The Design Science/Global Solutions Lab: Interdisciplinary Problem/Project-Based Research and Learning

The Design Science/Global Solutions Lab is a model for interdisciplinary problem and projectbased research and learning.Students are briefed by UN experts, learn a problem solving and strategic design and planning methodology, and use that to develop real world solutions and implementation strategies for solving real world problems.Participants are multidisciplinary and from around the world.Output, developed by Lab participants, is presented to UN experts at the end of the Lab and published as a book.The work of Lab participants is collaborative and utilizes a specially designed wiki that encourages collaboration, transparency and synergy.The process is experiential, intense and fast paced-the program is usually seven to nine days in length and eight to twelve hours per day.The program has been running for six years, at the United Nations, the UN International School in New York and Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia.Other formats of the Lab have been developed that fit within a more traditional academic framework of semester long courses that meet two to three times per week and which could be used by engineering schools and departments.