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Northwestern University

About Us

Expanding the research frontiers of human-centered design.

Educating innovators and design thinkers

3 students at a laptop

Our Mission

Our mission is to educate the next generation of synthetic thinkers and leaders — people who are able to move across domains and industries, identify convergences, and create impact through the lens of human-centered design. These thinkers are not generalists, but specialists of a different sort. They take a unified approach to solving problems, drawing on skills from engineering, social sciences, design, and management theory.

Design Thinking

We embrace a methodology of problem framing and opportunity finding in order to produce creative, actionable outcomes. Always striving to improve the process of good design, we aim to integrate design thinking into the curriculum and the hands-on projects of each of our academic programs.

Person's hand sketching a design

Interdisciplinary Programs

We provide a variety of immersive, interdisciplinary programs for undergraduates, graduate students, and working professionals that teach collaboration and leadership in design thinking.

The Segal Environment

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Collaborate with Segal

Learn how to hire our students, support the Segal mission, and volunteer to mentor or speak.

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