Art Center College, 2009 - $22,500

This grant builds on the success of DesignMatters, an educational design program at Art Center College with a social impact focus. DesignMatters has an array of work under its belt, including human-centered research and partnerships with NGOs and development agencies. Under the hospices of DesignMatters and the Design Department at Art Center, a series of new courses, Creating Social Value and Pattern-Breaking Change Through Design, will engage students in service learning through pilot applications in rural communities throughout Guatemala. The courses will be taught by faculty within the Design department, as well as those from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Caltech, the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business’s Society and Business Lab, and the Universidad Rafael Landivar in Guatemala City. The courses will be offered as two consecutive companion courses. The first course will focus on immersing student and faculty teams in field-research, conceptual development, and early prototyping. The second course will build on the ideas from the first, and allow for further field-testing, business and product development, exploration of commercial viability, and implementation at the pilot stage in Guatemala.