March/April 2020

PE Report
Engineering Professor Honored for Fostering Creative, Empathetic Leadership

A Stanford University professor who formalized “design thinking” to develop innovative engineering leaders with empathy and creative confidence was awarded the Bernard M. Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education.

David Kelley, the founder of the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (also known as the d. school) and the Donald W. Whitter Professor in Mechanical Engineering is known for his passion about using human-centered design to help unlock confidence in everyone from students to business executives. He is the author of the New York Times best-selling book Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All.

The d. school provides students with the opportunity to experiment to solve some of the world’s most complex and messy problems. Graduates have taken what they’ve learned and are using it to fuel ventures such as Noora Health. The Bangalore nonprofit assists patients and their families and caregivers with skills to recover from illness and chronic health conditions.

The National Academy of Engineering created the $500,000 annual Gordon Prize to recognize new methods and concepts in education aimed at developing effective engineering leaders. Kelley will be formally recognized during a ceremony at Stanford University on March 13.

“We are honored to recognize David Kelly who has almost single handedly transformed the way engineers are educated at Stanford and other universities,” stated NAE President John Anderson. “Through his initiative of introducing ‘design thinking’ into engineering curricula, he stimulates engineers to seek innovation in solving human challenges in addition to technical ones.”

In 1978, Kelley founded the global design firm that would become IDEO and began his teaching career at Stanford (becoming tenured in 1990). He founded Onset in 1984, an early-stage venture capital firm that was instrumental in starting a special effects firm called Edge Innovations. This firm creates animatronics for the film industry.

Kelley earned his BS in electrical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and his master’s degree in engineering/product design from Stanford University.