RISD industrial design students build play into their final projects

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Industrial design students at the Rhode Island School of Design brought their playthings to class Tuesday.

Students in Cas Holman’s Design and Play class presented their final projects for a critique from classmates and their teacher, as well as from guests who included Gonzalo Casals. Casals works at Friends of The High Line, a nonprofit organization that programs the public space built from a former elevated railroad track in Manhattan.

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RISD, Brown students employ design to help health-care workers fighting Ebola

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The space suit-like protective garb worn by health-care workers who treat Ebola patients rapidly overheats in West Africa’s tropical climate.

But what if the suit could be cooled down by using locally harvested rice?

The suit’s hood shields all but a health-care worker’s eyes. But what if the shield could be enlarged to reveal more of the face, allowing greater doctor-patient connection?

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RISD conference focuses on transforming R.I. economy

PROVIDENCE — If you’re going to solve a problem in your business, you must first determine the real problem. Designers call this “figuring out the essential question.”

That’s one message Charlie Cannon shared Monday with business leaders, entrepreneurs, engineers and manufacturers who gathered at the Rhode Island School of Design to figure out ways that design can help transform manufacturing.

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RI Universities Seek Greater Collaboration to Launch More Businesses

Rhode Island’s independent colleges and universities are seeking greater collaboration in the areas of entrepreneurial education and venture development, according to Brown University Social Innovation Initiative Director, Alan Harlam.

“We are happy to share our knowledge, we are happy to collaborate, and we see an opportunity both in the social impact space and also outside of it to use Brown’s model of entrepreneurial education and venture development to launch more businesses,” said Harlam.

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