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Engineering Solutions for Global Health: The Human Centered Design Process
Feb 10, 2025

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The Duke Pre-College Program provides advanced academic opportunities and an introduction to the college experience to students currently in grades 6 - 11. Our courses are created to give students access to cutting-edge curriculum and technology beyond the average classroom while connecting them with transcendent peers from around the world and influential professionals in their future field. In addition to accessing university facilities and labs, our students interact and learn from renowned faculty and researchers. Participants gain valuable experiences that prepare them for not only their college curriculum and careers that follow, but also to become empowered, influential leaders. Course Description: Why do engineering interventions often fail? How can we improve the engineering design process to address points of failure? What does human-centered design (HCD) look like in action? How can you apply the HCD process to global health challenges that require more than technology? HCD is a new approach to the traditional engineering design process, involving three phases: hear, create, deliver. Explore how HCD thinking can be used to address challenges in health delivery, design implementation and health education. Learn about the research, innovation, and empowerment initiatives of the Center for Global Women’s Health Technologies at Duke University. Explore the initiatives of the IGNITE curriculum, a design-thinking based STEM program that is training the next generation of innovators in solving the most pressing global challenges as outlined in the United Nations Sustainable development goals. Together, we will address the role of ethics, design ethics and the different perspectives of stakeholders involved in design. In teams, you will work to design and build a prototype solution for a problem. Engineering solutions for Global Health need to be designed with the end user in mind. Develop the skills, knowledge and mindset necessary to collaborate with community partners to address challenges through the HCD process. Discover how you can engineer solutions for global health!

written by
Rishab Jain