DI Faculty Fellows Program
The DI Faculty Fellows Program creates space and time for existing faculty members to devote some of their teaching, research, and scholarly focus to collaborative, cross-disciplinary projects and DI co-teaching experiences.
This six-week fellowship program, based in the Design Innovation Hub and generously supported through an endowed gift from John and Fonda Elliot, creates space and time for faculty members from ANY academic unit to engage in collaborative, cross or trans-disciplinary projects utilizing human-centered design and innovation strategies. While advancing their project collaborations, DI Faculty Fellows cohorts also engage in activities grounded in our “Design Innovation Toolkit” resulting in certification as a “Design Innovation Change Agent” upon completion of the program.
As part of this program, selected DI Faculty Fellows will:
- Engage in a series of facilitated explorations of the DI Toolkit.
- Develop a deeper understanding of the DI Ecosystem at Kent State.
- Grow their collaborative muscles and techniques through group activities and experiences.
- Connect with other DI Faculty Fellows to share their project ideas and provide guidance.
- Utilize the DI Hub’s maker tools and resources to prototype their projects.
- Present their final projects as part of DI’s annual DI Day Celebration and Expo.
- Develop a lecture/workshop/exhibit in support of intersectional innovation strategies.
Following the summer program, DI Faculty Fellows continue to serve as advocates and may be asked to participate in leadership and decision-making activities in support of the initiative. All selected DI Faculty Fellows will be expected, in partnership with the DI staff team, to offer at least one workshop, exhibition, lecture, or other challenge-based innovation experience during the academic year following their summer experience.
For more information, please contact J.R. Campbell, Executive Director for the Design Innovation Initiative at jrcamp@kent.edu. You may also contact us at 330-672-0192 or di@kent.edu.
Information for Applicants
DI Faculty Fellows Cohorts
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2025 Faculty Fellows Cohort
Michelle Bebber
Assistant Professor, CAS, Anthropology
Michelle's project, Visualizing the Past via Bodies in Motion: Reconstructing Paleolithic Art Through Immersive Technology, reconstructs the embodied experience of creating Paleolithic cave art using immersive technology, motion capture, and sensory-rich simulations. By combining archaeology, biomechanics, digital media, and the arts, it enables participants to physically engage with the spatial and gestural realities of ancient artistic practices. Utilizing Kent State’s Blank_Lab and XR_Collaboratory, the project both advances research into human creativity and evolution and offers compelling public and educational experiences. Through embodied re-enactments and biomechanical analysis, it seeks to generate new insights into the origins of aesthetic expression and connect modern audiences with ancient human experiences.
Deepshikha Bhati
Lecturer, Stark Campus, CAS, Computer Science
Deepshikha's project, Interpretable Generative AI for Education and Creative Industries, explores how explainable AI (XAI) can enhance transparency, trust, and ethical accountability in generative AI systems used across creative and educational fields. By integrating Layer-wise Relevance Propagation (LRP) into image generation pipelines like Stable Diffusion, we aim to demystify the “black box” of AI. Through interactive, web-based tools, users—including educators, students, and designers—will be able to visualize how input prompts shape AI outputs.
Kayon Hall
Assistant Professor, EHHS, Higher Education Administration and Student Affairs
Kayon's project, The Quiet Holds Us: A Sensory Archive of Black Immigrant Life, is an interdisciplinary, multimedia project that reimagines Black immigrant life beyond narratives of spectacle and survival. Drawing on theories of quiet and wake work (Quashie, Sharpe), it centers joy, rest, and interiority through a sensory archive built with photography, sound design, and community storytelling. Using the DI Hub’s Blank_Lab and immersive technologies, the project will create a traveling art exhibit and collaborative archive that honors lived experience and challenges extractive, trauma-centered representations of Blackness. Rooted in counter-storytelling and Critical Race Theory, it invites audiences to feel and witness Black life through slowness, memory, and intimate joy—advancing a new vision for multimodal scholarship and public humanities.
Raiful Hasan
Assistant Professor, CAS, Computer Science
Raiful and Hadi Rahmati's project aims to develop a reciprocal, adaptive external Human–Machine Interface (eHMI) for autonomous vehicles, tailored to the diverse needs of pedestrians, including those who are distracted, disabled, or sensory impaired. Drawing on Roman Jakobson’s communication theory, the system enables two-way, multi-modal interactions—responding to pedestrian feedback and adapting cues based on individual context. The team plans to simulate pedestrian–AV encounters using immersive environments, leveraging volumetric capture and virtual vehicle models to evaluate trust, inclusivity, and adaptability. The ultimate goal is to create an equitable, human-centered eHMI that enhances urban mobility and fosters social trust in autonomous systems.
Hadi Rahmati
Assistant Professor, CCI, Visual Communication Design
Hadi and Raiful Hasan's project aims to develop a reciprocal, adaptive external Human–Machine Interface (eHMI) for autonomous vehicles, tailored to the diverse needs of pedestrians, including those who are distracted, disabled, or sensory impaired. Drawing on Roman Jakobson’s communication theory, the system enables two-way, multi-modal interactions—responding to pedestrian feedback and adapting cues based on individual context. The team plans to simulate pedestrian–AV encounters using immersive environments, leveraging volumetric capture and virtual vehicle models to evaluate trust, inclusivity, and adaptability. The ultimate goal is to create an equitable, human-centered eHMI that enhances urban mobility and fosters social trust in autonomous systems.
David Silva
Assistant Professor, CCI, Communication Studies & EMAT
David's project aims to transform Kent State’s DI Hub into a regional leader in scalable AR/VR training solutions by standardizing processes for developing immersive training materials across industries. While the university already possesses advanced 3D scanning and modeling technologies, current AR/VR initiatives remain isolated and industry-specific. By leveraging the XR_Collaboratory, DepthKit equipment, and faculty expertise in data design and user experience, this initiative will create a replicable pipeline for building cost-effective, high-impact training tools. A pilot collaboration with Crystal Diagnostics will demonstrate how immersive simulations can reduce training time and eliminate costly logistical barriers for biotech start-ups, while also enhancing workforce readiness for students.
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2023-2024 Faculty Fellows Cohort
Bradley Morris
Professor, EHHS, Learning Sciences and Educational Psychology
Bradley’s project was to develop a multi-disciplinary undergraduate course that integrates science and culture through cooking. Cooking is the original makerspace and a true human universal. Cooking provides a unique opportunity to illustrate real-world applications of science (e.g., sugars and proteins combine to produce the tasty browning effects in dishes like French Toast) as well as the cultural traditions conveyed by foods (e.g., Rabanadas is a variation on French Toast served around Christmas time in Brazil).
Claudia Gomez
Associate Professor, Stark Campus, ACCBE, Management and Information Systems
Claudia worked on developing a Human Resource Management course centered around Design Thinking and the use of AI and Low-Code No-Code (LCNC) tools. The course will consist of a module focused on learning design thinking to solve HR problems in the workplace and a module focused on AI and LCNC tools to solve business problems. As the main project of the class, students will identify an HR related business problem for an organization of their choice and use Design Thinking to solve this problem.
David Foster
Associate Professor, CCI, Media & Digital Journalism
David’s project focused on integrating artificial intelligence and its capabilities for image creation into traditional photography classes. Earlier in the semester, he conducted an AI challenge workshop “Pixel Quest” aimed at educating students about the creative possibilities and ethical considerations of AI in visual storytelling. His project explored the intersections of technology and creativity, emphasizing prompt engineering for various AI platforms. Join us for a virtual gallery in the Blank_Lab, featuring a curated selection of AI-generated artworks created by students during the workshop and Visual Storytelling class. The exhibition will also highlight prompt engineering basics.
Deepraj Mukherjee
Professor, ACCBE, Economics
Deppraj worked on developing pedagogical strategies and educational materials for the Business Sustainability Grand Challenge course, scheduled for launch in the academic year 2024-2025. Embracing an interdisciplinary approach, the course will be open to senior and graduate students across diverse disciplines. The aim is to seek recognition for the course as an elective within the Sustainability Minor program offered by the College of Aeronautics and Engineering.
Gargi Bhaduri
Associate Professor, COA, Fashion Design & Merchandising
The goal of Gargi’s project was to collaborate across disciplines to create innovative ways to empower and educate community members to make environmentally, socially, and commercially-conscious choices for the future. We developed a DI grand challenge course with local businesses and communities as partners and explored how businesses and consumers can co-exist with sustainability.
Joanne Caniglia
Professor, EHHS, Teaching, Learning & Curriculum Studies
Joanne worked on the “Making Math Visual” project to create math manipulatives with makerspace materials to support children’s understanding of mathematics. Pre-service teachers created files within design space demonstrating the value of learning mathematics through the creation of files that would produce materials. With support from the Child Development Center and Mason CLC in Akron, a Math Adventure was created to make mathematics enjoyable while helping children understand important skills. Finally, the Kent State-University of Rwanda Partnership led to creating math materials for rural schools so children can visualize mathematics.
Koon-Hwee Kan
Associate Professor, COA, Art Education
In an increasingly divisive, confrontational, and deglobalized world on a vulnerable and overly populated planet where essential natural resources are unevenly distributed and become scarcer as exploitation continues, basic humanity is often threatened. Peace, equanimity, and an ecological consciousness are urgently needed to sustain and support the natural balance of the planet. This pilot study examined how (1) art history can illuminate social, political, and environmental crises in premodern and modern East Asia and (2) making-focused art education can convey the profound influence these crises have had in shaping identities, histories, and cultures.
Loubna Bilali
Associate Professor, CAS, Modern & Classical Languages
Loubna’s project aims at the development of a multidisciplinary course that follows the design innovation practices and presents students with the opportunity to examine the design principles and development of digital content meant for the global market, to design an app following the product development lifecycle and localize its digital ecosystem. The course addresses the complexities, challenges, and opportunities that apps design and localization have created and their impact on the global market. Ultimately, the course sheds light on how a given product moves from inception in a U.S. context to be used internationally with a new and often revamped identity.
Pinyan Zhu
Assistant Professor, COA, Art Education & Studio Art
In an increasingly divisive, confrontational, and deglobalized world on a vulnerable and overly populated planet where essential natural resources are unevenly distributed and become scarcer as exploitation continues, basic humanity is often threatened. Peace, equanimity, and an ecological consciousness are urgently needed to sustain and support the natural balance of the planet. This pilot study examined how (1) art history can illuminate social, political, and environmental crises in premodern and modern East Asia and (2) making-focused art education can convey the profound influence these crises have had in shaping identities, histories, and cultures.
Qunxing Ding
Associate Professor, East Liverpool Campus, Biological Sciences
Environmental issues have caught great attention worldwide and the increased costs of energy are one concern to the industry, agriculture, and every resident. Qunxing’s project focuses on small-scale biogas production with biological waste. The proposed targets are the design and production of the small-scale bioreactor; inoculation of methane-synthesis bacteria strains; initiation of biogas production; analysis of biogas constituents; and the evaluation of the whole process, with future improvement and possible application.
Renee Roll
Associate Professor, COA, School of Art
This year, Renée worked to evaluate the Introduction to Design Innovation course for inclusion into the Kent Core and to promote the course as an interdisciplinarity course co-taught by faculty from humanities fields in our Kent Community. Through this research, she hoped to identify new ways of communicating ideas through designed objects and to create a space for discourse beyond a specific problem and/or design solution. In evaluating the Intro to DI curriculum, she found more alignment with social science disciplines and learning outcomes, as opposed to humanities outcomes. This alignment may prove fruitful in meshing the DI Innovation curriculum within the general education program.
Susan Sainato
Professor, CAS, English
Susan and Dr. Joanne Caniglia co-taught the Intro to Design Innovation course in Fall 2023. Teaching this dynamic course together and experiencing how theory and practice overlap opened up exciting possibilities for future work. Susie will showcase modules that visualize how one might integrate the DI process into content heavy courses. She believes that such integrations will increase student engagement in our courses while also providing students with a flexible learning process that echoes what many of the top businesses are working with today.
Vaneet Kaur
Assistant Professor, Stark Campus, ACCBE, Department of Management
The prime objective of Vaneet’s DI Faculty Fellowship was to measure and evaluate the impact and efficacy of change efforts related to DI. She worked on developing a survey instrument to create a “Fearless Collaborator Profile” and identify the competencies that individuals need to develop collaborative innovation solutions. After collecting data from over 200 respondents, composed of DI collaborators and the Kent State Community members, she has been able to develop a 13-tem scale that successfully identifies the competencies that individuals need to be a fearless collaborator. She will be showcasing the survey instrument and results of statistical analysis.
Will Kalkhoff
Professor, CAS, Sociology
Throughout the year, Dr. Kalkhoff worked with his team from the Cheryl Swinehart Dariushnia (VR) Lab to develop a virtual reality simulation with artificial intelligence-based characters. With an eye on enhancing law enforcement scenario-based training, in particular, we developed a prototype of a virtual reality encounter where users can interact with two AI-based characters in a detailed bar/pool hall: J.R. Campbell’s evil twin, Bad J.R., who is highly sarcastic and hopelessly obstinate, and a frustrated bartender named Big Earl who just wants him to leave. We invite attendees to drop by our exhibit, learn more about it, and try their hand at getting Bad J.R. to leave the bar. Good luck!.
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2022-2023 Faculty Fellows Cohort
Bill Willoughby
Associate Professor, College of Architecture and Environmental Design
Bill Willoughby engaged in a creative practice during his time as a DI Faculty Fellow, using various tools in the DI Hub workspace to explore and fabricate “Spaces for Study.” Studying as a practice used to be (and perhaps still is) a behavior with spatial and temporal dimension. We can trace spaces of study back to monastic practices: small devotional spaces or “cells” set aside for religious inquiry and scholarship. The space of study was famously depicted in Antonello da Messina’s painting, “St. Jerome in His Study” (circa 1475). Willoughby’s questions asked “where and how is the habit of study practiced today?” Is it reflected in our smartphone handset, our laptop, or our headphones? Is it now present in a “third place” such as a coffee shop, subway commute, or other informal spaces where ubiquitous computing overlays space and a person can be solitary, yet in public, and simultaneously fall into a pocket of time for inquiry, reflection, learning, or expressing on a device? To demonstrate the outcomes of both his process-thinking/reflection and examples of solutions, Willoughby created and installed an exhibition in the DI Gallery titled “Studies of Study.”
Gerrey Noh
Assistant Professor, School of Music
Gerrey Noh developed a project exploration titled “Creating Project-Based Collaborative Learning Opportunities through Immersive Art and Music.” Students under Noh’s direction engaged in a production of an immersive art and music installation. The fusion of visual art and animation, creative writing, electronic/acoustic music production, and media technology was at the heart of this project. Project-based learning will encourage students to seek creative inspirations from outside of their major areas and provide learning opportunities not available through the traditional curriculum. As part of the project Noh acquired two free pianos and delivered them to the industrial studio in the DI HUB. The students were then instructed to completely disassemble the pianos with the rule that they had to use every part of the piano to create new unique instruments (sound-makers) by applying the use of the tools in the makerspaces. Then the students worked in teams to compose new music and approaches to ‘scoring’ the compositions, which they then performed to public audiences at the end of the academic year.
Karen Mascolo
Associate Professor, College of Nursing
Karen Mascolo brought an evidence-based practice (EBP) project intended to prevent, address and mitigate incivility and bullying in the health care environment to incorporate into the Design Innovation framework. She researched and developed a virtual interactive training experience that allows students to experience challenging incivility scenarios in health care environments and practice making good decisions as to how they might respond under the high-stress situations endemic in hospitals and other care spaces.
Margarita Benitez
Professor, Fashion Design & Merchandising
Margarita Benitez engaged in research into developing virtual fashion experiences and environments (such as gaming, AR, NFTs/blockchain) via CLO 3D and Unreal, lens studio and created a timeline of these digital fashion projects that speak to sustainability concerns with the utilization of certain technologies. For example, there is quite an unsustainable footprint in virtual fashion / NFT development with the current proof of work process vs proof of stake process in cryptocurrency. Benitez utilized modeling/design software in combination with digital media presentation formats (such as lens studio or with the UNREAL software engine) to investigate new forms of creative expression and created a platform/competition for students to create digital garment concepts on avatars that were rendered into a virtual runway fashion show presented in the Blank_Lab of the DI HUB.
Molly Merryman
Associate Professor, School of Peace and Conflict Studies
Molly Merryman explored the notion of “queering space” as an applied and theoretical concept, to engage in sustained critical re-imaging of intellectual and cultural spaces and developed a system of design for queering museum exhibitions (physical and virtual). Studying and applying design concepts of queering space (which largely exist in the realm of product design and architecture) to enhance/challenge her own pedagogical approaches in peace studies informed the construction of museum space and future exhibitions of the UK national LGBTQ Museum, Queer Britain.
Sheryl Chatfield
Associate Professor, College of Public Health
Sheryl Chatfield developed an interdisciplinary graduate Design Innovation course that may be used as elective offerings in a variety of graduate degree programs. Access to additional interdisciplinary graduate level opportunities, including coursework in the Design Innovation discipline, can be highly beneficial to students pursuing degrees, minors, or certification in many academic disciplines. Students in public health who aspire to work in community-based, agency, government, or other practice settings to address complex and often global concerns will benefit from the emphasis on collaboration, innovation, empathy, and human-centered design which underlie DI courses and activities. For graduate students aspiring to pursue additional degrees or for those who wish to work in public or private sector jobs, having coursework and additional applied experience in integral design innovation processes will distinguish them from their peers who have focused solely on traditional, discipline-specific coursework.
