Student Research and Academic Activities

The ee lab offers rich opportunities for student research at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Past students working in our lab have included individuals from a range of disciplines including Industrial Design, Architecture, and Computer Science.

Completed Theses and Dissertations:

Camilo A.Vargas (Industrial Design Program) "Universal design of a future grocery retail checkstand." MS Thesis, 2008. Abstract and download

Committee Chair: Abir Mullick. Committee Members: Karen Milchus, Jon Sanford.

Xiaoyi Ye, (Industrial Design Program), "CNC machine design for wheelchair users: a case study of fadal vertical machining center 15." MS Thesis, July 2008. Abstract and download

Committee Members: Abir Mullick, Karen Milchus, Jon Sanford.

Clinton D.Cope (Industrial Design Program), "Development of a Concept Wheelchair for the Elderly." MS Thesis, 2006 Abstract and download

Committee Chair: Randy Bernard

Charlotte Frances Grant (Architecture Program), "Factors influencing the use of outdoor space by residents with dementia in long-term care facilities." PhD Diss., 1992. Abstract and download

Committee Chair: Jon Sanford

Academic Courses

Arch 4832/8832 and ID 4843/8900 — Universal Design in the Built Environment

Instructor: Jon Sanford

Universal Design in the Built Environment is an introduction to inclusive design with a particular focus on the implications of ability and dis-ability on usability of places, products and systems. This is a project-based, 3 credit hour field research and design course for undergraduate and graduate students to learn how to design for all individuals, regardless of ability. The focus is on the usability of spaces, buildings, objects, and interfaces based on human ability. The student will develop an understanding of human ability and its importance in defining both disability and usability. The student will also learn how to apply this knowledge through universal design in architecture, landscape architecture, graphic design, industrial design, interior design and interface design.

Specifically, this course will provide the student with:

Knowledge of human ability relevant to design problems in home, workplace and community environments;
An understanding of the limitations of accessible design, and differences between accessible and universal design;
Principles of universal design that enable usability and inclusion across all scales of design
Best practice examples of universal design;
Experience in creating universally designed spaces, buildings, objects, and interfaces.

Arch 4803/8803 — Contextured Fabricates: Innovation by Exhibition

Instructors: Arseni Zaitsev, Claudia Winegarden, Jon Sanford

This multidisciplinary 3 credit hour course brings Architecture, Industrial Design, LLC, and HCI together to create a universal design exhibit on sustainability for the American Museum of Paper Making at Ga Tech. Through the use of innovative physical and digital technologies, students will work in teams to see a project evolve from concept to a built interactive environment. The student work will be critically evaluated by the design (materiality, cost, fabrication, feasibility) and cross design representations medias. This course intends to directly integrate design conception into installation construction on a 1:1 scale. In particular, focus will direct itself onto a critical understanding of advances in universal design, computer–aided design (CAD) and computer–aided manufacturing (CAM).

COA 4801/8821 — Practicum in Housing for Healthy Aging

Instructor: Jon Sanford

This 3-hour course will provide design students with a hands-on practicum in assessing needs and developing design solutions to enable older adults age successfully in their own homes. Working in interdisciplinary teams, design and architecture students from COA will be paired occupational therapy (OT) field work students from Brenau University who will be working with Charlie Berstecher, who is a practicing OT. Conducted in conjunction with the assessment program provided by the Georgia Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities (NORC) Initiative to 6 local designated NORC communities, students will visit homes of actual clients to perform home assessments and design interventions. The interdisciplinary collaboration will provide students with the opportunity to learn from older adults about the environmental barriers that they face in their daily lives as well as from the disciplinary perspectives of each other.