Carnegie Mellon University students participating in the ENAiBLE Summer Retail and Service Innovation Program presented conceptual future customer experiences. Throughout this 10-week, human-centered research and design program, students tackled the following project prompt: 

"Retail and service industry companies are under increased pressure to deliver more personalized, convenient and value-priced products and services to consumers while ensuring positive impacts on global challenges such as sustainability, data privacy/security, and social and economic equity. How might these companies continue to deliver high-quality consumer experiences while also safeguarding people and the planet?"

Each student team conducted background research, consumer interviews, idea generation and prototyping activities to develop specific future solutions within the boundaries of this broader project prompt, resulting in each team presenting different proposed future experiences. This webinar hour included four student teams presenting their research and proposed solutions followed by an audience question and answer session. 

Watch the video below to learn what the next generation thinks future retail and service experiences will be like and how those experiences can also help address important privacy, sustainability and equality challenges.

SCS Capstone Roundtable

One of the easiest and most effective ways for companies to get involved with research at Carnegie Mellon is by sponsoring a capstone project. The SCS Capstone Roundtable discussion covered topics including:

• Qualities of capstone projects that yield successful outcomes.
• Potential hurdles that can occur (e.g., data and IP) and how to navigate them.
• A menu of available options.

Leading off the conversation was one of our industry partners, the Honda Research Institute, regarding the value they see in their capstone sponsorship at CMU. We also dove deeper into several capstone programs in SCS, hearing directly from facilitators of the following programs:

• Master of Computational Data Science (MCDS)
• Master of Human-Computer Interaction (MHCI)
• Master of Science in Robotic Systems Development (MRSD)
• Rapid Prototyping of Computer Systems

Watch the video below for more information.