Welcome to the DUCK Lab!
Welcome to the DUCK Lab!
Design Understanding, Cognition, and Knowledge
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The Design Understanding, Cognition, and Knowledge (DUCK) Lab is a research lab in the Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. Our research focuses on design cognition, or the study of how designers and engineers think and make decisions. We apply mixed-methods research strategies from engineering design, human-computer interaction, social sciences, and engineering education to expand our understanding of how designers' approaches to problem-solving can impact their creativity, cognitive bias, concept feasibility, and more. Our goal is to promote novel and high-quality design practices, to develop interventions that increase the likelihood of successful design outcomes, and to make sure that engineering education practices are evolving to incorporate these findings.
DUCK Lab News
DUCK Lab News
June 2025
June 2025
Elisa traveled to the American Society for Engineering Education annual conference in Montreal to present our paper, "Review of terminology used in course-based engineering design for disability research."
March 2025
March 2025
Dr. Schauer visited the Humanitarian Engineering Research Group at the University of Twente and gave a seminar on cognitive bias in humanitarian engineering and a guest lecture on Design for X.
Our March morning lab meeting featured duck cookies from Quack's Bakery!
January 2025
January 2025
Congratulations to Ogo for passing her qualifying exam!
December 2024
December 2024
Elisa, Ogo, and Dr. Schauer finished off an exciting semester of teaching ME 366J with a BattleBots competition. Congrats to Elisa for being the victorious TA - the Pretty Pink Unicorns, a team in Elisa's lab section, won the championship battle against Dr. Rylander's class!
August 2024
August 2024
Dr. Anastasia Schauer joined the Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering as a tenure-track assistant professor and started the DUCK Lab.
Ogochukwu Elisha-Wigwe and Elisa Koolman joined the DUCK Lab as the first graduate students. Welcome, Ogo and Elisa!
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