Department of Design Tech
Left: During the Fall 2022 Cornell Tech Open Studio, students Thanut Sakandaraseth (M.S. MDC '23), Kseniya Yerakhavets (M.Arch. '23), and Thomas Wallace '24 discuss their project, Automata Mangrove, with Jenny Sabin, Associate Professor of Architecture and Chair of the multicollege Department of Design Tech. Top right: Automata Mangrove (2022), detail. Bottom right: Xylo (2022) by Lucas Hitch (M.S. MDC '24), Ivania Rivera (M.S. MDC '24), and Ariana Rosario '24.
The new Department of Design Tech is a multicollege, transdisciplinary initiative pioneering innovation, research, and teaching on topics at the intersection of design and emerging technology that most greatly impact research, industry, and practice in a changing world.
Bridging expertise and catalyzing exploration, innovation, and collaboration in emerging areas, including design + interaction, design + materials, design + media, and design + environments, Design Tech is a generator of new modes, methods, and applications that redefine design practice and research.
Participating Cornell colleges: The College of Architecture, Art and Planning (AAP), Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science (Bowers CIS), Cornell Human Ecology (CHE), Cornell Engineering, and Cornell Tech in New York City.
Degree Programs
Master of Science, Design Technology (M.S. DT)
The M.S. in Design Technology is a two-year research and project-based degree offered jointly by AAP and Cornell Tech. Students pursue research in areas that bridge disciplines and domains with the aim of generating innovations across science and design for applications spanning digital tools, products, responsive materials, and the built environment.
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December 14, 2022
New Multicollege Department to Bridge Design and Technology
Design Tech, AAP's newest multicollege department, connects fields and faculty across five colleges to expand design education at Cornell. Architecture Associate Professor Jenny Sabin will serve as the department's inaugural chair.
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Monday, September 12, 2022
Best Designed By Doing: Radical Hybrid Thinking Across Disciplines
As part of a pilot collaboration between AAP and Cornell Tech, colleagues came together across disciplines to explore innovative ways of teaching and thinking about design and technology. Now, they are poised to take their ideas even further.
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Tuesday, April 25, 2023
Jenny E. Sabin: Transdisciplinary Design — Towards Adaptative Architecture
Hear a talk exploring how recent advances in computation, visualization, material intelligence, and fabrication technologies have begun to fundamentally alter how we design, construct, and make.
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Wednesday, March 22, 2023
Wendy Ju: Strangers Passing — On Public Interactions Between People and Autonomous Systems
Hear a discussion covering current research on human-robot and human-AV interaction, as well as attempts to capture regional differences and norm-enforcing behaviors.
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Monday, February 20, 2023
Heeju Terry Park: Fashion and Wearables
Attend a talk delivered by Associate Professor Heeju Park exploring fashion and wearables — the most intimate human interface and protection.
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September 20–October 25, 2022
Design Tech Fall 2022 Lecture Series
View this presentation by Jonah Brucker-Cohen, the final lecture in this university-wide series exploring design research, technological innovation, scholarship, and collaboration across disciplinary boundaries in science, engineering, and design.
