Director, Stanford Design Program
Associate Professor, Design Group, Mechanical Engineering Department
Banny is the Director of the Stanford Design Program, which has contributed heavily in shaping the design field through its unique approach to human centered innovation.
Banny is interested in realizing the design field's potential in catalyzing systemic change. As design begins to grapple with increasingly complex problems, at the Stanford Design Program, he is working on developing radically new processes in which design thinking can be leveraged. His focus is to develop transdisciplinary processes to bring about rapid change and large-scale impact. He is the founder of the “Design for Change Lab” to address issues of sustainability, technology futures, and the dynamics of rapid change. Currently he is working with faculty from behavioral sciences, social economics, systems analysis, management science, engineering, and art to generate new platforms for design thinking.
Originally trained as an architect, Banny Banerjee holds graduate degrees in Architecture, Mechanical Engineering, and Design. In India, he worked in the fields of architecture, structural engineering, adobe housing for the rural poor, and low embodied energy building systems. After coming to the US, he worked in the fields of computer simulation for energy in complex systems, software engineering, mechanical engineering, product design, industrial design, furniture design, interactive art, and design strategy. His interests in the confluence between digital and physical experiences took him to Xerox PARC where he worked on ambient media and physical computing. Prior to Stanford, he worked for IDEO as designer and design strategist creating novel experiences and crafting futures for high technology companies.
As a person who likes to cross boundaries between disciplines, he has worked on projects related to architecture, energy analysis, software design, structural engineering, MEMs applications, nanotechnology, ambient media, object semiotics, space missions for Jet Propulsion Laboratories, low cost structural systems, sustainable design, appropriate technology for third world countries, organizational transformation, technology strategy, and technology art.
Despite his interest in technology and design theory, he likes to be elbow deep in design work. He is happiest in the presence of sharp minds, sharp cutting tools, wood dust, cutting oil, and the smell of solder.
