Design for America of NYU

Our faculty advisor Prof. Anne-Laure Fayard received the Distinguished Teacher Award for 2017

DFA NYU is honored by the New York State Senate’s 20th Senate District

Passion

Design for America of NYU is founded on the passion and belief that we, the students of NYU want to use Human-Centered Design to tackle local social issues to develop solutions that have impact locally and globally.

Our students from different nationalities, academic interests, and vivid backgrounds, are united by the idea that collaboration will definitely bring about changes for the betterment.

As a Studio, we are part of a movement that tackles the most daunting issues using our abilities at the local level.

DFA NYU is a powerful platform to connect students from different schools and develop a community of socially mindful change makers. There are multitudes of opportunities for students to go outside of the classroom and put their learning into action, through social innovation and entrepreneurship. Students transform from thinkers to doers through collaboration and bringing ideas to life.

Team

Jason Charles

Jason Charles is a narrative designer from Brooklyn, New York who is currently a graduate student in the Integrated Digital Media program at the Tandon School of Engineering.As a member of the Design for America studio at NYU, he practices applying human-centered design principles to iterate on potential solutions for challenging problems. Currently, he’s developing his thesis around STEM learning, gamification and interactive storytelling. With a background in education and media arts, he aspires to share design thinking principles to answer challenging questions with students through Tandon’s Center for K-12 STEM Education programs.

Srishti Kush

Srishti is an Integrated Digital Media Graduate student at NYU Tandon School of Engineering. Prior to her masters she worked with start-ups in India and has background in Product management and development. She is keen on exploring how design thinking and technology can impact human lives. She is keen on working healthcare, spatial design and social causes.

Emma Hoffman

Emma is a senior at NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study where she is a member of the Dean’s Honor Society and is creating an interdisciplinary major she calls, “Urban Food Sustainability and Food Justice.” Before serving on NYU DFA’s Eboard, Emma co-led The NYU FREEdge project which aims to tackle interrelated issues of food waste and food insecurity on college campuses. As a traveler and an artist, she is passionate about learning from other cultures and integrating a cross-cultural perspective to enhance her work in social impact design. Emma believes wholeheartedly in the power of interdisciplinarity in the design process and hopes to make an impact in the fields of public health and the future of food security.

Michael Niamehr

Michael Niamehr is an electrical engineering undergrad at NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering. Michael’s interests in social impact and outreach have led him to latch strongly onto Human Centered Deisgn after his first DFA workshop. As an advocate of multidisciplinary teamwork and learning beyond one’s major, Michael is passionate about overcoming the obstacles associated with leading DFA’s cross-functional teams.

Ashley Tang

Ashley Siyu Tang is an undergraduate student in NYU majoring in Media, Communication and Culture and minoring in Anthropology. She’s passionate about social changes, culture studies, media and film. She believes the power of human-centered design in making positive changes in our community and in the world. As the team lead of The Homeless Period Project, she and her team are tackling the issue of homeless women’s access to hygiene products and facilities.

Faculty Advisor

Anne-Laure Fayard is Associate Professor in the Department of Technology Management and Innovation at NYU Tandon School of Engineering and affiliate faculty in the Department of Management and Organizations at NYU Stern School of Business. She is passionate about human-centered design and design thinking (which she researches, teaches and practices) and social innovation. Her other research interests include:collaboration, communication, culture, space and open innovation.

Spring 2018

Hakook: Reimagine the Housing Issue

OpenIDEO New York Chapter

Crimson Wave

S.S Columbia Project (2017-2018 term)

I am Your Protector (IAYP)

Our Values

Better together

Collectively, we come up with more ideas and create meaningful change

Make a change. Have an impact

It’s not only about being creative, but it’s also about being mindful and purposeful. It’s not only about coming up with ideas, it’s about implementing them.

It always starts with people

We design for social good by being focused on people’s and communities’ needs to make their lives better.

Never stop being curious

Ask why; listen to others; challenge your assumptions; wonder “what if” and iterate one more time!

Diversity is our richness

Our multiple perspectives allow us to come up with creative solutions to tackle multiple complex issues.