The Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering (HCDE) is one of ten departments in the College of Engineering, with Bachelor's, Master's, and PhD degree programs. Its mission is to advance systems and technologies for people and communities to create accessible, sustainable, and prosperous futures. Putting people first, HCDE students and faculty research, design, and engineer interactions between humans and technology. HCDE faculty and students are advancing design knowledge by using innovative techniques to study human activity and then translating that knowledge into meaningful information and system designs.
Facilities
HCDE is located in Sieg Hall on UW’s Seattle Campus. Sieg contains the HCDE main office as well as faculty and staff offices, shared faculty research labs and a department lounge, as well as two large primary conference rooms and two smaller meeting rooms, and shared departmental labs. The main HCDE conference rooms are available to HCDE faculty and staff for meetings related to HCDE projects.
HCDE has a robust research agenda, with faculty running research labs and centers. The Virtual Reality Lab, the Make Lab, and the Design Lab comprise HCDE's Educational Labs (Ed Labs), shared spaces to be used by HCDE students and faculty for teaching, learning, and research activities.
- Make Lab: contains tools and materials for hard prototyping (drill press, soldering, as well as many other tools and parts) on movable tool benches that can be ported to classrooms, and is available by appointment.
- Design Lab: includes movable tables and chairs of different sizes and kinds, wall-mounted and movable white boards, and movable carts with an assortment of prototyping supplies. The space accommodates up to 40 people and features ceiling-mounted projectors, screens, speakers, and whiteboard walls. The lab supports highly collaborative work of many different forms, depending on the specific phase of a project (e.g., brainstorming sessions, design meetings, group discussions, prototyping, presentations, exhibits). It also supports courses and workshops employing project-based models for teaching and learning.
Computing Resources
Standard computer facilities and common computing services such as internet access and printing (including 3D printing) are available to members of research teams through facilities available across the UW campus. HCDE employs a Computing Manager who provides dedicated IT support to faculty research endeavors and the department. Additionally, the department maintains a library of computing equipment available for checkout. This includes loaner laptops, cameras and microphones to support hybrid meetings, and cameras, microphones, and other tools to support user research in the field.
Offices
PIs, Co-PIs, postdoctoral researchers, and graduate student RAs working on projects are provided with standard office space and basic services such as telephones, internet access, and mail service.
Administrative Support
HCDE makes available appropriate administrative, financial and computing support staff resources to assist PIs, senior personnel, postdoctoral researchers, and graduate students involved in research.