Support for HMA Lab
Dassault Systèmes US Foundation Grant Supports Innovative Design-Thinking Lab at HMA
In these difficult times, we write to share good news we hope will uplift you as it has us.
We are thrilled to announce Dassault Systèmes US Foundation has awarded Haile-Manas Academy a grant to create a state-of-the-art Design Thinking program. The program will be housed in what will be known as The Q&A Lab, led by HMA’s Frank Mullen, a veteran teacher with multiple backgrounds in architecture, forensic science, and the visual arts.
Frank explains it best. “The Q&A Lab is named after what it does: ask, and answer, questions. The best inquiry-based education generates questions, such as ‘Is there a better way to do that?’, ‘How can I apply that idea in my life or community?’ , and ‘Is that commonly-held assumption really true?’ Sometimes the only way to answer these questions is to build something.”
The importance of this program is particularly evident now, in a moment defined globally by the coronavirus pandemic. While the entire world is experiencing a single, interconnected crisis, the impact on different countries is not the same. Effective responses must be tailored to the specific needs of a given community and be informed by the people who will implement and live with them. Asking better questions will lead to better solutions.
This premise is the essence of The Q&A Lab and of HMA: significant, sustained investment in a community led by experienced faculty with the skills and desire to expand local capacity. In supporting HMA’s Design Thinking program with The Q&A Lab at its core, the US Foundation is supporting a truly transformative effort.
The benefits of the Design Thinking program will also reach beyond the HMA campus. Funds from this grant will also support HMA students and faculty as they offer community outreach programs taught in The Q&A Lab to local Debre Birhan middle school students.
“The mission of our foundation is to make education more efficient, and more enjoyable, enhancing the right skills for employability, by leveraging virtual universes. By doing so, we are spreading passion for engineering, science and digital technology” said Thibault de Tersant, Chairman, La Fondation Dassault Systèmes. “HMA’s Design Thinking approach aligns with that mission by inspiring students and providing them with the right education to become leaders in their communities and beyond.”