Design Tech

About the Department

The Department of Design Tech is a multicollege, transdisciplinary initiative pioneering innovation, research, and teaching on topics at the intersection of design and emerging technology that most greatly impact research, industry, and practice in a changing world.

Bridging expertise and catalyzing exploration, innovation, and collaboration in emerging areas, including design + interactions, design + materials, design + media, and design + environments, Design Tech is a generator of new modes, methods, and applications that redefine design practice and research.

Participating Cornell colleges: The College of Architecture, Art, and Planning (AAP), Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science (Cornell Bowers), Cornell Human Ecology (CHE), Cornell Duffield College of Engineering, and Cornell Tech in New York City.

Holographic paneled metal structure outside with a bright blue sky.

Watch the full video

Master of Science in Design Technology

A research and project degree that bridges disciplines and domains to ca…

Feb 9–Mar 9

Open Houses: City Visionaries Summer Program for High School Students

Join us for an open house, where we’ll share information and answer questions about City Visionaries, a new summer program for high school students in New York City.

Admissions
Mar 11

George Adamopoulos: Runtime Error — Creative (Mis)use of Science and Technology

Attend a lecture with George Adamopoulos exploring creative practice as a site of productive error where glitches, constraints, and unintended behaviors often become generative forces in design.

Lecture
Mar 25

James Weaver: High Resolution Multi-Material Additive Manufacturing — 3D Fabrication of Biologically Inspired Structures

Design Tech Associate Professor James Weaver will introduce the technique of multi-material additive manufacturing as a research tool to unravel the functional complexities of a wide range of biological materials.

Lecture
Apr 15

Nervous System: Growing Objects — From Lamps to Lungs

Attend a lecture with Jessica Rosenkrantz and Jesse Louis-Rosenberg of Nervous System who will explore their collaborations with scientists in the realm of 3D-printed organs.

Lecture

Stories Machine Learning Teaches Membranes to Sort by Chemical Affinity

Side-by-side SEM and machine-learning segmentation reveal how different micelle chemistries pattern the membrane surface to enable chemical-affinity sorting.

Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Design Tech faculty Uli B. Wiesner and his team used machine learning to create a new class of ultrafiltration membranes that sort molecules by chemical affinity rather than size, enabling more precise separations for medicine, manufacturing, and water treatment.

In the Media Waymo Says Its Self-Driving Taxis Will Take Customers on Freeways for the First Time

NBC News — Associate Professor of Information Science and Design Tech faculty Wendy Ju offers “guarded optimism” about Waymo’s new freeway-driving robotaxis, emphasizing that while the milestone is technically impressive, its real test lies in how safely and intuitively the vehicles interact with humans in fast, high-stakes environments.

Stories Knitting Machine Makes Solid 3D Objects

A professor and student collaborate in a bright lab

Professor of Information Science at Cornell Bowers and Design Tech faculty François Guimbretière and engineering student Victor Guimbretière (’29) developed a prototype knitting machine that creates solid three-dimensional objects by interlocking yarn in multiple directions, opening new possibilities for customizable, biomimetic materials.

Stories

people with orange hard hats observing an object

Underwater 3D Printing Could Transform Maritime Construction

Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Design Tech faculty Uli B. Wiesner and Architecture Professor and Design Tech Chair Jenny Sabin were part of the interdisciplinary group that collaborated on the research.

Paper Voxel Shader – An Efficient Shadow Calculation Approach For Urban Building Energy Modeling

Architecture and Design Tech Associate Professor Timur Dogan and Amber Su (B.Arch. ’25) introduce a voxel-based ray-tracing method that efficiently computes sunlit fractions for urban surfaces using point cloud or mesh data without the requirement for manual geometry simplification.

In the Media Why Waymo Is Having a Hard Time Stopping for School Buses

The Verge — Associate Professor of Information Science and Design Tech faculty member Wendy Ju discusses the challenges autonomous vehicle designers face when developing for unpredictable situations.

Stories Cornell-Developed Particles Supercharge Cancer Immunotherapy

Conceptual illustration of nanoparticles.

Uli Wiesner, Professor in the departments of Materials Science and Engineering and Design Tech, collaborated on the study, which reports that the nanoparticles can reprogram the tumor microenvironment, transforming immune-resistant tumors into ones that respond far better to treatment.

Stories Designing the Future: A Q&A With Harald Haraldsson

Man standing in the middle of his office

Haraldsson, Associate Professor of the Practice in Design Tech at Cornell Tech and AAP, shares his vision for extended reality, his lab’s unique approach to prototyping, and what excites him most about the future of immersive design.

Stories What’s Ahead: Spring 2026 Highlights

a large domed building covered in snow as part of a college arts quad

After a winter break to regroup and recharge, faculty, students, and staff return to campus and to the open questions, conversations, and explorations that will drive the work of the semester ahead.

Stories From Milstein Scholar to Design Tech Pioneer

Julia Beitel (M.S. DT ’26) brings an interdisciplinary approach to design and technology at Cornell Tech, developing inventive projects that integrate ethical innovation, digital and physical systems, and hands-on making through fabrication, teaching, and community-based work.