The Bring Back 6th Mobile Museum exhibition kicked off on May 15, 2022, during an outdoor street fest organized by Our Streets Minneapolis (OSM). Crafted by six Heritage Studies and Public History students, Jessie Merriam, Ayaan Natala, Jade Ryerson, Hibaa Roba, Angel Swann, and Carrisa Thomas, the exhibition shed light on the once-vibrant Black and Jewish neighborhood along 6th Avenue North that was bulldozed between the 1930s and 1950s to make way for the city’s first highway. 

As a playful opportunity to boost creative collaboration among design students, the Kusske Design Initiative (KDI) Cohort developed “Through-Line,” an interactive string installation that surveyed the design processes and learning styles of students at Ralph Rapson Hall and McNeal Hall.

In the fight against cancer, little things can make a huge difference. Cancer Care Foundation MN teamed up with Professor Lucy Dunne’s design class to redesign onesies for infants receiving cancer treatment at Children’s Minnesota. The result? A onesie with pockets for easy access to treatment ports, a small change that has made a big difference in care.

The College of Design is pleased to announce that 12 of its individuals and teams received funding from the University’s 2023 Imagine Fund. These grants support innovative research in the arts, humanities, and design fields. Design faculty and researchers will use the funds for historical investigation and analysis, community-based design, and experimental technology applications.

University of Minnesota students are hungry for interdisciplinary learning experiences that reflect contemporary design practice and tackle the complexity of design in the era of climate change. This was reflected in the unprecedented outpouring of interest in the U.S. Department of Energy’s 2023 Solar Decathlon Design Challenge. Hosted at the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), the decathlon invites college students from around the world to design high-performance net-zero energy buildings that simultaneously promote environmental sustainability and social equity.

Every year faculty, instructors, researchers, and students from across the College of Design present their research during the annual Research and Creative Scholarship Showcase. You can learn more about the 2023 presenters and their work in this year’s round-up.

Students in the Product Innovation Lab course partnered with Minnesota-based company Rockler Woodworking and Hardware to design tools and products that make crafting easier for makers and woodworkers with limited space.

Now in its tenth year, the Steelcase Next Design Competition is a national contest for undergraduate students hosted by Steelcase, Inc. This year’s competition was fierce, with more than 1,200 entrants and 77 design programs represented from across the U.S. and Canada. Despite the number of entries, the College of Design had two interior design students named semi-finalists: Addison Cameron and Sarah Olney!

On May 4 and 5, 2023, Landscape Architecture will host capstone presentations for the Master of Landscape Architecture Class of 2023. All presentations will be held in Rapson Hall, Room 225, and are open to the public. This year's guest reviewers are David Rubin, founding principal of DAVID RUBIN Land Collective, and Kelly Homan, assistant professor of landscape architecture at Auburn University.

Three product design projects were awarded grants as part of the MIN-CORPS MVP Challenge! MVP or "Minimum Viable Product" is a tool to show customers and stakeholders how an innovative idea could work, capture feedback, and bring a concept one step closer to reality.