PROTOTYPE BY DESIGN RESEARCH/FASHION
STUDENT NICOLE FELLER-JOHNSON

D.S. Nicholas (Dee)

Expert in equitable aging, health, and evidence-based design; creative coach and facilitator

Dee established the Drexel Design Research for Health lab for evidence-based design, interdisciplinary research, and scholarship, in 2013. She is a tenured Associate Professor and the Founding Director of the MS Design Research Program at Drexel University in Philadelphia. Dee holds a BARCH from Carnegie Mellon, an MFA from The University of the Arts, and is currently working towards her Social Science Ph.D. in Leadership and Change at Antioch University. Primarily concerned with the health-supportive possibilities within our environments, Dee’s work springs from her formative experiences as a “third culture kid” and MENA woman. With 25 years of practice and Higher Ed. Experience, including as a small business owner. Dee also co-holds two patents and collaborates with researchers and students from Design, STEM, and Health. As a professor, creative coach, and consultant, She specializes in two processes she has developed, “insightful design thinking” and “slow engagement”, both of which are based on design thinking and design-led strategy.

Based on over 20 years of scholarship and research, Dee believes there are three aspects to the Future of Design:

1. Research, and evidence, as the basis for all design decisions.

2. Equity, access, and climate as interconnected complex problems that are primary aspects of every design situation.

3. All designers must operate as servant leaders within their communities of work.

Her interdisciplinary research group, Drexel Design Research for Health (drdr4health), works to create and sustain health opportunities for urban underserved families and uses design thinking and design research to define, and solve complex issues in our current environment. The drdr4Health umbrella connects scholarship, teaching & service through topics such as aging in place, housing insecurity, biophilia for underserved populations, and risk in hospital environments.

KEYWORDS

healthy aging, health, and housing, collaboration, mentorship, urban housing, housing insecurity, food access, advanced manufacturing

for more info:

http://drexel.edu/westphal/about/directory/NicholasDiana/

 CV:

https://issuu.com/mouthoflowers/docs/_2022_cv_08_28_2023opt