Oct. 15: Mark Haselkorn

2026 Research Speaker Series

Co-creating Digital Coordination Centers

Digital Coordination Centers enhance the ability of functional communities to share data and work collaboratively on complex operations, despite the barriers of disconnected systems, uncoordinated databases, and diverse practices. Co-creating and maintaining these coordination centers requires designers and developers to operate in the sweet (yet difficult) spot of HCDE—the space between desired business functions and effective technology capabilities. This two-part presentation first describes the complexities and conditions that stimulated the co-design, co-build, and co-implementation of one of these centers, and then explores organizational tensions and the changing technology environment that make future efforts to create digital coordination centers even more challenging—and rewarding.

About the presenter

Mark Haselkorn is a professor in the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering at the University of Washington. He is director of the College of Engineering’s Center on Collaborative Systems for Security, Safety & Regional Resilience (CoSSaR) and a longtime leader of projects that help government agencies and NGOs understand, develop, and deploy complex systems to increase collaboration and interoperability for information sharing and coordinated activities. 

Professor Haselkorn was the founding chair of what is now HCDE. From September 2024 to October 2025, he served as the founding director of the National Center for Safeguarding the Entire Community of the U.S. Research Ecosystem (SECURE), established through the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 and funded by the National Science Foundation. 

His current work includes the co-creation, with and for Sound Transit, of the Digital Unified Coordination Center (DUCC), which brings together infrastructure, processes, and policies to support coordinated operations and enhance service delivery for Seattle-area transit travelers.

Previously, Haselkorn led the Virtual Coordination Center for Multimodal Integrated Corridor Management Project (VCC), funded by the U.S. and Washington State departments of transportation. VCC deploys a cloud-based environment that enables regional transportation stakeholders to share a common working environment in support of coordinated mobility management.

 

 

Part of HCDE’s 2026–2027 annual theme, Public, exploring human-centered design and engineering in public life. Learn about the annual theme →