Space exploration. Health solutions. Climate change. Scientists and engineers tackle these topics every day – and so do designers and artists.
“Artists and designers have a way of asking questions, expanding our imagination and exploring opportunities,” Herberger Institute Dean Steven J. Tepper has said. “Their ideas and methods provide a powerful lens to address critical issues facing our communities.”
From teaming with other ASU researchers to creating art, Herberger Institute faculty are working at the intersections of design, arts, science, health and more.
“Hearing loss is a very serious issue – it is a widespread and growing problem around the globe and affects people of all ages,” she said. “When we pay attention to our sonic environments, we notice that many of them are loud: busy restaurants, streets, sport arenas, etc. Even parks are affected by the sound of ground and air traffic. These loud environments as well as listening to loud music via headphones or earbuds have contributed to the rise of hearing loss – music students are not immune to it.”
Dean Bacalzo, assistant professor of industrial design in The Design School, joins principal investigator Floris Wardenaar, associate professor of nutrition in Health Solutions, for another project, which will look at the development of a hydration self-assessment system for student athletes. They aim to create a reliable, cost-effective urine color system for athletes to self-assess their hydration levels. Current methods for assessing hydration are cumbersome, inconvenient and non-standardized. Combining user-friendly design principles with field research will advance the use of this method to assess factors that affect athletic performance.
The third project to receive funding explores how to enhance health and well-being on the job. The team is led by Dosun Shin, associate professor of industrial design, and includes Arts, Media and Engineering faculty Assegid Kidane, Pavan Turaga and Todd Ingalls and Health Solutions’ Matthew Buman. Research studies associating sedentary behavior with numerous chronic physical ailments inspired a collaboration to create a new type of desk for employees whose work requires them to sit for prolonged periods. Embedded sensors will assess posture and sit-to-stand efficiency and will issue prompts to increase standing behavior. Users will get feedback about their movements through unobtrusive displays as well as light and sound cues.