We prepare human-centered engineers to design technology that serves people.
At the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering (HCDE), students learn to design with purpose by building systems, tools, and experiences that reflect human needs and values. They graduate ready to lead in rapidly evolving industries, equipped with the research and engineering skills to create change.
HCDE faculty collaborate with industry and public sector partners to build better systems and advance engineering for the public good. Their research creates hands-on opportunities for students to tackle real-world challenges and make meaningful impact.
As the digital world grows more complex, your support helps HCDE students and researchers imagine and build a more just, inclusive, and human future.
HCDE's Fundraising Priorities
These priorities represent key areas where you can make a difference given the emerging needs of the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering (HCDE) in the 2025–2026 academic year.
HCDE Student Emergency Support Fund
The Kientz & Patel HCDE Emergency Student Support Fund provides emergency financial support to HCDE students who have applied for a need-based grant.
HCDE Fund for Excellence
Fosters excellence and vision for students, faculty, and curricular programs in HCDE.
HCDE Excellence through Diversity Fund
Enhances diversity initiatives in HCDE with a focus on recruiting, mentoring, and partnership-building.
More Giving Opportunities
Endowments and named opportunities beginning at $25,000 are available. For more information about how you can support at this level or through estate planning, please contact Bri Vanderlinden, Director of Individual Giving, at bvande@uw.edu.
Additional HCDE Funds
HCDE Student Support
David Farkas Endowed Fund for Undergraduate Student Support
Supports HCDE undergraduate students with financial need.
Equity in Design Scholarship in HCDE
Supports undergraduates in HCDE.
HCDE Alumni Leadership Board Fund
Supports events and activities for HCDE alumni and current students
HCDE Outreach Fund
Provides support for HCDE outreach programming such as working with students in Kindergarten through 12th grade.
HCDE Undergraduate Scholarships
Supports scholarships to HCDE undergraduate students.
Judy Ramey Student Research Fund
Provides funding to assist students in research activities within HCDE.
Mary B. Coney Endowed Fund
Supports activities of students in HCDE, including travel to conferences and international workshops.
Michael and Sirina Berg Endowed Fund for Leadership in HCDE
Offsets the cost of tuition for undergraduate and/or graduate students in HCDE. Preference for recipients who have a demonstrated interest and play an active role in advancing the research and career interests of women in HCDE.
Neon Blackboard Term Fellowship in HCDE
Provides financial assistance to graduate students in HCDE, with a preference to support students with a demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, which may include participation in a student organization or school-sponsored program, such as the National Society of Black Engineers.
Social Action Term Fellowship in HCDE
Provides broad-based financial support to MS and PHD students in HCDE with a preference to support students whose research or area of study demonstrates a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in the field of design.
Spyridakis Leadership Fund
Creates the next generation of leaders in HCDE by building industry connections, supporting mentoring programs, and fostering student and faculty leadership through participation in regional, national, and international events.
William S. Croft Endowed Fund for Undergraduate Support
Provides broad-based direct financial support to undergraduate students with financial need in HCDE with a preference for students who are interested in flight controls and/or aeronautical design.
Faculty Research & Program Support
HCI and Accessibility Research Fund
Supports research in human-computer interaction and accessibility, including but not limited to accessible computing, mobile and wearable technologies, human-centered AI, and human-computer interaction, as well as future unknown technologies connected to human-computer interaction and accessibility.
HCDE-CAP
Supports the programs and activities of the HCDE Corporate Affiliates Program and facilitate the cultivation of relationships between industry and HCDE.
HCDE Development Fund
Advances the mission of HCDE within the College of Engineering.
HCDE Faculty Support Fund
Provides broad-based support to faculty in HCDE.
HCDE Tailoring Motivators
Supports the research currently being done by Professor Gary Hsieh for Tailoring Motivators.
Humanitarian Relief Systems
Supports interdisciplinary research and education in HCDE through the application of information and communication systems to aid international humanitarian relief.
James G. Prekeges Endowed Fund in the Department of Technical Communication
Supports HCDE in the College of Engineering.
James W. Souther Endowed Fund
Honors the co-founder of the Technical Communication Department, now the Department of HCDE. Enriches education by supporting travel to conferences, guest lectures, and special projects beyond the classroom.
Myron L. White Endowment Fund
Honors the co-founder of the Technical Communication Department, now the Department of HCDE. Enriches education by supporting travel to conferences, guest lectures, and special projects beyond the classroom.
Stephanie Rosenbaum and Judith Ramey Endowed Distinguished Lecture Series in Usability
Brings distinguished speakers/scholars working in the broad area of usability and user-centered design, as it is practiced in human centered design & engineering, technical communication, computer science, information science, information design, and related disciplines.
Your gift to the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering through the University of Washington Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, is tax deductible. The Foundation's Federal EIN is 94-3079432.
Are you an employee of Microsoft, Boeing, or Google?
Expand your gift to HCDE with your employee matching gift programs.
Support Spotlights
Here are examples of how UW HCDE alums and friends are giving back to support students and the next generation of design education.
Endowed Fellowship established by HCDE alumna Jill DeMarco
HCDE alumna Jill Demarco (MS TC ’96) and her husband, Rod Wentworth (DDS ’81), established an endowed fellowship in HCDE through their estate plans to provide financial support for HCDE undergraduate and graduate students. DeMarco wants future HCDE students to have the same good fortune she did when she went through the Technical Communication program.
HCDE Emergency Student Support Fund established by Prof. Julie Kientz
In recognition of the financial burden HCDE students face, HCDE Professor and Chair Julie Kientz and her husband, Professor Shwetak Patel, established an emergency student support fund to aid students facing near-term financial hardship. Kientz remembers her own moments of financial distress while in school and now wants to support students who may be in crisis situations .