to limit the amount of fossil fuel it takes to grow crops during cold winters. DWGs are passive-solar greenhouses that rely on energy from the sun to heat the building instead of more traditional heating sources. There are a few important aspects of the design that make this possible. DWGs are built in an east-west position, with a glazing wall that faces south. This wall is specially angled, depending on latitude, to get the most possible solar energy on the coldest day of the year. The sun heats the air inside which is blown underground with a fan and stored in rocks. This heated rock bed is a thermal mass which acts as a heat battery and stores heat for when it is needed at night.

Title: Design Against Trafficking
Team Members: Professor Tasoulla Hadjiyanni (Interior Design)

Expanding the dissemination methods for research is instrumental to solving grand challenges, such as sex trafficking. This project shares the development of the Designagainsttrafficking.com website. Design Against Trafficking is founded on the premise that, as a medium for social justice, design can be the catalyst, in the formation of collaborations and synergies, that curtails modern-day slavery. Design students, educators, scholars, practitioners, and advocates can use the examples shared through this digital platform to inspire action, raise public consciousness, and create design interventions that support the needs of victims and communities. This website also functions as the forum for sharing the When Places Speak exhibit, a photography exhibit that provides a space for places associated with trafficking to tell their story. By starting dialogues around the places sex trafficking touches, cities can shed light on the fact that it is happening here, in our neighborhoods and communities.

Title: Effects of Perception of Storefront Designs on Consumers’ Behavioral Intention: An Information Gap Perspective
Team Members: Associate Professor Hyunjoo Im (Retail Merchandising), Dr. Hyunjoo Oh (University of Florida), Dr. Minjung Park (Susquehanna University)

Storefronts are thought to be critical in forming a store image (Cornelius, Natter, & Faure, 2010) or consumers’ decision to enter stores (Oh & Petri, 2012). Information gap theory suggests that people are aroused when they perceive a gap in their knowledge. Research notes that the visibility and depth of the environment are important factors in creating information gaps and eliciting curiosity (Loewenstein, 1994). In retail stores, the environment depth suggests perceived distance from the storefront to the other end of the store. Visibility of the storefront can be determined by how much in-store information consumers can gather from outside the store. Results from two experiments (N=239 total) suggest that storefront designs can increase or decrease the information gap and encourage or discourage consumers to enter a store and explore.

Title: The Effect of Temporary Feeling of Power on Consumer Behavior in a Shopping Mall
Team Members: Garim Lee (Apparel Studies), Jiye You (Apparel Studies), Associate Professor Hyunjoo Im (Retail Merchandising)

As many previous studies have suggested, retail environments influence consumers’ emotions, cognition, and thus behavior (e.g., Sherman, Mathur, & Smith, 1997). Retail environment effects have often been studied using Mehrabian and Russell’s (1974) Stimulus-Organism-Response paradigm which explains that the retail environment elicits a shopper’s emotional state (i.e., pleasure, arousal, and dominance), which in turn affects behavior. Out of three emotional states, dominance has been often omitted from retail environment studies (e.g., Ryu & Jang, 2007) because previous literature did not find dominance to be significant. However, dominance is related to a feeling of control and power, both of which could be important in predicting shopper behaviors. Thus, this study aims to test if dominance is a relevant emotion in a retail environment by investigating a temporary feeling of power, which is closely related to dominance.

Title: An Experiment Investigating the Effects of Biophilic Design and Lighting Temperature in Virtual Reality Fashion Apparel Stores
Team Members: Ahmad Saquib Sina (Apparel Studies)

The objective of this study is to identify the impacts of biophilic design and lighting temperature on consumers’ perceptions and responses. Biophilic design is closely connected with natural settings in the built environment. This study will also analyze the interaction effects between biophilic design and lighting temperature. Data will be collected using VR stores for apparel.

Title: Exploring Creativity in Design Education Amongst Graphic Design Instructors at the University of Minnesota
Team Members: Tasneem Kabli (Graphic Design)

In education, creativity is an important aspect of teaching (Soh, 2017). To increase teaching effectiveness, teachers must know and identify the methods that best foster students’ creativity. Understanding the nature of creativity could affect teachers’ attitudes, beliefs, and practices towards their students’ development and learning (Chan & Yuen, 2015). The field of design demonstrates a significant need for creativity in both everyday classroom activities and curriculum (Cropley & Cropley, 2010). This research investigated graphic design instructors’ values, beliefs, and classroom practices that foster students’ creativity. The objectives were to understand how graphic design instructors recognize creativity in their students and how they enhance it. Moreover, the goal was to discover the effective methods and tools that design instructors use in the classroom to foster students’ creativity.

Title: Exploring Realism and Sense of Presence in Immersive Virtual Reality Training
Team Members: Dr. Ryan Farmer (University of Missouri), Dr. Zhaleh Khosravi (University of Missouri), Assistant Professor Ehsan Naderi (Product Design), Dr. Matthew Mooberry (University of Missouri-Columbia), Dr. Bimal Balakrishnan (University of Missouri), Dr. Julie Marshall (University of Missouri-Columbia)

Simulation training in anesthesiology has expanded into a variety of formats including high fidelity simulators, screen-based virtual reality (VR), and CAVE VR system 1-2. With advancing technology, more affordable VR systems such as Oculus Rift have potential for simulation training. To evaluate this option we examined the sense of presences and realism anesthesiology professionals felt in a virtual operating room. We also examined their interest in future VR use.

Title: Feasibility of Digital Draping for Improved Glove Fit
Team Members: Emily Seifert (Apparel Studies), Chris Curry (Human Factors) Assistant Professor Linsey Griffin (Apparel Design)

Traditional glove fitting techniques include methods of assessing the glove’s mobility and dexterity and Likert scale fit surveys with participants. While these methods are helpful, they occur after glove development, doing little to help designers understand the hand-product relationship. New technologies such as rapid prototyping, 3D simulation, and digital prototyping offer endless design opportunities for gloves (Griffin, Sokolowski, & Seifert, 2018; Sokolowski & Hoegsted, 2019). The advantages of digital draping include a reduction in cost and time as well as the ability to change the materials before prototypes are manufactured (Mesuda, Inui, & Horiba, 2018).

Title: Identifying Challenges of Manufacturing E-Textile Garments Via A Case Study
Team Members: Md. Tahmidul Islam Molla (Apparel Studies), Crystal Compton (Apparel Studies), Professor Lucy Dunne (Apparel Design)

This research project aims to develop and deploy a scalable manufacturing method for garment-integrated technologies that preserve user comfort and work within the constraints of typical apparel manufacturing processes while providing required electrical performance and durability needed by the system. We have developed a method for attaching discrete surface-mount components and rigorously tested the method. To demonstrate the scalability of the method at a garment scale, forty pieces each of regular and temperature sensing fire-fighter turnout gear coat liner garments have been developed. The garments will be later used to evaluate the durability of the manufacturing process as well as the impact of integrating electronic technology on labor, equipment, and cost. We believe the proposed study will help provide better understanding of the manufacturing challenges related to e-textile garments.

Title: The Impact on Consumer Responses of Plus-Size Models in Socially Inclusive Ads
Team Members: Bo Ra Joo (Apparel Studies)

This research focused on the impact of plus-size models in ads; specifically, it aimed to investigate the effect on consumers’ brand attitudes, purchase intentions, and brand commitment of inclusive advertising featuring models with diverse body sizes. In a lingerie ad, we showed either an image of models with diverse body sizes or an image of only straight-size models to U.S. women aged between 18 and 35. The results indicated that including plus-size models and signaling warmth through ads are effective in terms of brand attitude and purchase intention, and fashion brands could therefore consistently feature both straight-size and plus-size models without losing straight-size consumers.

Title: Impact on Consumer Responses of Senior Models in Socially Inclusive Ads
Team Members: Bo Ra Joo (Apparel Studies)

This study aimed to investigate the impact that the inclusion of senior models in ads had on consumer attitudes and brand commitment. The study consisted of showing U.S. women an image of a young model and a senior model in a cosmetic ad for the high inclusiveness condition and an image of two young models for the low inclusiveness condition. The participants demonstrated higher brand commitment, but not attitude toward the ad, upon seeing the ad including the senior model than the ad featuring only young models. The findings suggest that fashion retailers could use inclusive ads without turning their backs on young consumers, and that signaling integrity through ads is effective for the niche senior consumer market.

Title: Improving Health and Well-Being with Personalized, Pervasive Wearable Technology
Team Members: Crystal Compton (Apparel Studies), Bolanle Dahunsi (Apparel Studies), Neha Subash (Human Factors and Ergonomics), Esther Foo (Human Factors and Ergonomics), Miles Priebe (Electrical Engineering), Justin Barry (Mechanical Engineering), Justin Baker (WTL), Rachael Granberry (Apparel Studies), Heidi Woelfle (Apparel Design), Assistant Professor Brad Holschuh (Apparel Design)

This Grand Challenge research project focuses on improving the health, well-being, and independence of individuals with reduced capacity due to illness or advanced age. Toward this aim, we will develop and deploy novel, personalized technology that integrates conversational voice assistants with wearable sensors and smart-textile clothing technology to provide real-time, in-home, unobtrusive sensing and on-body stimulation solutions (e.g., pressure, heat). This project brings together an interdisciplinary team of faculty and students in computer science, apparel design, wearable technology, cognitive psychology, psycholinguistics, nursing, and pharmacy to develop a proof-of-concept transformative framework for individually tailored detection and management of mental stress and anxiety in everyday life—a major risk factor for conditions that greatly impact public health.

Title: Impulsive Buying Tendency: Positive and Negative Effects of Social Comparison
Team Members: Carmi Bobwealth Omontese (Apparel Studies), Associate Professor Hyunjoo Im (Retail Merchandising)

This research explored the relationship between impulse buying and social comparison, and the role of self-esteem as a mediator. After the literature review, two research questions were proposed and examined. The results of the study after the survey with 97 valid responses showed that individuals who engaged in social comparison were more likely to engage in impulsive buying behavior. The mediation analysis revealed that individuals who experienced upward social comparison were more likely to have low self-esteem compared with individuals who engaged in downward social comparison. The analysis also indicated that a greater proportion of females engaged in upward social comparison compared with males.

Title: Lend a Hand for 3D Scans: Scanning Methodology and Data Collection for Tool and Glove Design
Team Members: Bethany Juhnke (Mechanical Engineering), Colleen Pokorny (Apparel Studies), Assistant Professor Linsey Griffin (Apparel Design)

Current methods to conduct large-scale anthropometric studies to capture civilian measurements are inefficient and expensive. Unfortunately, these methods continue to limit the scope of datasets, ultimately limiting the downstream impact to improve human factors analyses and product design. By applying industrial engineering principles to the data capture process, we can improve the process to capture comprehensive anthropometric databases for the purposes of improving human factors analyses and ultimately product designs.

Title: Mapping the System-of-Use for the Patient Hospital Gown
Team Members: Assistant Professor Linsey Griffin (Apparel Design), Colleen Pokorny (Apparel Studies)

The one-size-fits-all approach to the patient gown does not satisfy patients nor healthcare professionals, and both would prefer situation-specific medical attire (Gordon & Guttmann, 2013; Jankovska, 2015; Liu et al., 2016; Park, 2014). There is no evidence supporting large-scale adoption of a new design by hospitals. Even seemingly simple modifications to the patient gown, such as increasing the size range, has not been achieved. There is a complex system of users and institutions that interact with the patient gown including patients, healthcare professionals, hospital environmental services staff, contract laundry services, trucking and transportation, and federal/state regulations. Until research is conducted to understand the patient gown’s system of use, it will be difficult to design a new patient gown that is both impactful and cost-efficient.

Title: Material Culture Analysis of the Muslim Student Association Room at the University of Minnesota
Team Members: Ghadah Mostareeh (Interior Design)

Material culture is defined by Jules Prown (1982) as “the study through artifacts of the beliefs—values, ideas, attitudes, and assumptions—of a particular community or society at a given time.” Following the three stages of Prown’s analysis (description, deduction, and speculation), this study analyzed the Muslim Student Association (MSA) room in Coffman Memorial Union. Students use the space to study, socialize, relax, and perform some of their daily prayers. The purpose of this study was to explore through material culture the sense of place among male and female Muslim students towards the MSA room.

Title: Meeting Housing Needs of Residents in a Changing Urban Neighborhood
Team Members: Professor Becky Yust (Housing Studies), Nima Meghdari (Housing Studies), Michael Urness (Housing Studies)

The purpose of this project was to inform community-level strategies to accommodate housing needs of residents in one of the oldest urban neighborhoods in Saint Paul, Minnesota, The neighborhood is experiencing new, young adults moving in and a desire by existing residents, particularly elders, to stay in the neighborhood. Both long-term and new residents worry that gentrification may occur as demand for living in the city increases. The neighborhood community organization, the Fort Road Federation, partnered with the researchers to understand the housing needs of residents. The project assessed differences and similarities among the residents, comparing and contrasting their housing needs to ensure the stability of the neighborhood.

Title: Omnichannel‌ ‌Shopping for‌ ‌Retirees:‌ ‌Qualitative‌ ‌Evidence from the United States
Team Members: Alanna Norton, Associate Professor Hye-Young Kim (Retail Merchandising)

This research examines omnichannel shopping habits and preferences for retired consumers. This group is increasing demographically, and their needs should be analyzed to determine if they will continue to patron physical stores or increase their online spending and why. In-depth interviews were conducted with retired consumers ranging from 62–85 years of age.

Title: On-Body Sensing of Applied Force and Pressure
Team Members: Crystal Compton (Apparel Studies), Alireza Golgouneh (Electrical Engineering), Justin Barry (Mechanical Engineering), Rachel Davel (Product Design), Ellen Dupler (Electrical Engineering), Simon Ozbek (Human Factors and Ergonomics), Mary Ellen Berglund (Apparel Studies), Heidi Woelfle (Apparel Design), Assistant Professor Brad Holschuh (Apparel Design), Professor Lucy Dunne (Apparel Design)

A variety of wearable technology applications require information about forces and pressures exerted on the body, either by a device (e.g., to sense active wearing periods or provide feedback to a force-sensitive therapy) or by other objects/body parts (e.g., for bedsore prevention or force-based gait monitoring). However, typical force sensing mechanisms are often difficult to translate to the wearable environment, either because their form may exacerbate injury or discomfort to sensitive body areas, or because the geometry and mechanics of body tissues introduce error into the sensor response. The human body is composed of many different surface conditions that may affect accurate sensing. Here we consider the performance of a variety of force-sensitive transducing mechanisms and the effects of body-specific characteristics of surface curvature and surface compliance to better inform and understand the accuracy of wearable force sensing.

Title: Preventing Juvenile Incarceration
Team Members: Professor Julia W. Robinson (Architecture), Angela Cousins (Hennepin County Department of Corrections and Community Rehabilitation), Daniel Treinen (BWBR Architects), Alysha Price, Elizabeth Purtell, Architecture students in 5212 Studio 5

In fall 2018 and in 2019, affiliated with the University’s Research and Community Outreach-Engagement Center (UROC), students researched and proposed a variety of projects for at-risk youth and their families that address issues such as juvenile incarceration, mental health, trauma-based treatment, addiction, child care, job training, after-school activities, and transition to adulthood. This work responds to a national movement to deinstitutionalize juvenile prison/reform schools/residential treatment centers that are meant to serve the complex behavioral and mental health needs of youth. Initial investigation including site visits revealed that economically disadvantaged youth were treated as criminals, while others were given medical treatment for behavioral health problems.

Title: Remotely-Controllable, Dynamic Compression Garment for Novel Haptic Experiences
Team Members: Esther Foo (Human Factors and Ergonomics), J. Walter Lee (WTL), Crystal Compton (Apparel Studies), Justin Baker (WTL), Simon Ozbek (Human Factors and Ergonomics), Miles Priebe (Electrical Engineering), Mary Korlin-Downs (Product Design), Assistant Professor Brad Holschuh (Apparel Design)

The sense of touch is an important way for us to perceive and represent reality. One of these sensations that we experience ubiquitously is compression. The use of compression on the body offers advantages of resembling common human behaviors (e.g., a hug) and invoking a range of attention depending on compression features, while being less distracting than typical vibrotactile approaches. Compression as a form of haptic stimulus is used in medical interventions (e.g., compression stockings) and has the potential to be integrated into new research areas (e.g., immersive VR experiences, distributed notification mechanisms), yet we know very little about it. This broad research topic attempts to uncover how people experience and interpret compression stimulus on the body given varying compression inputs, applications, and contexts.

Title: A Social-Ecological Approach to Architecture and Planning
Team Members: Director Richard Graves (Center for Sustainable Building Research), Bonnie Keeler (Institute on the Environment), Maike Hamann (Institute on the Environment), Elizabeth Kutscke (Center for Sustainable Building Research), Chris Nootenboom (Institute on the Environment)

Sustainable design has failed to fundamentally transform the performance of the built environment in the most critical indicator: social-ecological impact. Design has focused on making systems more efficient, instead of redesigning the system to continually enhance natural processes and center the welfare of the people who live, work, and experience the built environment. Buildings, neighborhoods, and infrastructure must be reimagined using a social, ecological, and technological systems approach connecting the social needs of the community within the constraints of biophysical systems. We present an approach in the evolution of sustainable design, one that builds on green design and regenerative design, but advances a social-ecological design methodology—one that is sensitive to scale, adopts a systems approach, is future-oriented, and centers social needs in design.

Title: Stoking the Creative Fires: How Design Educators Encourage Creativity in Their Students
Team Members: Anne Brownfield Brown (Graphic Design)

How do graphic design educators help students develop their creativity? Multiple themes emerge through the author’s interviews with nine educators. All interviewees hold current faculty positions in U.S. design programs. The institutions they teach at range from well-known art colleges to private and public universities. The interviews were conducted by graphic design graduate student Anne Brown as part of a directed study course on creativity with Professor Brad Hokanson. The findings uncover a variety of approaches intended to encourage design students to bring their best creative work forward and, by extension, offer relevant practices other design educators can apply in their classrooms.

Title: Sustainable Post-Occupancy Evaluation
Team Members: Professor Abimbola Asojo (Interior Design), Associate Professor Emerita Caren Martin (Interior Design), Hoa Vo (Interior Design), Dr. Suyeon Bae (University of Missouri)

An interdisciplinary team from interior design and the Center for Sustainable Building Research developed a tool to inform sustainable design practices in state-funded buildings. The internet-based questionnaire, Sustainable Post-Occupancy Evaluation Survey (SPOES), provides both quantitative and qualitative analysis of building occupants’ satisfaction, health, and well-being via 12 indoor environmental quality (IEQ) categories. Since 2009, SPOES has provided business and building owners, architects, interior designers, and facility managers of over 60 state-funded workplace, classroom, and residence hall buildings IEQ scores of occupants’ satisfaction to help them better engage building occupants and bring employee health and well-being to the forefront of their practices.

Title: Toward Culturally Enriched Communities
Team Members: Professor Tasoulla Hadjiyanni (Interior Design)

This project shares the development of the CECdesign.com website. This website is an extension of a report developed in partnership with the Urban Land Institute MN (ULI MN) on research around Culturally Enriched Communities (CEC)—healthy and connected communities in which everyone can thrive. The study used interviews with organizations, institutions, policymakers, and elected officials around the State of Minnesota as well as Copenhagen, one of the world’s healthiest cities, to identify best practices and challenges in the creation of CEC. Findings lend depth to eight principles: Synergistic Communities, People-Centered Communities, Globally-Oriented Communities, Meaning-Making Communities, Relationship-Building Communities, Health-Supporting Communities, Capability-Building Communities, and Innovation-Driven Communities. The goal behind the website was to increase efficiency as communities can search by location as well as building type to identify potential best practices that can be implemented.

Title: Thermal Stimulus for Comfort and Experience: A Comparative Evaluation of Heating Strategies
Team Members: Md. Tahmidul Islam Molla (Apparel Studies), Eric Beaudette (Human Factors and Ergonomics), Kai Johnson (Apparel Design), Esther W Foo (Human Factors and Ergonomics), Kristine Johnson (Apparel Design, Bioproducts & Biosystems Engineering), Ellen Dupler (Electrical Engineering), Nika Gagliardi (Apparel Studies), Dr. Martin Halvey (University of Strathclyde), Professor Lucy Dunne (Apparel Design)

Thermal sensation as an interaction modality is not commonly used, but gaining interest and attention. Thermal interactions that occur in thermoneutral environments (e.g., everyday indoor environments) are of particular interest for interaction scenarios. However, thermal physiology and psychophysics are especially complex and nuanced in the thermoneutral zone, with significant variability between individuals. For system design, physiological indicators that may reflect perceived comfort are not well-understood, nor is the psycho-physiological effect of applying a thermal stimulus in different body areas. Here, we explore five alternative heating strategies, all of which have been shown in prior studies to affect change in body temperatures associated with comfort.

Title: Understanding Consumer Perception on Aesthetic Standards of Produce
Team Members: Associate Professor Barry Kudrowitz (Product Design), SunMin (May) Hwang (Human Factors & Ergonomics)

Every year, a third of all food, equivalent to 1.3 billion tons, is lost or wasted. While food loss occurs at various stages of the food chain, consumers and retailers are mainly accountable for food waste. One of the major reasons that stakeholders have identified is that fruits and produce go unsold due to their unattractive shapes and looks. Although such items are perfectly fine to consume, we as consumers tend to shy away from aesthetically displeasing produce. To prevent this erred cause from creating more waste in the future, it is essential that we understand the relationships between people’s perception, criteria, and degrees to which produce is deemed acceptable versus unacceptable. The research aims to obtain and evaluate quantifiable data of perceived values of aesthetically unattractive crops.

Title: Urban Morphology of the St. Paul Skyway System
Team Members: Professor Mike Christenson (Architecture), Erin Kindell (Architecture)

This research concerns the urban morphology of the St. Paul skyway system. It involves the use of advanced digital modeling and imaging to test the potential of the system as an “inhabitable map.”

Title: The Use of Scaffolded Feedback to Promote Students’ Creativity in a Lighting Design Studio
Team Members: Hoa Vo (Interior Design), Professor Abimbola Asojo (Interior Design)

Current literature in design education highlights the use of feedback to promote creativity, yet the results are inconclusive. Feedback is either effective or counterproductive depending on its content, relevancy (to students’ knowledge and skills), and delivery manner. It is important for design educators to use these criteria and scaffold/customize feedback to fit the individual needs of their students. This project, hence, provides initial results and implications for scaffolding feedback to promote creativity in a lighting design studio between 2015 and 2019.

Title: Visible Functional Grasp to Measure the Complete Hand
Team Members: Colleen Pokorny (Apparel Studies), Bethany Juhnke (Mechanical Engineering), Assistant Professor Linsey Griffin (Apparel Design)

Glove and tool manufacturers are limited by the available anthropometric hand data, often only using three measurements from a single hand position to inform their designs. However, the hand is dynamic, and products designed using limited measurements do not accurately reflect real-world usage. It is critical to develop more robust anthropometric sizing systems of the hand in functional positions so that designers and engineers to create innovative designs for diverse populations.

Title: Smart Wearable Systems to Support and Measure Movement in Children with Mobility Impairments
Team Members: Alireza Golgouneh (Electrical Engineering), Eric Beaudette (WTL), Heidi Woefle (Apparel Design), Amanda Redhouse (Virginia Tech), Bai Li (University of Delaware), Mark Jones (Virginia Tech), Tom Martin (Virginia Tech), Michelle Lobo (University of Delaware), Assistant Professor Brad Holschuh (Apparel Design), Professor Lucy Dunne (Apparel Design)

This project focuses on the development of wearable technologies to measure and assist upper-limb mobility in children with mobility impairments. Because mobility impairments in early life can have long-term effects on psychological as well as physical development, it is important both to help children overcome these impairments through assistive technologies and to be able to measure the effect of interventions in everyday movements over long periods of time. However, most assistive and sensing technologies are bulky and uncomfortable. The project team will develop soft, low-profile sensing and actuating technologies that look and feel like everyday clothing.

Title: Workshop Reflections: Inquiry by Design and Time, Designed
Team Members: Instructor Daniel Martin (Graphic Design)

This project featured a compilation on the key points and takeaways from two workshops at the Basel School of Design. The first workshop, titled Inquiry by Design, introduces a method of research in art and design called “Practice-led Iconic Research.” The second workshop was titled “Time, Designed,” and involves theory and practice of animated imagery, using custom-built software to create small typographic animations for video posters.