D S Nicholas

Based on over 20 years of scholarship and research, Dee believes there are three aspects to the Future of Design:

1. Research, and evidence, as the basis for all design decisions.
2. Equity, access, and climate as interconnected complex problems that are primary aspects of every design situation.
3. All designers must operate as servant leaders within their communities of work.

Her interdisciplinary research group, Design-led Co-strategy for Health group (DLSC4Health), works to create and sustain health opportunities for urban underserved families, and uses design thinking and design research to define, and solve complex issues in our current environment. Dee’s work as a researcher, teacher, and colleague is primarily concerned with the supportive possibilities within our environments through habit and environment. She believes in the co-creation of both problem identification and solution through a deep understanding of the lived experience and expertise of those she collaborates with. As a socially responsive designer and researcher, Dee draws on her personal experiences as a person of Middle Eastern (MENA) descent, who spent part of her childhood overseas, to understand the experiences of those that have been marginalized. As a registered architect, fine artist, and certified interior designer; Dee researches, designs, and advocates for services and strategies to bring health and the security of living spaces to people in urban environments, through two interconnected areas:

1. Design-led strategy: Inter-professional creative collaborations with health and STEM researchers, includes Design thinking, mentorship of novice designers, prioritizing designing, ideating, and advocating for change.
2. Health for urban families across multiple environments.

In 2013 Dee established Design-led Co-strategy 4 Health (DLCS4Health), an umbrella Lab that houses interdisciplinary research and scholarship. The DLCS4Health umbrella connects scholarship, teaching & service through topics such as aging in place, housing insecurity, biophilia for underserved populations, and risk in hospital environments. Funded work includes Garden Fresh Home (Patent Pending) with Professor Shivanthi Anandan; and Health and Design Research with Yvonne Michael, ScD, SM. Dee is also am currently working towards a Ph.D. in Change Leadership through Antioch University, on her process of Interdisciplinary and evidence-based Design-led Strategy. The DLSCS4Health umbrella connects scholarship, teaching and service through mentorship of students in the Master of Science in Design Research program, the undergraduate Custom Designed Major program and the undergraduate STAR Scholars summer research mentorship program. Through coursework, advocacy, and events, Dee positions student teams, communities and collaborators within carefully considered research processes for people to create change in our urban environment. Dee believes that informed design and trans-disciplinary collaboration are at the heart of novel advances and improvements in the built environment, and instructs Graduate Design Research and Interior Architecture and Design Students as well as mentoring and interfacing with students across the university. Dee is the founding director of the Drexel MS Design Research program, and holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Carnegie Mellon University. She then received an MFA from the University of the Arts and is a registered architect, an NCIDQ certificate holder and LEED Green Associate. In summer 2017 she became a doctoral student at Antioch University under the topic of Design-Led Interdisciplinary Practices. For almost ten years, Dee ran a solo practice in Philadelphia executing residential interiors, experimental materials reuse, storefront revitalization, space planning and adaptive interior nonprofit reuse. Dee holds a certificate in Health and Design from Cornell University and current funded research includes a Health and Design Research project with Dr. Yvonne Michael, that focuses on Housing insecurity in the Urban environment. She is also a founder with Dr. Shivanthi Anandan of Garden Fresh Home, a group that examines biophilia, and food production in the urban environment.

Dee has exhibited widely and taught architecture and interior design for 21 years at various schools including Temple University, Drexel University, and Philadelphia University. An invited critic at the University of Pennsylvania, University of Tennessee Knoxville, University of the Arts and Gallaudet University, she has presented research works at both national and international conferences and locally at the ExCITe center, The Philadelphia Innovation Center, and the Enterprise Center. Most recently, she presented digitally in Gold Coast, Australia as one of the top 10 digital presentations at SDEWES. Her work has been published and exhibited in a variety of national and internationals academic and professional journals including The Plan Journal, The Design Journal, ARCH IN-Form, Context, and conference proceedings for DRS, CUMULUS, EAD, EDRA, ARCC and ACSA. Dee is also a member of The Design Research Society.