My research explores how designers, processes, and outcomes shape decision-making in evolving engineering and organizational contexts. Below are the directions and types of questions that guide this work.
My research explores how designers, processes, and outcomes shape decision-making in evolving engineering and organizational contexts. Below are the directions and types of questions that guide this work.
Evolving roles and responsibilities.
This body of work explores how designers’ individual attributes, such as power, status, and expertise, shape their behaviors. Using controlled experiments, surveys, and interviews, this work investigates why certain voices carry disproportionate weight in team settings and how beliefs (e.g., openness to AI, risk perception) affect processes and outcomes.
Evaluating and selecting ideas.
This involves convergent design processes, where teams evaluate and select among alternatives. These evaluations are not only tied to technical requirements but are also shaped by framing, for instance, whether a concept is labeled as “AI-generated” or “human-generated.” This work helps clarify when human, hybrid, or AI contributions are most effective.
Justifying design decisions.
This body of work studies how teams justify and document their decisions. Design rationales capture not just technical reasoning but also ownership and agency, which are critical issues when AI contributes to design outcomes. This work explores questions around accountability in cases of failure and how organizations can improve transparency in an AI era.