2026: Design & Place-Based Innovation

Friday, August 14, 9:00 AM to 1:30 PM

The 9th annual DDes Symposium will explore place-based innovation and its implications to design practice, education and research. The symposium will use Research Triangle Park (RTP) to investigate the role of design in shaping and sustaining place-based innovation ecosystems, examine how the physical, behavioral and socio-cultural dimensions of place shape design innovation, collaboration, and regional transformation, and investigate how regional design leaders perceive the contribution of design to innovation, entrepreneurship, and regional development within RTP.

Registration Link

Doctoral Symposium Registration

Agenda

9:00 – 9:20 am – Welcome and Opening Remarks, Dr. Newton D’souza, Director of Doctoral Design Programs, NC State
9:30 – 10:30 am – Academic Panel
- Moderator: David Hill, Professor and Head, School of Architecture, NC State
- Panelists:
  - Dr. Danielle Lake, Director of Design Thinking and Associate Professor of Human Service Studies, Center for Design Thinking, Elon University
  - Dr. Vivek Rao, Associate Dean for Master’s and Professional Programs; Executive Director, Design & Technology Innovation Master’s Program, Duke University
  - Dr. Liz Chen, Associate Professor, Department of Health Behavior, UNC – Chapel Hill; Design Thinking Lead, Innovate Carolina
10:30 – 10:45 am – Q&A
Break (15 minutes)
11:00 am – 12:00 pm – Industry/Community Panel
- Moderator: Audrey Barnes, Professor of Industrial Design and Head, Department of Graphic Design and Industrial Design, NC State
- Panelists:
  - Mack Paul, Real Estate and Land Use Partner, Morning State Law Group
  - Carolyn Coia, Vice President, Real Estate, Research Triangle Park
  - Sarah Hall, Director, Institute for Emerging Issues, NC State
12:30 – 12:15 pm – Q&A
Break (15 minutes)
12:30 – 1:15 pm – Keynote Address and Q&A, Dr. Brian Schermer, Professor of Architecture, School of Architecture and Planning, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
1:15 – 1:30 pm – Closing Remarks

Keynote Address

Brian Schermer, Emeritus Professor of Architecture, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Brian Schermer, Ph.D., is a licensed architect who recently retired as Professor of Architecture at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, where he taught research-informed architectural design, research methods, and professional practice for more than 25 years. He is Principal and Director of Design Research at Workshop Architects, where he integrates participatory research and post-occupancy evaluation to inform the design of human-centered environments.

His work explores how the built environment supports belonging, learning, well-being, and innovation, with a particular focus on college campuses. Through Campus Capital Mapping, he has developed participatory methods for understanding place attachment by examining the social, intellectual, restorative, and symbolic meaning that people attribute to places.

Academic Roundtable

Vivek Rao, Associate Dean for Master’s & Professional Programs; Executive Director, Design & Technology Innovation Master’s Program, Duke University

Vivek Rao’s innovation and R&D experience spans products, services, organizational transformation, and infrastructure, in public sector, startup and large corporate contexts in addition to academic environments. He maintains an active consulting practice, working with clients ranging from pre-seed startups to the US Department of Defense.

Liz Chen, PhD, MPH, Associate Professor of Health Behavior, UNC Chapel Hill

Liz Chen is an associate professor in the Department of Health Behavior. Dr. Chen has over a decade of experience as a teacher, public health practitioner, and researcher and earned both her MPH and PhD degrees in this department. Dr. Chen’s research interests are at the intersection of adolescent health, technology and design thinking (i.e. human-centered design). Her current research focuses on how to integrate design thinking mindsets and methodologies into public health training, practice, and research.

Danielle Lake, Director of Design Thinking and Associate Professor of Human Service Studies, Elon University

Danielle Lake is the Director of Design Thinking and Associate Professor in Human Service Studies at Elon University. In this role, Lake directs the Center for Design Thinking, teaches graduate and undergraduate project-based courses on equity-centered design, and oversees a range of consulting and research projects on design thinking. Her consulting, research, and teaching efforts all aim to support relational, place-based design initiatives for addressing wicked problems, building capacities, and transforming selves and systems. Lake is the winner of the John Saltmarsh Award for Emerging Leaders in Civic Engagement, the John Lachs award for Public Philosophy, and a two-time recipient of the Jane Addams Prize.

Industry Roundtable

Mack Paul, Partner, Morningstar Law Group

Mack Paul is a real estate attorney who focuses on zoning, land use, environmental permitting, public financing, and public policy. He specializes in obtaining regulatory approvals for large, mixed use developments and urban infill projects, negotiating public-private partnerships, and securing public financing for infrastructure to support development projects.

As a land use lawyer, Mack represents owners, developers, coalition groups and businesses in all types of development and infrastructure issues such as negotiating a joint agreement with a major city and conservancy to develop a destination park and utilizing innovative financing tools to fund structured parking in connection with a conference center and hotel in a resort town.

Carolyn Coia, Vice President of Real Estate, Research Triangle Park

Carolyn Coia is the Vice President of Real Estate for the Research Triangle Foundation of North Carolina, the managing entity of Research Triangle Park. Since joining the Foundation in 2016, Carolyn has played a pivotal role in advancing the organization’s real estate development initiatives, overseeing the pro forma, design, and delivery of over 750K SF of office, laboratory and retail space.

Her work has included project management and tenant coordination for high-impact developments such as Boxyard RTP, an award-winning cargotecture destination, as well as leading major development RFPs across construction and master planning. Carolyn also leads the ongoing execution of the Foundation’s mixed-use master planned downtown, Hub RTP, across 100 acres representing up to 6M SF of future development potential.

Sarah Langer Hall, Director of the Institute for Emerging Issues, NC State University

Sarah Langer Hall is the Director of the Institute for Emerging Issues (IEI) at NC State University. In this role, she is responsible for overseeing the institute’s evolving role in translating scholarship into impactful discussions on important issues of public policy. Langer Hall will support IEI’s public collaboration on solutions to ensure North Carolina’s future competitiveness, engaging people from all regions, sectors and points of view to achieve smarter, more comprehensive and enduring progress through a common vision of excellence.