Our faculty conduct groundbreaking research, engage in creative scholarship, and share their expertise with a wide variety of communities.
From examining alternatives to juvenile incarceration to improving the fit of surgical gloves, College of Design faculty are working on the forefront of design research and creative scholarship. Explore the depth and breadth of the research being conducted by our faculty at the Experts @ Minnesota webpage.
Recent Research Highlights
- The Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost announced the recipients of the 2020–2021 Imagine Fund Grants, including 12 College of Design faculty members.
- Professor Lucy Dunne and Associate Professor Brad Holschuh's (both Apparel Design) project, "Soft wearable systems to prevent and rehabilitate musculoskeletal injuries," has been selected for funding by CISCO SYSTEMS, INC. Other team members on this project include Assistant Professor Jessica Johnson (UMN Medical School) and Associate Professor Marc Tompkins (UMN Medical School).
- Professor Tom Fisher (MDC), along with Co-PIs Senior Research Fellow Mary Vogel (MDC), Assistant Professor Fernando Burga (Humphrey School of Public Affairs) and Associate Professor Alireza Khani (College of Science and Engineering), received a grant from the Minnesota Department of Transportation to partner with the City of Wabasha and its citizens, MnDOT, and local and regional private transit providers, in order to create a 21st-century rural community-based transit system that is an implementable prototype model that equitably and efficiently serves the mobility needs of rural community residents.
- Professor Mary Guzowski (Architecture), Assistant Professor Jessica Rossi-Mastracci (Landscape Architecture), and Professor Emilie Snell-Rood's (College of Biological Sciences) project "Agency, Directionality, and Function: Foundations for a Science of Purpose” was awarded a grant from the John Templeton Foundation.
- Professor Tasoulla Hadjiyanni (Interior Design) received an EDRA Achievement Award for her project "Landscapes of Hope."
- Assistant Professor Lauren Kim (Retail Merchandising) was selected for the 2021–2023 Grant-in-Aid of Research, Artistry, and Scholarship (GIA) Award.
- Professor Abimbola Asojo (Interior Design) and Senior Researcher Virajita Singh (CSBR) are now Fellows at the Institute on the Environment.
- Professor Abimbola Asojo (Interior Design) and Dr. Lesa Clarkson's (CEHD) project, "Bridging the Digital Divide in STEAM through an Immersive Maker Program for Underrepresented Students in North Minneapolis," received a grant from Best Buy.
College of Design Collaborative Research Grant Recipients
Congratulations to the three teams who received the $15,000 College of Design Collaborative Research Grants.
Developing a Systems Framework for Circular Design
PI: Lindsey Strange, Apparel Design
Co-PIs: Malini Srivastava, Architecture; Frances Trice, Graphic Design; Linsey Griffin, Apparel Design
Increasing the Energy Efficiency of Buildings Through On-Body Supplemental Heating: A Feasibility Analysis
PI: Rolf Jacobson, Center for Sustainable Building Research / Architecture
Co-PI: Lucy Dunne, Wearable Technology Lab Co-Director / Apparel Design
A Biophilic Approach to Net-Positive Design
PI: Mary Guzowski, Architecture
Co-PIs: Joe Favour, Landscape Architecture; Richard Graves, Center for Sustainable Building Research; Jessica Rossi-Mastracci, Landscape Architecture; Abimbola Asojo, Interior Design
