“A week before the workshop, Cooper asked the DesignX members to complete a brief survey about our perceptions about our group’s values, vision, interpersonal relationships, practices, and physical work environment. Armed with our survey responses, Teresa and Stefan began the workshop by presenting emerging themes about how we viewed our culture within the DesignX program. They highlighted tension between self-directed work and collaboration, structure versus chaos, and focus on research versus interaction with start-ups. Following Cooper methodology, we then broke up into pairs to brainstorm practices, methods, and enhancements to the physical environment that would improve the student experience next year. Lastly, we drilled down into individual ideas with the goal of developing a list of inspiring and actionable ideas. The workshop was an eye-opening experience for many of us.”

—Gabriel Aldaz, PhD candidate, Stanford