ID Faculty and Students Disseminate More Than 20 Papers in 2025–26
May 12, 2026
Research at the Institute of Design at Illinois Tech has never stayed neatly inside any single discipline.
This year, ID faculty and students published and shared 21 papers across academic journals, international conferences, and cross-sector research outlets — work that reflects the range of problems design can address when it is treated as a rigorous method of inquiry.
The venues tell part of the story.
Professor Weslynne Ashton‘s research on circular economy innovation appeared in the Harvard Business Review, reaching the business leaders and policymakers who most need to understand how regenerative economic models take hold in practice.
Professor Ruth Schmidt contributed four papers to venues, including the Design Research Society’s flagship 2026 conference and the journal Energy and Climate Change, work spanning behavioral design, systemic thinking, and energy justice policy.
Faculty and students in ID’s learning design research cluster contributed multiple papers on digital learning environments and virtual spaces, with work appearing in DRS and Communications in Computer and Information Science.
And Associate Professor of Healthcare Design Kim Erwin‘s research appeared alongside physicians and implementation scientists in peer-reviewed clinical journals — a reminder that ID’s methods meet the standards of fields well beyond design.
Weslynne Ashton, Professor of Environmental Management & Sustainability and Food Systems Action Lab Co-Director
Food Systems, Agricultural Equity, and Values-Based Procurement
Several papers engage directly with food systems and agricultural equity — asking how design can support small and mid-scale producers, inform values-based procurement, and help institutions close the gap between stated commitments and implemented practice.
This work, led largely by Weslynne Ashton and collaborators across multiple universities and cooperative extension programs, demonstrates how systems design methods translate into policy-relevant, field-tested research.
Ruth Schmidt, Associate Professor of Behavioral Design
Behavioral Design and Systemic Change
Ruth Schmidt‘s work this year applied behavioral design to complex problems, energy justice policy, and public systems where conventional approaches have stalled. Her papers examine how systemic behavioral design can foster emergence in public policy, how embodiment shapes autonomy and agency, and how charismatic authority functions within systemic design practice.
This is research that takes behavioral science seriously as a design tool, not just a borrowed framework. A fifth paper, co-authored with PhD student Zeya Chen and Assistant Professor of Data-Driven Design Zach Pino, extends that lens into data ethics—examining how the design of pre-donation exploration interfaces shapes whether and how people choose to share their data.
Zach Pino, Assistant Professor of Data-Driven Design
Immersive Learning, Digital Environments, and the Future of Education
A cluster of papers from ID faculty and students examines how virtual environments shape learning—how transition spaces affect memory and engagement, how learning rhythms can be designed for, and how contemporary design methods can be taught in highly regulated industries. The Action Lab of Assistant Professor of Data-Driven Design, Zach Pino, serves as a nexus point and originator of much of this work. This work spans the Design Research Society, the Immersive Learning Research Network, and the DiGRA proceedings, reflecting ID’s growing presence in learning design as a distinct research area.
Kim Erwin, Associate Professor of Healthcare Design
Healthcare Systems, Implementation Science, and Clinical Research
Associate Professor of Healthcare Design Kim Erwin‘s work this year crossed into territory that most design schools never reach: peer-reviewed clinical research published in medical journals alongside physicians, implementation scientists, and public health researchers.
Three papers—spanning a 21-hospital study of COPD care transitions, a mixed-methods contextual assessment framework, and a protocol for virtual mentored implementation—demonstrate how human-centered design methods translate directly into healthcare systems research. Appearing in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine and JMIR publications, this work is a demonstration of what design methods can do when brought to bear on the standards and problems of adjacent fields.
2025–26 ID Publications
Current ID faculty, students, and Institute affiliates are indicated in bold.
Published
Akula, M., Traeger, L., Damschroder, L., Rommes, J.M., Kim Erwin, and V.G. Press. 2025. “The Revisits Study: Rapid Qualitative Analysis of Multi-group Participant Data for COPD Transition of Care Bundle Implementation Planning Across 21 U.S. Hospitals.” [Abstract] American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
Akula, M., Kim Erwin, Traeger, L., Pick, H., Gao, F., Damschroder, L., and V.G. Press. 2026. “Contextual Assessments for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Transition of Care Bundle Implementation Planning for the Reduce REVISITS Study: Rapid Sequential Explanatory Mixed Methods Approach.” JMIR Human Factors. doi:10.2196/82078
Ashton, Weslynne. 2025. “For Circular Economy Innovation, Look to the Global South.” Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2025/12/sm-for-circular-economy-innovation-look-to-the-global-south
Harper, K., N. Labruto, K. Espat Stack Whitney, C. Edwards, Weslynne Ashton, R. Neff, N. Wilson, J. Apolzan, R. Santa González, and RECIPES Network. 2025. “A Discussion Guide for Community-Engaged Participatory Projects.” RECIPES. https://wastedfood.american.edu/products/a-discussion-guide-for-community-engaged-participatory-projects/
Kashyap, P., K. Niewolny, Justin McElderry, and Weslynne Ashton. 2025. “Wholesale Readiness: Understanding Market Access and Technical Assistance Needs of Black, Hispanic, and Tribal Producers.” Virginia Cooperative Extension Report #AAEC-342. https://www.pubs.ext.vt.edu/AAEC/aaec-342.html
Kim, Sylvia, and Zach Pino. 2025. “Transition Curves: Mapping Pacing and Sequence in Digital Learning.” In Learn X Design 2025, edited by V. Clemente, G. Gomes, M. Reis, S. Félix, S. Ala, and D. Jones. Design Research Society, Aveiro, Portugal. https://doi.org/10.21606/drslxd.2025.177
Kim, Sylvia, Zach Pino, and Anijo Mathew. 2025. “The Impact of Virtual Transition Spaces on Learning Engagement and Memory Retention.” In Immersive Learning Research Network: iLRN 2025, edited by J. M. Krüger et al. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol. 2598. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-98080-0_21
Lee, C.T., Traeger, L., Akula, M., Fegley, A.E., Goldstein, J., Kim Erwin, Damschroder, L.J., Rommes, J., Pick, H., Auerbach, A., Lindenauer, P., Wan, W., Jackson Sagredo, A., and V.G. Press. 2026. “Virtual Mentored Implementation to Improve Care Transitions in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Protocol for a Pragmatic Implementation Study.” JMIR Research Protocols. doi:10.2196/82043
McElderry, Justin, P. Kashyap, K. Niewolny, and Weslynne Ashton. 2025. “Finding the Next Frontier: Improving Systems of Support for Small and Mid-Scale Producers.” Virginia Cooperative Extension Report #AAEC-343. https://www.pubs.ext.vt.edu/content/dam/pubs_ext_vt_edu/AAEC/aaec-343/AAEC-343.pdf
Russell, Andrew, and Zach Pino. 2025. “Understanding & Application of Rigor in Qualitative Design Research.” In Learn × Design 2025, edited by V. Clemente, G. Gomes, M. Reis, S. Félix, S. Ala, and D. Jones. Design Research Society, Aveiro, Portugal. https://doi.org/10.21606/drslxd.2025.176
Sarin, Jasmine, Asawer Ahyed, Santosh Basapur, Rhea Shah, and Zach Pino. 2025. “Teaching Contemporary Design Methods in Highly Regulated Industries: A Case Study.” In Learn X Design 2025, edited by V. Clemente, G. Gomes, M. Reis, S. Félix, S. Ala, and D. Jones. Design Research Society, Aveiro, Portugal. https://doi.org/10.21606/drslxd.2025.101
Schmidt, Ruth. 2025. “System Rizz: Exploring the Role of Charismatic Authority in Systemic Design.” RSD14 / Arcs of Impact: Relating Systems Thinking and Design. https://rsdsymposium.org/paper-talks-relational-leadership/
Stenger, K., and Ruth Schmidt. 2026. “Beyond Paternalism: Rethinking Energy Justice Policy.” Energy and Climate Change 7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egycc.2026.100239
Sungu, Azra, Weslynne Ashton, and L. Forlano. 2025. “Cultivating Narrative Resistance in Systemic Design.” RSD13/Rivers of Conversations: Relating Systems Thinking and Design. https://rsdsymposium.org/cultivating-narrative-resistance-in-systemic-design/
Titus, B., M. Stege, Ruth Schmidt, and A. De Filippo. 2025. “SCOPE: Behavioral Science for Wicked Problems.” International Rescue Committee.
Accepted for Publication
Chen, Zeya, Zach Pino, and Ruth Schmidt. 2026. “Framing Data Choices: How Pre-Donation Exploration Designs Influence Data Donation Behavior and Decision-Making.” Design Research Society 2026.
Kashyap, P., K. Niewolny, Justin McElderry, and Weslynne Ashton. 2026. “Advancing Wholesale Market Access: Technical Assistance to Support Black, Hispanic, and Tribal Producers.” Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development.
Kim, Sylvia, Zach Pino, Paige Safyer, Ean Neyrey, Richa Sharma, Tzu-Chi Huang, and Maria Sekyi. 2026. “Designing for Learning Rhythms: A Taxonomy of Trajectory-Aware Interventions in Online Learning.” Design Research Society 2026.
Safyer, Paige, and Zach Pino. 2026. “Identity Play as Identity Work: Representation, Identity Integration, and Possible Selves in Digital Games.” Proceedings of DiGRA 2026.
Schmidt, Ruth. 2026. “Exploring Embodiment’s Impact on Autonomy and Agency in Behavioral Design.” Design Research Society 2026.
Schmidt, Ruth. 2026. “Fostering Emergence in Behavioral Public Policy: A Systemic Behavioral Design Framework.” Design Research Society 2026.
Solorzano-Morera, G., E. Durango-Cohen, and Weslynne Ashton. 2026. “Minding the Implementation Gap: A Mixed-Method Study of Producer Capabilities and Institutional Pressures in U.S. Midwest Values-Based Food Procurement.” Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development.