[05]

Teaching as Infrastructure

The research is sustained through teaching. Curriculum is treated as infrastructure: studios as living labs, students trained in framing, methods, ethics, and iteration, and outputs that carry evidence and dissemination pathways. Teaching multiplies research rather than competing with it.

Living-Lab Pedagogy

Studios as Laboratories

  • Studios and seminars operate as living labs
  • Students learn framing, methods, ethics, iteration
  • Outputs include prototypes plus evidence and reflection
  • Built-in dissemination: conference, exhibit, journal, industry
Programs That Scale

Digital Design Graduate Program

  • MS in Design and Merchandising, Digital Design option
  • Research Thesis track for scholarly and academic careers
  • Design Thesis track for creative and practical design skills
  • Both tracks offered online or onsite
  • Accelerated 4+1: bachelor's plus master's in five years
  • AI-integrated content: generative, conversational, AIoT
Certificates & Pipeline

From Coursework to Funded Work

  • Graduate Certificate in Digital Design for working professionals (online or onsite)
  • Undergraduate Certificate in Digital Design (onsite)
  • Cross-listed graduate courses across colleges
  • Graduate supervision across multiple disciplines
  • PETE internships with industry firms
  • Students move from course outputs to funded and juried work
Digital Design Graduate Program ↗ Program catalogue (PDF) Program video PETE internships
[06]

Student Research Spotlights

Graduate and undergraduate researchers carry the lab's questions into award-winning work of their own. A selection, in their own words.

Biophilia for Spacecraft Crew Quarters
Graduate · Digital Design

Biophilia for Spacecraft Crew Quarters

How biophilic elements can enhance ISS crew quarters for long missions and commercial space travel, using VR simulation, pupil dilation, heart rate, and cognitive load.
Biophilia in Healthcare Environments
Graduate · Digital Design

Biophilia in Healthcare Environments

How biophilic elements affect patient wellbeing, explored through VR simulations, eye tracking, physiological data, and surveys.
Nature in the Classroom
Graduate · Digital Design

Nature in the Classroom

How incorporating natural elements in classroom settings affects student stress levels and information retention, tested in virtual reality.
Store Layouts & Shopper Perception
Undergraduate Research

Store Layouts & Shopper Perception

Evidence-based retail design research presented at IDEC and CADRE, where it earned the People's Choice Award, and continuing into doctoral study.
Creativity, Values & fNIRS
Undergraduate Research

Creativity, Values & fNIRS

Exploring inherent and extrinsic values in design students through verbal protocol analysis and functional near-infrared spectroscopy; winner of the OSU Undergraduate Library Research Award.
A Chair for Older Adults
Undergraduate Research

A Chair for Older Adults

Designing an innovative sit-to-stand chair for older adults, developed with support from the NSF iCorps program.
© Mixed Reality Lab · Oklahoma State University · Est. 2016 Contact the lab ↗