Kent State Design Innovation

Innovation starts with people. 🌍💡

This week, we had the pleasure of welcoming participants in the Fulbright Pre-Academic Program to the Design Innovation Hub for an introduction to Design Innovation.

Through our LEGO Duck Challenge and Superpowers activity, participants explored how creativity, collaboration, and diverse perspectives help teams tackle complex challenges. Together, we discovered that innovation isn't just about having great ideas—it's about understanding one another, embracing different strengths, and building solutions together.

A big thank you to the Gerald H. Read Center for International & Intercultural Education (Gerald Read Center for Intl Ed ) for partnering with us to welcome this incredible group of future scholars to Kent State. We wish them the very best as they begin their graduate studies across the United States!

🚀 Applications are now open for the 2026–2027 Elliot DI Student Fellows Cohort!

The Elliot DI Student Fellows Program brings together students from across Kent State University to tackle meaningful challenges, develop innovative solutions, and build skills that prepare them for future careers.

As a DI Fellow, you will:
✨ Collaborate with students from different majors
✨ Work on real-world projects with community, faculty, and industry partners
✨ Learn human-centered design, research, prototyping, and innovation methods
✨ Gain valuable leadership and teamwork experience
✨ Receive a stipend for your participation

Whether you're studying engineering, business, architecture, fashion, the arts, sciences, healthcare, education, or anything in between, the Elliot DI Student Fellows Program is designed for students who are curious, creative, and ready to make an impact.

📅 Applications are due July 31, 2026.
🔗 Apply today — link in bio.

Thank You, American Academy Students! 🇧🇷💙

This week, the Design Innovation Hub had the pleasure of welcoming an incredible group of students from Kent State University's American Academy in Brazil, a unique partnership between Kent State University and the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná (PUCPR) that gives students the opportunity to begin their Kent State education in Brazil before continuing their academic journey on our Kent Campus.

During their visit, students participated in our Collaborative Leadership for Positive Change workshop, an immersive, challenge-based experience grounded in the principles of Design Innovation. Working in interdisciplinary and intercultural teams, they explored how empathy, collaboration, creative problem-solving, rapid ideation, prototyping, storytelling, and iterative thinking can be used to address complex real-world challenges.

It was inspiring to watch this talented group embrace new ideas, challenge assumptions, and work together with curiosity, creativity, and enthusiasm. Thank you for sharing your perspectives, energy, and passion with us throughout the week—you made the experience just as meaningful for our team as we hope it was for you.

We wish you continued success as you pursue your studies, and we look forward to seeing many of you back at Kent State in the future.

Até logo! 🇧🇷

Thank you to all who joined us last week for another exciting Design Innovation Day! This annual event gives our community the opportunity to showcase their creative and innovative work as well as celebrate the end of a successful year collaborating with DI 🛠️

Wishing the community a wonderful summer! ☀️

DI Day is finally here! Join us for our 2026 Design Innovation Day Showcase & Celebration. Experience the creativity and collaboration driving innovation at Kent State, featuring hands-on exhibits, groundbreaking projects, and inspiring work from our DI community. Whether you're a student, faculty member, industry partner, or part of the community, this is your chance to connect, explore, and get inspired!

🗓️ May 1st from 3-6pm
📍 DI Theatre/Auditorium

For more information: https://www.di.kent.edu/Program/GetProgramDetails?courseId=2347fb49-046c-4c14-9445-ed4c7c2248cc

Join us for Innovations in Sustainable Textile Design Through Laser Technology, a hands-on workshop exploring how digital fabrication is reshaping the future of textiles.

Sessions: Tuesday, April 21 from 4 - 6 PM and Friday, April 24 from 11 AM - 1 PM

This session, facilitated by DI Creative-in-Residence Mimi Lemar, dives into how laser technology is making textile design cleaner, faster and more imaginative—reducing material waste while expanding creative possibilities.

Whether you’re a designer, educator or creative curious about sustainable practices, this workshop offers a fresh perspective on what’s possible when technology meets material innovation.
Come ready to experiment, learn and rethink how textiles are made!

Register: https://www.di.kent.edu/Program/GetProgramDetails?courseId=5bd5ff89-29ba-4312-876e-b97c5ca1b988

Step back 30,000 years and enter the world of Paleolithic cave art through Embodied Shadows and Light, an immersive exhibit and art lecture with Dr. Michelle Bebber. Using cutting-edge projection, you’ll feel the scale, atmosphere, and creative energy of early human life as never before, blurring the line between past and present, science and art.

🗓️ April 17th from 4-6pm
📍 DI Theatre/Auditorium

Learn more & register: https://www.di.kent.edu/Program/GetProgramDetails?courseId=85b566e1-9aa3-41fb-8049-26fdf22f95de

Join us for the final installment of The Quiet Holds Us, a story series exploring interiority through the voices of black immigrants. At this event, Dr. Amoaba Gooden reflects on the way her body holds life, produces life, and carries power across spaces. Through gesture, story and mindful attention, we’re invited into her world- a quiet archive of resilience, leadership and care that unfolds in every action.
🗓️April 16th from 6-8 PM
📍DI Theatre/Auditorium (DIH 219)
Learn more & register: https://www.di.kent.edu/Program/GetProgramDetails?courseId=5352afd1-fd13-4209-bc96-5be5678a2972.

Join us for Fix-It Kent and learn how to repair your everyday items with help from our volunteer experts! From torn jackets to broken clocks, this free hands-on event helps you bring your items back to life.

🗓️ April 15th from 4-7pm
📍 DI HUB, REACTOR Makerspace (Room 150)

Learn more & register: https://www.di.kent.edu/Program/GetProgramDetails?courseId=69d60f29-b1eb-482a-9347-299db4f8c4a7

Join us on April 3rd for Designing eHMI for AV-Pedestrian Interactions, a live prototype demonstration led by Elliot DI Faculty Fellows Raiful Hasan and Hadi Rahmati.

They will showcase the challenges of AV–pedestrian trust and introduce an adaptable, bidirectional external Human Machine Interface (eHMI) framework featuring a windshield-centered design. Attendees will observe participants interacting with the AV system via VR headset, with the experience simultaneously projected for the audience.

Register: https://www.di.kent.edu/Program/GetProgramDetails?courseId=c0726241-ee4a-4ee7-877c-009d3cf357e6