George gave his PhD seminar talk titled “Sustainable and Inclusive Design Thinking” (abstract below) and will be joining MIT as a postdoctoral fellow through their Engineering Excellence postdoctoral program!

ABSTRACT: Design thinking has become increasingly popular in academic, professional, and colloquial communities as a means to address complex problems. In an era where responses to global issues, such as the climate crisis, may have long lasting impressions on the human condition, it is important that the methods for solving these problems are setting solid foundations for future generations. This dissertation investigates sustainable and inclusive factors within the design thinking process based on the premise that these are foundational elements of complex problem solving. Holistically this dissertation studies how design thinking participants perceive success and satisfaction in a design thinking experience. Also, this work includes a particular focus on one of the more tangible stages of the design thinking process – prototyping – and uncovers opportunities to improve sustainable practices through drawing insights about the current vulnerabilities in the life cycles of prototyping and making. Key insights from this dissertation include significant struggles at the beginning of the design thinking experiences compared to the end of design thinking experiences (see Chapter 2 and Chapter 3) and suggests that demographic background plays a significant role in how design thinking participants perceive success (see Chapter 2). Notable takeaways about sustainable design thinking practices involve how the lack of transparency in the manufacturing and distribution of needed materials and equipment make it difficult for decision makers to prioritize sustainable, and even social, factors. Instead, cost, availability, and quality remain driving factors for decision making. In addition, the driving purpose for small scale fabrication spaces (such as community, project execution, or skill building) was revealed as an influential factor in sustainable behaviors throughout all stages of the life cycles of small scale fabrication spaces. Overall, future work that aims to reinforce sustainable and inclusive practices in design thinking would benefit from investigating how demographic context and motivation influence perceived value of, and observed behaviors within, design thinking processes.