Taubman College Adams Named Director of the Masters of Science in Design and Health
Associate Professor Robert Adams has been named Director of the Masters of Science in Design and Health (MS_DH) in Taubman College’s Architecture Program. Adams has helped guide the MS_DH since its inception. In his role as director, he will work closely with the faculty of the concentration to align the curriculum with faculty strengths and student interest, scale up the size of its student body, and track the progress of the students within the program.
Adams currently serves as the 2016-17 chair of the University of Michigan Initiative on Disability Studies (UMinDS); his research and academic appointments with UMInDS will help grow the potential and strength of the MS_DH. As an academic program within the College of LS&A, UMinDS seeks to advance knowledge about, by, and for people with disabilities and to promote their full and equal participation in academia and society.
Adams’ current design interests focus on the intersection of architecture, civic infrastructure, and disability culture within a bio-psycho-socio-techno conceptual model where bodies, wearable technologies, and augmented environments coalesce. The work is aimed at sharpening architectural strategies to draw out and reconsider the efficacy of disability through advanced geometry, immersive perceptual configurations, and responsive networks. By embedding a concept of disability within design methodologically, architecture can increase its capacity for a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive social body.
Robert Adams will work with fellow MS Director (MS_DT and MS_MS), Catie Newell, to help align the post-professional degrees and to focus them on the contemporary and future needs of the discipline and profession.
