C R E AT I V E
S PAC E S
building prototypes, film and graphic
design studios, and machine learning
labs, to name a few. Come early 2020,
the programs housed in Lazarra
will move into the new Academic
Healthcare Center now under
construction, leaving a blank canvas
ready to be reimagined.
The STEAM Institute will serve as
an incubator for design thinking
and multidisciplinary projects that
solve real challenges in businesses
and organizations — a place where
students will see their knowledge in
action. That is the type of experience
that carries lessons that cannot be
learned from a book.
“That’s the power of creativity-infused
STEM education — turning students
into active learners, as opposed to
those students who are programmed
to mimic what we’re teaching them,
and then when the course is over, flush
their memory. That becomes a very
ineffective and inefficient learning and
teaching style.”
According to Dr. Tiryakioglu, learning
how to think conceptually and test
those concepts with a group is the
foundation of design thinking and
helps cultivate one of the most in-
demand skills today: idea generation.
“Those are the jobs that don’t get sent
abroad. Creative jobs — creators —
remain in this country. So if you’re
an idea generator, you will be well
valued. Those are the jobs of the rest
of the 21st century.”
F E AT U R E S
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