About
The Design For ImpACCt Course Experience
History
The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Academic Leaders Network (ALN) Design For ImpACCt (DFI) is an interdisciplinary, interinstitutional project-based learning human-centered design course often offered as an internship experience. DFI was conceptualized, designed, and launched four years ago by Julia DeVoy (Boston College); Daniel Harding, Clemson University; Tsailu Liu, NC State; and Amanda Morris,Virginia Tech) to provide our students with an immersive interdisciplinary, interuniversity, intergenerational design thinking experience. During this internship course project, liberal arts students from Boston College, work with those from Virginia Tech College of Engineering, Clemson University Department of Architecture, and NC State Raleigh, Department of Graphic and Industrial Design within the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) School network.
The Course Structure
Students from each university enroll in a special learning /independent course at their home institution. Over the years, the founding faculty of DFI have fine tuned a structural pedagogy that is hybrid in nature and yielding rich experiential outcomes. It begins with all participating students meeting in-person to kick-off the semester, meet their teammates and understand the project details. This is followed by meeting weekly online as a large group for a design studio lectures and critique sessions with leadership faculty from all four institutions serving as principal reviewers. Students are instructed in creative design-driven thinking processes, principles of interdisciplinary teamwork, and interdisciplinary project management. The students meet for a second time in person in the middle of the semester to share, iterate and refine their design directions. The semester culminates with a final in-person summit where students gather to present their solutions to a jury of faculty.
Intercollegiate + Interdisplinary Approach Approach
Design for ImpACCt is more than a course—it’s a collaborative initiative that reshapes how students from multiple institutions and disciplines, who are unfamiliar with each other, come together and collectively design and respond to the pressing needs of society and the planet.
The Need for Interdisciplinary Collaboration: The traditional monoculture in higher education often restricts innovation and creative thought. By contrast, our approach encourages students to step beyond their academic confines, fostering an environment where interdisciplinary interaction is not just encouraged—it’s essential.
Our Distinctive Approach: Students across the ACC participate in teams that tackle design challenges throughout a semester-long project offered in a hybrid format. There are three in-person touch points through out the semester facilitated by accomplished faculty. The teams undergo rigorous training in design thinking and project management, collaborative working while also engaging in critical real-world application. Each phase of the project—from ideation to execution—is supported by a blend of individual study and collective endeavor, mirroring the collaborative nature of the professional world.
Instructors
Boston College
Liberal Arts
Julia DeVoy
Associate Dean of the Lynch School of Education and Human Development
Sunand Bhattacharya
Associate Vice Provost for Design and Innovation Strategies
Dean Julia DeVoy, Ph.D., MTS, MBA an applied psychologist and entrepreneur, has been involved in social impact, social-entrepreneur businesses, design-thinking, and social justice work, both nationally and internationally since 1989. Dr. DeVoy, who earned a B.A. from St. Lawrence University, an M.T.S. from Harvard University, and an M.B.A. from Oxford University, in addition to her Ph.D. in Applied Developmental Psychology from Boston College, has been affiliated with BC since 1993.
Sunand Bhattacharya
Associate Vice Provost for Design and Innovation Strategies
Professor Sunand Bhattacharya is a learning architect, design educator, and an industrial designer; Sunand helped spearhead the design and development of BC's human-centered engineering program. He is focused on initiatives that will help foster a culture of collaborative innovation across BC by using design-driven methodologies to address real-world challenges.
Prof. Bhattacharya has lent his experience to both industry and academia. Outside of his work at Boston College, Prof. Bhattacharya has worked for Franklin Olin College, the Massachussetts College of Art and Design, and the Waltham school district. Additionally, Prof. Bhattacharya worked for Autodesk and served as the principal and co-founder of Arjuna Learning Designs LLC.
Clemson University
Architecture
Dan Harding
Director, Community Research and Design Center (CR+DC) and Professor of Architecture
Chloe Voltaire
Lecturer at Clemson University
Dan Harding is a Professor of Architecture and Community Design+Build and serves as the director of the Community Research and Design Center (CR+DC) and the Architecture + communityBUILD graduate certificate program (A+cB) striving to ensure that South Carolina communities intently embrace the social, economic, and environmental pillars of sustainability. In 2013, DesignIntelligence named Harding as one of the thirty most influential design educators in the country, citing the impact of his community-centric work.
Chloe is a Lecturer in the School of Architecture at Clemson University. She graduated with a B.S in Architecture from the University of Virginia and a Master of Architecture Degree from Clemson University. She has experience in both Architecture, as a designer and Construction, in preconstruction management.
NC State University
Industrial Design
Kathryn Wozniak
Assistant Teaching Professor of Industrial Design
Kathryn is an industrial designer and Assistant Teaching Professor of Industrial Design at NC State University. Her professional background as a designer and particularly, her experience managing projects overseas, influenced her later transition to education.
She is interested in how human-centered design can impact several key areas: co-designing with people with disabilities, sustainability of products, notably through a circular economy, and generative AI's upset and influence over the design process.
At NC State, Wozniak teaches courses in design for disabilities, digital techniques, social innovation, circular economy, and various hands-on corporate sponsored design studios. She is teaching two new Design Thinking courses in 2024, for SKEMA Business School's International Marketing and Business Development program and for NC State's Continuing and Lifelong Education program.
She is more than her work, and so are all of you!
Virginia Tech University
Engineering
David Gray
Assistant Professor and Assistant Department Head for Undergraduate Programs in the Engineering Education Department
Dr. Gray's research focuses on disciplinary identity formation and the development and administration of curricular and extracurricular interdisciplinary project based learning programs.