Design Notes

I’ve started a new series on berkeleyByte called Design Notes. The series profiles faculty and students leading the design movement at UC Berkeley, as well as provides updates on the progress of new and upcoming design initiatives on campus.

My first article profiled Sara Beckman, a senior lecturer at Haas and the Chief Learning Officer of the Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation. Here’s an excerpt from that article:

“The first thing I noticed when I walked in to Sara Beckman’s office in Etcheverry Hall was the giant poster on the wall behind her desk proclaiming USERS PEOPLE. As Chief Learning Officer of the new Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation, Beckman makes people her top priority. She heads the efforts to develop the new curriculum surrounding the upcoming Minor in Design Innovation and the Jacobs Institute, two separate yet intertwined initiatives that are bringing “design thinking” to the Berkeley campus.”

Make sure to read the full article on Sara.

Just yesterday, my second profile was published. It features Björn Hartmann, an assistant professor in the EECS Department and the Chief Technology Officer of the Jacobs Institute. Here’s an excerpt for this article:

“To quote Herbert Simon, the Nobel laureate who wrote the book Sciences of the Artificial: “Everyone designs who devises courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones.” This positive outlook overcame a younger Björn Hartmann when, as a musician and DJ in early 2000s Europe after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, he was inspired by the changing landscape of electronic music to attend Stanford University for a Ph.D. in human-computer interaction.”

Make sure to read the full article on Björn.

I’ll update this blog post in the future when more articles are published so that it can act as a “master post” for the Design Notes series.