DIS is a hands-on, creative design program that addresses real-world problems.  We offer one of the world's only design programs based in an STS department, providing deep insight into the human dimensions of design problems and solutions.  We specialize in designing for under-served communities, as well as in understanding social and environmental pitfalls to traditional, consumerist design practices.

The program revolves around a sequence of studio courses, where students work individually and in interdisciplinary teams to devise innovative design solutions.  The studio sequence is supplemented by a range of relevant social-science and humanities courses that explore the relationships among science, technology, and society.  The hallmark of DIS is integration:

• Integrating STS with design
• Integrating technical and social analysis with creative synthesis
• Integrating students from engineering, management, and the creative arts in the same program

DIS students become creative problem solvers, synthetic thinkers, and practiced public speakers.  The program prepares students for careers in diverse firms that prioritize innovation as well as for graduate programs in design, social sciences, engineering, and management.

DIS students learn:

• Creative, hands-on, real-world problem solving
• Concept sketching, visualization techniques, and prototyping
• Interdisciplinary teamwork
• The history of product design, marketing, and innovation
• About the positive and negative impacts of new technologies
• How to assess the environmental impact of new products and technologies

DIS students design projects:

• Minimizing construction waste by identifying points in the construction process where materials could be reduced, re-used, or recycled
• Teaching math, music, and programming to grade-schoolers using digital technologies in creative and culturally relevant ways
• Greening of major-league sports through re-design of equipment packaging and food-service delivery
• Enabling mobility of the elderly by using advanced materials in a revolutionary walker design
• Advancing cheese processing by rural Peruvian farmers using appropriate pasteurization technology
• Reducing errors in voting and vote counting by employing highly usable and transparent information technologies

Students who get a B.S. degree in Design, Innovation, and Society have many future job prospects, including work in design firms, on product development teams, and in firms that do market and design research. Our students have won an increasing number of prizes for their work, and some have started their own companies. Some students also go on to graduate programs in industrial design, management, and other fields. For a detailed list of our graduates and their job placements, please visit our alumni page. For a more detailed overview of the types of jobs that DIS graduates tend to get, please visit our DIS job placement page.

For additional information on our interdisciplinary Programs in Design and Innovation, contact Dean Nieusma, Director of PDI, at nieusma@rpi.edu.