Vivek Rao

Bio

research keywords: Engineering Design Theory and Methodology; Product Design, Development & Innovation; Emerging Technologies in Design; Sociotechnical Systems Design; Human-Computer Interaction; Sustainability; Water and Wastewater Treatment Infrastructure and Technology. 

Vivek Rao is joining Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering to develop and launch the new Masters of Engineering in Design and Technology Innovation within the Institute of Enterprise Engineering. Prior to joining Duke, Vivek spent five years at the University of California, Berkeley (UC-Berkeley). There, he held joint appointments as a professional faculty member in the Haas School of Business, teaching design, entrepreneurship, innovation, and foresight across the school's three flagship MBA programs; as a postdoctoral researcher in Mechanical Engineering, where he authored or co-authored more than 20 peer-reviewed articles in engineering design theory and methodology and related fields and was responsible for substantial external and internal grant funding; and as an inaugural faculty member of the Berkeley Masters of Design program in the College of Engineering, where he developed and taught foundational courses of the degree. 

His innovation and R&D experience spans products, services, organizational transformation, and infrastructure, in public sector, startup and large corporate contexts in addition to academic environments. He maintains an active consulting practice, working with clients ranging from pre-seed startups to the US Department of Defense. Before returning to academia, he worked as a designer and strategist at IDEO, where he helped Fortune 500 clients innovate in sectors ranging from pharmaceuticals to furniture, and as a process R&D engineer at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission Wastewater Enterprise. He holds a BS, MS, and PhD, all in Mechanical Engineering, from the University of California, Berkeley.

Education

• B.S. University of California, Berkeley, 2007
• M.S. University of California, Berkeley, 2012
• D.Phil. University of California, Berkeley, 2018

Positions

• Executive Director of the Design Thinking and Technological Innovation Master Program
• Executive In Residence in the Engineering Graduate and Professional Programs

Courses Taught

• DESIGNTK 590: Advanced Topics in Design and Technology Innovation
• DESIGNTK 540: Design Ethics & Social Innovation
• DESIGNTK 530: Design Technology Core 1
• DESIGNTK 520: Design Innovation Studio 1

Publications

• Kwon E, Rao V, Goucher-Lambert K. Understanding inspiration: Insights into how designers discover inspirational stimuli using an AI-enabled platform. Design Studies. 2023 Sep 1;88.
• Wang Y, Goridkov N, Rao V, Cui D, Grandi D, Goucher-Lambert K. Embedding Experiential Design Knowledge in Interactive Knowledge Graphs. Journal of Mechanical Design. 2023 Apr 1;145(4).
• Rao V, Kwon E, Goucher-Lambert K. "Like a Moodboard, But More Interactive": The role of expertise in designers' mental models and speculations on an intelligent design assistant. In: Design Computing and Cognition’22. 2023. p. 749–65.
• Kwon E, Rao V, Goucher-Lambert K. Exploring designers' encounters with unexpected inspirational stimuli. In: Design Computing and Cognition’22. 2023. p. 397–408.
• Moore G, Rao V, Goucher-Lambert K, Agogino A. JOURNEY MAPPING THE VIRTUAL DESIGN THINKING EXPERIENCE: ENGAGING STUDENTS ACROSS DISCIPLINES IN HUMAN-CENTERED DESIGN. In: Proceedings of the ASME Design Engineering Technical Conference. 2023.
• Rao V, Dzombak R, Dogruer D, Agogino A. Project-Based Learning in Disaster Response: Designing Solutions with Sociotechnical Complexity. In: Proceedings of the Design Society. 2022. p. 2373–82.
• Rao V, Kim E, Jung HJ, Goucher-Lambert K, Agogino AM. Design for cybersecurity (DfC) cards: A creativity-based approach to support designers' consideration of cybersecurity. In: Design Computing and Cognition’20. 2022. p. 351–67.
• Kramer J, Rao V, Agogino AM. Designing for Cervical Cancer Screening in Rural Nicaragua: A Case Study in the Informal Emergence of Complex Human-Centered Service Design. International Journal of Design. 2022 Jan 1;16(2):107–23.
• Kwon E, Rao V, Goucher-Lambert K. INVESTIGATING THE ROLES OF EXPERTISE AND MODALITY IN DESIGNERS’ SEARCH FOR INSPIRATIONAL STIMULI. In: Proceedings of the ASME Design Engineering Technical Conference. 2022.
• Rao V, Joshi A, Kang SM, Lin S, Song J, Miller D, et al. DESIGNING PRIVACY RISK FRAMEWORKS FOR EVOLVING CYBER-PHYSICAL SOCIAL SYSTEMS: KNOWLEDGE GAPS ILLUMINATED BY THE CASE OF AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES AND BYSTANDER PRIVACY. In: Proceedings of the ASME Design Engineering Technical Conference. 2022.
• Goridkov N, Rao V, Cui D, Grandi D, Wang Y, Goucher-Lambert K. CAPTURING DESIGNERS’ EXPERIENTIAL KNOWLEDGE IN SCALABLE REPRESENTATION SYSTEMS: A CASE STUDY OF KNOWLEDGE GRAPHS FOR PRODUCT TEARDOWNS. In: Proceedings of the ASME Design Engineering Technical Conference. 2022.
• Kim E, Rao V, Bluemink B, Klitsie B, Santema S. EXAMINING A TRAJECTORY OF COMPLEX SYSTEM DESIGN PROCESSES: AIRPORT ECO-SYSTEM CASE STUDIES BY NOVICE STUDENT TEAMS. In: Proceedings of the ASME Design Engineering Technical Conference. 2022.
• Rao V, Kim E, Kwon J, Agogino AM, Goucher-Lambert K. Framing and tracing human-centered design teams' method selection: An examination of decision-making strategies. Journal of Mechanical Design. 2021 Mar 1;143(3).
• Agogino A, Jang HY, Rao V, Batra R, Liao F, Sood R, et al. DYNAMIC PLACEMENT OF RAPIDLY DEPLOYABLE MOBILE SENSOR ROBOTS USING MACHINE LEARNING AND EXPECTED VALUE OF INFORMATION. In: ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, Proceedings (IMECE). 2021.
• Rao V, Moore G, Jung HJ, Kim E, Agogino A, Goucher-Lambert K. Supporting human-centered design in psychologically distant problem domains: The design for cybersecurity cards. In: Proceedings of the Design Society. 2021. p. 2831–40.
• Rao V, Krishnan A, Kwon J, Kim E, Agogino A, Goucher-Lambert K. The influence of team goal alignment and awareness on human-centered design team decision-making strategy. In: Proceedings of the ASME Design Engineering Technical Conference. 2021.
• Wang Y, Grandi D, Cui D, Rao V, Goucher-Lambert K. Understanding professional designers’ knowledge organization behavior: A case study in product teardowns. In: Proceedings of the ASME Design Engineering Technical Conference. 2021.
• Moore G, Rao V, Agogino AM, Goucher-Lambert K. JOURNEY MAPPING THE VIRTUAL PROTOTYPING EXPERIENCE. In: ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, Proceedings (IMECE). 2021.
• Rao V, Kim E, Kwon J, Agogino A, Goucher-Lambert K. Method selection in human-centered design teams: An examination of decision-making strategies. In: Proceedings of the ASME Design Engineering Technical Conference. 2020.
• Rao V, Moore G, Udekwu OA, Hartmann B. Tracing stories across the design process: A study of engineering students’ engagement with storytelling in an undergraduate human-centered design course. International Journal of Engineering Education. 2020 Jan 1;36(2):762–72.