About the Department
The 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 + interactions, 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 (Cornell Bowers), Cornell Human Ecology (CHE), Cornell Duffield College of Engineering, and Cornell Tech in New York City.
Degree Program
Inside the M.S. in Design Technology
Upcoming and Ongoing Events
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Jun 6–Aug 27
AAP Summer Exhibition 2026
Visit AAP this summer for a cross-departmental exhibition featuring student work from the 2025–26 academic year that showcases the college’s creative and critical practices.
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Aug 13–Dec 10
Graduate Admissions Fall 2026 Virtual Events
Join AAP Graduate Admissions this fall for a series of virtual information sessions designed to introduce prospective students to masters programs offered at AAP.
Stories Cornell-Developed Particles Supercharge Cancer Immunotherapy
Uli Wiesner, Professor in the departments of Materials Science and Engineering and Design Tech, collaborated on the study, which reports that the nanoparticles can reprogram the tumor microenvironment, transforming immune-resistant tumors into ones that respond far better to treatment.
Stories Students Show Off New Machines at Sciencenter Demo Day
Students in Professor of Information Science at Cornell Bowers and Design Tech faculty François Guimbretière’s spring Introduction to Rapid Prototyping and Physical Computing course shared their team projects at a community demonstration day on May 9.
Stories Underwater 3D Printing Could Transform Maritime Construction
Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Design Tech faculty Uli B. Wiesner and Architecture Professor and Design Tech Chair Jenny Sabin were part of the interdisciplinary group that collaborated on the research.
Stories
Redesigned Fire Gear Offers Potentially More Cooling, Less Toxicity
Associate Professor of Apparel Design in the College of Human Ecology (CHE) and Design Tech faculty Heeju Park and graduate students in his lab interviewed more than 50 firefighters as part of a yearlong project to develop more versatile firefighting gear.
Stories Extended Reality Tool Lets Dancers Analyze Movement
Professor of Information Science at Cornell Bowers and Design Tech faculty François Guimbretière coauthored a paper on the development of “DanXeReflect,” a tool that uses video and extended reality headsets to create an immersive environment for dancers to analyze and refine their movements.
Announcements Explore Fall ’26 Classes for Non-Majors at AAP
Expand your disciplinary boundaries and enroll in courses that cultivate connection and catalyze actionable research. Options range from fundamentals to deep dives across architecture, art, city and regional planning, real estate, and design technology.
In the Media Europe Has a Major Heat Problem and It’s Only Getting Worse
CNN — Associate Professor of Architecture Timur Dogan comments on how heat trapped inside buildings during European heat waves poses significant public health threats.
Paper Voxel Shader – An Efficient Shadow Calculation Approach For Urban Building Energy Modeling
Architecture and Design Tech Associate Professor Timur Dogan and Amber Su (B.Arch. ’25) introduce a voxel-based ray-tracing method that efficiently computes sunlit fractions for urban surfaces using point cloud or mesh data without the requirement for manual geometry simplification.
In the Media How Far Can Driverless Cars Take Us?
City Journal — Wendy Ju, Professor of Information Science at Cornell Tech and Design Tech faculty comments on the need to better model pedestrian behavior when designing interactions for automated vehicles.
Announcements PAMM Digital Art Commissions
Associate Professor of Design Tech at the Cornell College of Architecture, Art, and Planning and Cornell Tech Jose Sanchez has been named one of the winners of Pérez Art Museum Miami’s inaugural open call for digital art commissions.
Student Work
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Group Work
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![A grid showcasing 9 different angles of shadows being cast by complex 3D-printed sructures.]()
Group Work
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Group Work
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![A hand operating a rectangular device with buttons, rotationg knobs, and small cubic attachable pieces.]()
Group Work
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