Practice Research

Design Fusion Practice-based Research expands design teaching and research collaborations with industry, government, non-profit organizations, and foundations along particular initiatives that aim to create new knowledge, advance scholarship, and expand the reach of design. The Center supports high profile, integrative research agendas initiated by faculty along key contemporary themes with a goal for cross-disciplinary representation pulling from all seven colleges and schools at CMU on a massively integrative scale. We follow the path of innovative design-led programs such as the Carnegie Mellon MoonArk project that brought together more than 300 international collaborators, 97 alumni and students, 27 faculty and staff, 18 organizations, businesses and universities, and 11 schools and departments on campus. In short, our practice-based research sits at the edges of the possible and is made achievable through deep collaboration and an exploratory spirit.

For more information on current Practice Research programs through the Ballay Center and Design Fusion Fund grants for faculty projects, see our Fusion Fund page or contact BallayCenter@design.cmu.edu