Herrmann to lead 'Design Innovations' stream for UMD's first-year 'FIRE' program

Starting in January 2017, Professor Jeffrey Herrmann (ME/ISR) will lead a “Designing Innovations” innovation and research stream for the University of Maryland’s First-Year Innovation & Research Experience (FIRE) program.

The FIRE program reaches some 400 first-year students every year, providing them with authentic research experience, broad mentorship, and institutional connections that will enhance their academic success, personal resilience, and professional development.

Students in Herrmann’s stream will study how designers work and consider how they tackle system design problems. The stream has room for about 35 students. It is one of three new streams in the program for 2017.

About FIRE
FIRE is a four-semester experience in which nine credits of General Education credit are earned. In their first semester, students are prepared for participating in research and learn skills in analysis, proposal development and scholarly communication. All FIRE students join their selected research streams in their second semester, where they learn about community building, discipline-specific safety, methods and skills training while defining the scope and objectives of research projects engaged. In their third semester, they apply these skills to the research project, and in the fourth semester. FIRE students can enroll in a 1 credit seminar where they learn about opportunities in faculty labs, internships, entrepreneurial pursuits or study abroad.

About the streams
FIRE innovation and research streams operate through the collaborative efforts of at least one faculty member, a Ph.D.-level scholar known as the Research Educator, a team of trained undergraduate peer mentors and the students served. The faculty member provides leadership and experience regarding high-level research goals. Herrmann will integrate his research agenda and grant commitments with the productive capacity of the stream and work directly with the group through participation in stream meetings, publications and program events.

Students may choose any FIRE stream that fits their interests and schedule. FIRE can be the perfect time to do research in a field that a student might not otherwise explore.

Published June 16, 2016