Drawing of a scottish terrior welcoming you to DFAxCMU

Interdisciplinary.
Innovative.
Kind.

Design For America @ Carnegie Mellon University is a group of interdisciplinary students who use their unique design, engineering, and social sciences perspectives to confront social issues in innovative ways.

Our Mission

Teach Human-Centered Design

As a chapter of national DFA, we teach members the design process and emphasize the importance of empathy and intentional problem solving.

drawing of someone with the human-centered design steps around them
Drawing of people from the design, hci, business, and engineering disciplines

Interdisciplinary Collaboration

By collaborating in teams of students from a variety of majors with diverse backgrounds and interests, we develop well-rounded solutions and fuse collaboration, leadership, and creativity.

Contribute to Societal Good

Student-led teams partner closely with local community organizations. Together, students and organizations identify challenging social issues to design and develop comprehensive solutions that benefit the broader community.

logos of community partners

How to Join

Sign Up on TartanConnect

Join TartanConnect to get emails about meetings and events

Schedule

Come to our studio meetings throughout the school year!

Instagram

Follow us on Instagram to follow project teams on their progress

How to Partner

Email

Send us an email and we would love to have a conversation!

Partner Overview

View a summary of what a partnership would look like

Partner Doc

View a detailed document of what a partnership would look like

Our Team

Executive Board

image of Erica Fu

President

Erica Fu

Junior
Information Systems
image of Tasnim Rida

PR Chair

Tasnim Rida

Sophomore
Statistics
image of Chelsea Tang

Technology Chair

Chelsea Tang

Junior
Computer Science & Design
image of Spoorthi Cherivirala

Project Manager

Spoorthi Cherivirala

Junior
Computer Science & Design
image of Thien Le

Design Chair

Thien Le

Junior
Design
image of Jaimie Chan

Finance Chair

Jaimie Chan

Junior
Business Administration

Project Leads

image of Avani Guduri

Footbridge for Families Lead

Avani Guduri

Sophomore
Cognitive Science + HCI
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HCI Institute at CMU Lead

Sherry Chen

Junior
Information Systems + HCI, Design, and CS Minor
image of Mari Zhang

The Hazelwood Initiative Lead

Mari Zhang

Sophmore
Business Administration, HCI
image of Julianna Bolivar

The Wellness Collective Lead

Julianna Bolivar

Junior
Design + HCI