A new human-centered design minor, approved last week by the Committee of Chairs, will launch this fall. Sponsored by the engineering sciences department, the interdisciplinary minor aims to incorporate knowledge, research and innovation from various disciplines to address human needs. Thayer School of Engineering professor Peter Robbie and computer science professor Lorie Loeb will serve as faculty advisors.

Robbie said students in his design thinking class inspired him to pursue establishing the minor.

“The minor will prepare students for the kind of problem-solving challenges they are going to face in professional settings,” Robbie said.

Human-centered design, Robbie said, has recently become a dominant branch of engineering sciences. In the past, he said, engineering was focused on technology, but improving how humans interact with technology and creating products that fit human needs has become increasingly important.