Description:

In this new event series, we will explore the intersections between design and engineering, and spark conversations about the connections and opportunities that exist between these overlapping disciplines.

Third in the Series:

Join Segal Design Institute for the third talk in the “Design at the Intersections” series, featuring Wei Chen, chair and professor of mechanical engineering, and Noshir Contractor, Jane & William White Professor of Behavioral Sciences. In this talk, Chen and Contractor will discuss their view of design as a system that incorporates the people (designers and customers), the processes and methods designers use, the artifacts or outcomes of design, and the socio-technical environment in which design takes place. They will introduce their research journey of working across the disciplines of engineering and social sciences to use network modeling for understanding design complexity, and will also present data-driven network science as an effective approach for analyzing such complexity, to support product design decisions and assemble design teams. Specific examples will include the use of multidimensional network analysis and graph neural networks for understanding customer preferences and the use of social network approach to studying the design of teams.