Institute of Design Summer Open House

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Join the Institute of Design for an Open House on Thursday, July 27 from 5:30–7:30 p.m. at 565 W. Adams Street, 7th floor. This summer Institute of Design students are tackling complex and impactful issues – from improving care for people with sickle cell disease to breaking down language barriers within the legal system.

Join us for an evening cocktail reception; short presentations featuring students and alumnus Sarah Ekblad, senior design researcher at IA Collaborative; and information on how you can join our graduate program. We welcome prospective students and the curious to learn more about the research projects IIT Institute of Design students and faculty have been exploring this summer including:

Communicating Legal Rights Across Languages

Every year across the United States, non-English speaking people are arrested and cannot understand the Miranda warning. This can result in the arrested person unknowingly waiving their rights. Students Moire Corcoran (MDes + MBA 2019) and Ignacio Martinez (MDes 2018) are leading a team of computer science and law students to create a solution for communicating legal rights in multiple languages.

Improving Sick Cell Care

The ISAAC project (Improving Sickle cell care in Adults and Adolescents in Chicago) focuses on improving care for those living with sickle cell anemia, a painful and exhausting disease. Sarah Braunstein (MDes 2018) is part of a design team working to encourage long-term care, promote the optimal use of the medication Hydroxyurea, and to find ways for patients to better manage acute pain episodes. This project is part of ID’s Center for Collaborative Healthcare Design.

The Cost of Pregnancy

Archana Belani (MDes 2018) and Sonia Lala (MDes 2019) are spending the summer developing a communication tool to facilitate cost-of-care conversations between clinicians and patients. Their primary goal is to improve the transparency of out-of-pocket costs likely to be incurred by pregnant women throughout their prenatal, delivery, and postpartum experiences. This project is also part of ID’s Center for Collaborative Healthcare Design.

Alumnus Sarah Ekblad, senior design researcher at IA Collaborative

Ekblad is a MDes + Foundation graduate from the class of 2014. She is currently a senior design researcher at IA Collaborative in Chicago, where she has worked since graduating from ID. Prior to ID Sarah received a BS in architectural studies from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Register here.