Research – Daly Design and Engineering Education Research Group

Systems Thinking
Gear divided into thirds with each section a different color: orange, blue, and green. Arrows show overlap between sections.

Systems thinking involves recognition of and decision making related to constituent elements and parts of an engineering problem and how these constituent elements and parts are embedded in broader economic, sociocultural, and temporal contexts. Our work focuses on defining and assessing systems thinking across a range of expertise, and understanding how life, educational, and work experiences contribute to expertise.

For an example of this research, please visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozr3tMmk7Wk

Problem Exploration

Problem exploration includes restructuring problems so as to lead to more varied and creative solutions. This work focuses on uncovering strategies designers use to identify and refine problem definitions, and translating those strategies to design tools.

Prototyping in Front-End Design
A cartoon of a red lightbulb that is made of four puzzle pieces. The puzzle will be complete when the lower right quadrant piece is put in place.

A cartoon of a red lightbulb that is made of four puzzle pieces. The puzzle will be complete when the lower right quadrant piece is put in place.

Prototyping plays an essential role in the product design process, enabling designers to specify design problems, meet design needs, and verify design solutions. Our research focuses specifically on the role of prototyping in the design front-end, including how the prototypes in stakeholder engagement, design iteration, and team communication.

Socially Engaged Design Practices
A white circle on a black backgorund that has three lines breaking off and extending into the circle's center.

For a design to be successful, it must fit the context and culture for which it will be used. Our research focuses on design ethnography, stakeholder engagement, and other approaches to integrate culture and context into design decisions, including finding needs, developing engineering requirements, creating concepts, and evaluating possibilities. This work involves investigations of novice to more informed student pursuits in this area, as well as advanced practitioners, with the goal to create structures, processes, and tools to support the use of best practices in this area.

Innovations at Intersections
A Venn diagram with two circles. The left circle is yellow and says "Field #1"; the right circle is blue and says "Field #2"; the overlap area is green and there is an arrow point to it with the word "Innovation" next to it.

A Venn diagram with two circles. The left circle is yellow and says "Field #1"; the right circle is blue and says "Field #2"; the overlap area is green and there is an arrow point to it with the word "Innovation" next to it.

Innovations thrive at intersections, intersections of disciplines, experiences, perspectives, etc. We research the design of doctoral research of returning students, defined as those with engineering undergraduate degrees who work outside of academia for at least five years and come back to the academic setting to earn their PhDs. This research investigates returners’ experiences in the initiation and advancement of intersections of engineering academic perspectives with industry and government perspectives.

Ideation Flexibility

Ideation flexibility is the ability to ideate in both incremental and radical ways – or, more precisely, to ideate along a continuum of thinking between the two, depending on the needs of the problem. Our work is focused on understanding the relationship between engineers’ approaches to ideation and the types of outcomes they achieve as well as how components in the design process support or hinder flexibility in approach, specifically how one frames and explores the design problem and associated constraints, what design methods they use in the process, and how diverse the naturally preferred ideation approaches are within a design team.

Creative Process Pedagogy
Chalkboard with a clump of 13 small lightbulbs on the left side. Then there is an equal sign with one large lightbulb on the right side.

Chalkboard with a clump of 13 small lightbulbs on the left side. Then there is an equal sign with one large lightbulb on the right side.

Creativity is a skill that can be developed by all individuals. Our research examines and compares “best practices” for creative development both within engineering and across fields including the sciences, social sciences, education, and the arts. This allows us to chart the landscape of creative growth opportunities students can encounter, along with ways to support students as they develop their creative skills in these domains.

Tools for Divergent Thinking
Cartoon showing a person's thinking process. There is a blue thought cloud with three green circles in it and then more green circles outside the thought cloud with arrows leading to them. The words "Design Heuristics push you to think beyond your initial ideas" appears at the bottom of the image.

Cartoon showing a person's thinking process. There is a blue thought cloud with three green circles in it and then more green circles outside the thought cloud with arrows leading to them. The words "Design Heuristics push you to think beyond your initial ideas" appears at the bottom of the image.

Ideation is a crucial skill for all engineers. Engineers generate ideas to solve immediate problems and to support long-term solutions. Ideation is necessary throughout an entire design process but is most prominent in the front-end phases; one must ideate design problems and opportunities, solution alternatives, and pathways to successful implementation. We are investigating strategies and structures used for the generation of solutions as well as exploring design problems. We have developed the empirically-grounded Design Heuristics, a tool for supporting exploration of product design spaces, and are investigating its impact as well as heuristics in other design domains.

Systems Thinking Systems thinking involves recognition of and decision making related to constituent elements and parts of an engineering problem and how these constituent elements and parts are embedded in broader economic, sociocultural, and temporal contexts. Our work focuses on defining and assessing systems thinking across a range of expertise, and understanding how life, educational, and work experiences contribute to expertise. For an example of this research, please visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozr3tMmk7Wk	Problem Exploration Problem exploration includes restructuring problems so as to lead to more varied and creative solutions. This work focuses on uncovering strategies designers use to identify and refine problem definitions, and translating those strategies to design tools.	Prototyping in Front-End Design Prototyping plays an essential role in the product design process, enabling designers to specify design problems, meet design needs, and verify design solutions. Our research focuses specifically on the role of prototyping in the design front-end, including how the prototypes in stakeholder engagement, design iteration, and team communication.
Socially Engaged Design Practices For a design to be successful, it must fit the context and culture for which it will be used. Our research focuses on design ethnography, stakeholder engagement, and other approaches to integrate culture and context into design decisions, including finding needs, developing engineering requirements, creating concepts, and evaluating possibilities. This work involves investigations of novice to more informed student pursuits in this area, as well as advanced practitioners, with the goal to create structures, processes, and tools to support the use of best practices in this area.	Innovations at Intersections Innovations thrive at intersections, intersections of disciplines, experiences, perspectives, etc. We research the design of doctoral research of returning students, defined as those with engineering undergraduate degrees who work outside of academia for at least five years and come back to the academic setting to earn their PhDs. This research investigates returners’ experiences in the initiation and advancement of intersections of engineering academic perspectives with industry and government perspectives.	Ideation Flexibility Ideation flexibility is the ability to ideate in both incremental and radical ways – or, more precisely, to ideate along a continuum of thinking between the two, depending on the needs of the problem. Our work is focused on understanding the relationship between engineers’ approaches to ideation and the types of outcomes they achieve as well as how components in the design process support or hinder flexibility in approach, specifically how one frames and explores the design problem and associated constraints, what design methods they use in the process, and how diverse the naturally preferred ideation approaches are within a design team.
Creative Process Pedagogy Creativity is a skill that can be developed by all individuals. Our research examines and compares “best practices” for creative development both within engineering and across fields including the sciences, social sciences, education, and the arts. This allows us to chart the landscape of creative growth opportunities students can encounter, along with ways to support students as they develop their creative skills in these domains.	Tools for Divergent Thinking Ideation is a crucial skill for all engineers. Engineers generate ideas to solve immediate problems and to support long-term solutions. Ideation is necessary throughout an entire design process but is most prominent in the front-end phases; one must ideate design problems and opportunities, solution alternatives, and pathways to successful implementation. We are investigating strategies and structures used for the generation of solutions as well as exploring design problems. We have developed the empirically-grounded Design Heuristics, a tool for supporting exploration of product design spaces, and are investigating its impact as well as heuristics in other design domains.