New Jersey Institute of Technology

Interdisciplinary Design Studio

Working in teams and pooling their talents, students of the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) are inventing technologies that could improve the quality of life for millions. They are also forming start-up companies to market their potentially revolutionary technologies.

The teams belong to the Interdisciplinary Design Studio (IDS) – a new program that transforms students into innovative entrepreneurs. Starting as freshmen, the students take specialized classes that hone their technology and management skills. The IDS students work collaboratively – usually in teams of four – and use NJIT labs to do their research. Professors and industry advisers ensure that the students’ technologies are commercially viable.

In the spring of 2011, Atam Dhawan founded the Interdisciplinary Design Studio to give the honors students a chance to do independent research with an interesting twist.

IDS aimed to teach students, starting as freshmen, not only about how to research new technologies but also about how to create business plans that proved there was a market for such technologies. After four years in IDS, the students would be skilled enough to form their own start-up companies through which to sell their technologies. Or upon graduation they could take corporate jobs, where their IDS training would help them become top managers and leaders. It was a grand vision, but no one knew if IDS would succeed.

IDS Textured Original Invention (TOI)

AutisMind, a four-member IDS team, is designing a smart toy that will interact with autistic children while analyzing their cognitive abilities. The basic purpose of the therapeutic device, which is called Textured Original Invention (TOI), is to stimulate the minds of children with autism by tapping their senses. The toy will be equipped with Near Field Communication (NFC) technologies as well as RFID cards. Effectively, the device will be able to track the progress of a child by evaluating the responsiveness of his/her answer. TOI will also allow for individualization, depending on specific learning needs of each child.

WebTeam CEO Nish Parikh, who is the chief architect of S.H.A.N.E.S.H. Colors Program, is mentoring the Autismind team. Once the toy is developed, NJIT and WTC will collaboratively run a feasibility trial at a research facility before making it commercially available.

Press Releases

IDS Teams Exceed Expectations

In the spring of 2011, Atam Dhawan founded the Interdisciplinary Design Studio (IDS), a program that gave honors students a chance to do independent research with an interesting twist.

IDS aimed to teach students, starting as freshmen, how to research new technologies but also how to create business plans that proved there was a market for such technologies. After four years in IDS, the students would be skilled enough to form their own start-ups companies through which to sell their technologies. Or upon graduation they could take corporate jobs, where their IDS training would help them become top managers and leaders. It was a grand vision, but no one knew if IDS would succeed.

NJIT Nurtures Student Innovators and Entrepreneurs

Working in teams and pooling their talents, NJIT students are inventing technologies that could improve the quality of life for millions. They are also forming start-up companies to market their potentially revolutionary technologies.

The teams belong to the Interdisciplinary Design Studio (IDS), a new program that transforms students into innovative entrepreneurs. Starting as freshmen, the students take specialized classes that hone their technology and management skills. The IDS students work collaboratively – usually in teams of four – and use NJIT labs to do their research. Professors and industry advisers ensure that the students’ technologies are commercially viable.