When Andrew Lentchner decided to attend the University of Miami, he had not settled on a major. He knew he wanted to work in the business or engineering field but wasn’t sure which was an ideal match for him.
But just before fall semester began, Lentchner—and many other students without declared majors—learned about a new University of Miami degree program called Innovation, Technology, and Design (ITD), where they could learn to be effective entrepreneurs and graduate in just three years. Lentchner was intrigued and soon enrolled in the major.
“I didn’t know what I wanted to do specifically, and it seemed like this program was flexible,” he said. “I also liked the idea of graduating in three years because it gave me the ability to get a second degree after my bachelor’s.”
While it is stewarded by the College of Engineering, the ITD degree is interdisciplinary, which means it is overseen by the Office of the Provost. Kathi Kern, senior vice provost for education, collaborates with faculty at the Miami Herbert Business School, the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Architecture, the Miller School of Medicine, the School of Law, the School of Communication, and the College of Engineering, to build the ITD curriculum. This allows these students to take classes across the University.
Last week, Lentchner and eight other ITD classmates presented their final product pitches before graduation at the College of Engineering’s Senior Design Expo. It’s a practice they have honed throughout the program with six design challenges. And when they cross the stage at Watsco Center later this week, these nine students will become the first graduating class of ITD degree recipients. The unique program was planned to ensure its first graduates coincided with the University’s centennial—a novel type of degree launched to advance the University into its second century.
Despite the fact that it was a swift three years, many of the students have promising futures ahead. Lentchner is planning to work at Nissan after graduation, a connection he made during one of two summer internships required by the program. Katherine Kuang is heading to Pennsylvania, to an early-career position at Rajant Corporation, and several others are headed to graduate school.
Inspired by his internship at Nissan, Lentchner’s final prototype is an app paired with an existing device that could help motorists change their driving habits to improve their own fuel efficiency and save money. His classmate, Quin McGowan, designed and 3D printed a disposable cup that locks to protect bar patrons from drink tampering.
Other projects include Rachel Tomasetti’s AI application, called Ki, to help women better understand their own monthly cycle and the cognitive and physiological changes it brings. The app uses that information to guide each woman in ways they can optimize their own life, productivity, and workout goals.
Anna Munson and Kuang designed an AI-based digital tool, called Local Lens, to help travelers understand cultural norms; it was inspired by a trip Kuang took to China where she learned it is rude to tip drivers. And Nicolas Gallardo Plaza created Mind Watch, an app that uses smartwatch data to monitor a person’s physical health and offer that patient and their physician clues about their mental health, potentially eliminating the need for many self-report surveys.
All nine of the ITD graduates say the program was a crash course in design thinking, a strategy used to create viable new products today. It began with an introduction to the method, taught by law professors Michele DeStefano and Marcia Weldon. Then, with each design challenge, students applied the multistep approach in teams to solve new problems. Some of the skills they learned include collaborating well with others, presenting professionally, as well as vibe coding—a way to combine artificial intelligence tools to create computer code—3D printing, market research, and many others.
“One of the important things that our industry partners have told us is that beyond technical skills, today’s graduating students need to be able to think through things holistically and look at a given system from a design, innovation, marketing, and many other perspectives,” said Lokesh Ramamoorthi, program co-director, as well as a lecturer in software engineering. “These are skills they have gained through the ITD program.”
Last year, the students worked with The Underline to enhance plans for the new linear park under the Metrorail near campus. They have also worked with University departments and corporate partners to explore pain points and devise new, more efficient solutions.
Still, many said the first design challenge class, taught by DeStefano and Weldon, really set the stage for this new degree. Roni Kennedy said it encouraged her to apply for law school, where she was recently accepted.
“They led us into that iterative thinking, whereas we were used to a linear process of projects [in high school], so design thinking was a new way of tracking progress,” said Kennedy, whose final project is a tool that uses computer vision to acquire a patient’s vital signs through a webcam to expedite the check-in and data collection process at medical appointments.
Through that initial class, the ITD students gained confidence to present new products. And while it was nerve-racking, they appreciated the results later.
“They helped us to become aware of our professional persona, so I learned not to do certain things like swaying or tapping while presenting,” said ITD graduate Grant Martin, who will start a master’s in technology management this fall. “Once you know about these habits, it’s a lot easier to correct them, so it doesn’t happen in an important scenario.”
This semester, they completed their final capstone challenge with professor Jeffrey Duerk, former provost of the University and an accomplished biomedical engineer and inventor, who led a faculty group to design the ITD program. He was joined by Devika Milner, assistant dean and executive director of the Office of Study Abroad, and Ramamoorthi. They were supported by program co-director Beth Ann Miller, senior lecturer of management at Miami Herbert Business School. The instructors said they have watched the students grow dramatically.
“Through that first class, they learned to think; now they can do,” said Duerk, noting that they had to create prototypes independently this spring. “What’s gratifying is the breadth of things they have done this final semester, from 3D printing to AI vibe coding to full stack software development, and all of this by working in teams of one.”
To prepare them for the job market, a class in the program taught by Christian Garcia, associate dean at the Toppel Career Center, helped the students find two meaningful internships. Students said their varied experiences have made them attractive job candidates.
“We scratched the surface on a lot of different things,” Lentchner said. “We have done a bit of virtual reality, a Rhino workshop about 3D printing, and know how to use Figma, a prototyping application, so if someone asks me about many of these new technologies, I have been exposed to it, and I would learn faster than if I had never seen it before, so that was very helpful.”
To learn more about ITD, visit the program website here.
