Juniors take two 3-credit Special Topic Design Studios in the Fall semester. Juniors choose one 3-credit option from the Content category such as Packaging, Typography, Play, or UI/UX, and the other option from the "Process" category such as Casting, Soft Goods or Prototyping. Students will gain multiple competencies by utilizing techniques and methodologies through practice and process. Each studio meets once per week.

Please contact the department for permission to register; registration is not available in Workday. 

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design

The 6-credit Advanced Design studios offer second semester juniors and seniors the opportunity to investigate product, socially responsible, and sustainable design; innovation through science and technology and other topics in contemporary practice. These studios are designed to strengthen the student's ability to conduct research, ideation, material exploration, presentation, and concept validation. Studios meet two days per week. Junior and Senior Industrial Design Students are required to take a total of three (3) advanced studios.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Preference is given to Junior, Senior or Graduate Industrial Design Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design, MID (2.5yr): Industrial Design

Agriculture is a problem-solving endeavor and a fundamental system design challenge. How and why have farmers sought to mimic natural systems while simplifying production? What are the dominant modes that have led to industrial farming and what problems do alternatives address? Most importantly, how will we engage in food production in a changing climate and increasing demand, while respecting our nearly universal need for cultural connection to this, our most intimate relationship to the natural world?

This summer course will introduce students to a broad spectrum of agricultural traditions from first principles and long-held practices to unconventional regenerative farming and digital precision technologies. Through farm-visits we will see the ecology of farms in Maine. Tours and interviews with farmers develop our line of inquiry as we take in a wide variety of production, from no-till organic to oyster ocean farming and vertical urban farming. We will develop a working understanding of soil, plants, animals, and the physical and conceptual labor which a farmer brings to the landscape.

Summer in Maine can be idyllic and we will spend time connecting the rigors of farm life to an aesthetic
experience of living close to nature. Every farmer must consider how their small business economy intersects with values of care and regeneration. We will explore cultural models which evolve from human engagement in natural ecology, delving into biodynamic farming, carbon farming, permaculture, precision, hydroponic and robotic agriculture. Each trend represents a designed solution to the on-going challenges of coaxing food from nature.

Agriculture is a problem-solving endeavor and a fundamental system design challenge. How and why have farmers sought to mimic natural systems while simplifying production? What are the dominant modes that have led to industrial farming and what problems do alternatives address? Most importantly, how will we engage in food production in a changing climate and increasing demand, while respecting our nearly universal need for cultural connection to this, our most intimate relationship to the natural world?

This summer course will introduce students to a broad spectrum of agricultural traditions from first principles and long-held practices to unconventional regenerative farming and digital precision technologies. Through farm-visits we will see the ecology of farms in Maine. Tours and interviews with farmers develop our line of inquiry as we take in a wide variety of production, from no-till organic to oyster ocean farming and vertical urban farming. We will develop a working understanding of soil, plants, animals, and the physical and conceptual labor which a farmer brings to the landscape.

Summer in Maine can be idyllic and we will spend time connecting the rigors of farm life to an aesthetic
experience of living close to nature. Every farmer must consider how their small business economy intersects with values of care and regeneration. We will explore cultural models which evolve from human engagement in natural ecology, delving into biodynamic farming, carbon farming, permaculture, precision, hydroponic and robotic agriculture. Each trend represents a designed solution to the on-going challenges of coaxing food from nature.