The John & Fonda Elliot DI Faculty Fellows Event Series
Each year, faculty members in the John & Fonda Elliot Design Innovation Faculty Fellows program bring bold ideas to life—transforming their summer experiences into dynamic events for the entire campus community and beyond. From hands-on tech workshops and immersive exhibits to powerful storytelling and innovation challenges, the 2025–2026 John & Fonda Elliot DI Faculty Fellows Event Series showcases their work in action.
Explore this year’s programming below and discover how Elliot DI Faculty Fellows are shaping the future of innovation.
The Quiet Holds Us
with Kayon Hall, Ph.D.
March 20 and April 16 from 6-8 PM, DI Theatre/Auditorium
The Quiet Holds Us is a three-part story series featuring Black immigrant voices, exploring interiority, care, and the practices that make home possible. Across series sessions, participants are invited into quiet, attentive worlds shaped by memory, labor, embodiment, and strength.
Register
Designing eHMI for AV-Pedestrian Interactions
with Raiful Hasan & Hadi Rahmati
April 3, 2026 from 6-8 PM, Reactor Makerspace
This event will showcase the challenges of AV–pedestrian trust and introduce an adaptable, bidirectional external Human Machine Interface (eHMI) framework featuring a windshield-centered design. Early findings and dissemination outcomes will be presented, followed by a live prototype demonstration. Attendees will observe participants interacting with the AV system via VR headset, with the experience simultaneously projected for the audience.
Register
Digitizing Reality
with David Silva, Ph.D.
April 8 from 3:45-5 PM, REACTOR Makerspace
Digital avatars are commonly used across communication technology to bridge interpersonal distance and facilitate collaboration in digital environments. Avatars offer a unique ability to express oneself and creatively engage with digital media, but in performance and task-oriented situations, sometimes a real person’s likeness is necessary. Using volumetric video and the XR_Collaboratory in the DI Hub, this workshop will build on the processes to capture digital twins of real-world people and objects to bring them into virtual, immersive environments. Participants will engage with volumetric video, Depthkit, and Unity, but no prior experience is required.
Register
Embodied Shadows and Light
with Michelle Bebber, Ph.D.
Exhibit: April 14-24, Blank_Lab
Opening Reception: Friday, April 17 from 4-6 PM
Join Dr. Michelle Bebber for a special exhibit that will dive deeper into the archaeology and cultural significance of Paleolithic cave art, and the evolution of human aesthetic experience. Her exhibit fuses archaeology, digital media, art, and design thinking to transport visitors beyond static displays into a living, sensory-rich environment. Using cutting-edge projection, you’ll feel the scale, atmosphere, and creative energy of early human life as never before, blurring the line between past and present, science and art.
Register