Interior design faculty who have mentored previous UROP students: Denise Guerin, Tasoulla Hadjiyanni and Stephanie Watson Zollinger
Contact information: dguerin@umn.edu
Nature of research: Research and write an issue of Inquiry, which is a research brief on a specific topic with research drawn entirely from InformeDesign. We have 3 issues ready to launch so the template and protocol are available to be followed. I will guide the student's research. They should be detail oriented, thorough, a good writer, and organized.
How a student could participate: Student researcher will identify a topic of interest from InformeDesign's taxonomy, search the database for research findings, and transform all research into a written 20-page research brief. This is done in a bulleted text format with some images.
Contact information: thadjiya@umn.edu
Project name: Cultural Differences in Housing Needs
Nature of research: Through a cross-cultural study of differences in housing needs, this research explores the discourse between design, culture, and identity in displacement. Groups studied include Hmong, Somali, Ojibwe, and Mexicans and African-Americans. The study has both theoretical and practical implications as it results in programmatic guidelines that housing must meet to respond to the needs of various cultural groups.
How a student could participate: Students can participate by helping devise programmatic guidelines that can be used to guide the creation of culturally sensitive housing.
