This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The research objective of this award is to develop methods for innovation in science and engineering. The research investigates how designers use heuristics, or cognitive strategies, to identify specific solutions in the creative process, and how team collaboration may use multiple heuristics across team members as a means to generate robust designs---designs that meet user needs despite variability in consumer preferences over different consumers and changes in consumer preferences/needs over time. The goal of this research program is to understand the cognitive heuristics that support creative, innovative, and robust designs. A combination of laboratory experiments and field studies will be used to maximize control and improve generalization to real world settings. Deliverables include a new methodology for studying and identifying cognitive heuristics in design teams, software to teach and facilitate the creation of optimal and robust product designs, and tested recommendations for effective innovation in the context of multidisciplinary design teams.
If successful, the results of this research will lead to a new methodology for the creation of novel and quality designs in engineering, science and industry. By identifying the heuristics used by experts, and facilitating the use of successful cognitive heuristics by novices, we will increase creativity and innovation in design as seen in science and engineering. This will have direct consequences for industry in the development of new products. Another direct application of these research findings is improved instructional techniques in engineering design that foster creativity and innovation. These pedagogical techniques can transfer to other types of professional training (e.g., social sciences, humanities), industry and educational settings such as K-12 and higher education, thus providing new approaches to encouraging and instilling creativity and innovation in design across an array of instructional settings.
