Responding to a Changing World: Dr. Brock Craft on Human-Centered Engineering

What does it mean to engineer with people—not just for them? 

Dr. Brock Craft, Teaching Professor in Human Centered Design & Engineering at the University of Washington, visited SCD in October to explore this question and share how Human-Centered Engineering (HCE) has the potential to reshape the future of engineering education and practice.

Dr. Craft emphasized the importance of balancing technical rigor with empathy: a framework that builds upon both engineering fundamentals and the human sciences. HCE, he explained, challenges the long-standing notion that human-centered design is secondary to technical excellence.

He insists that we’ve had it backwards, and engineering should begin with the human experience by asking:

• What kind of human impact are we causing?

• Whose needs are we missing?

• How might adjusting for inclusivity change the final product?

The CRISP Framework

At the heart of Dr. Craft’s talk was the CRISP model, which outlines five key dimensions of Human-Centered Engineering:

• Co-design & Participation: engaging with the people who will live with the results

• Reflective, Iterative Practice: continuously improving through new perspectives

• Interdisciplinary Thinking: collaborating across diverse fields to inform better design

• Sensitivity to Context: understanding historical, political, and environmental impact

• Principled Ethics & Responsibility: prioritizing human well-being at every stage of the engineering process

Human-Centered Innovation in Action

To illustrate these ideas, Dr. Craft led the audience through a simple but eye-opening exercise. Participants paired up with one sitting and one standing. The standing partner was then asked to describe how to make the perfect sandwich to the sitting partner.

Afterward, attendees reflected on how their roles shaped the interaction. Many noted that the seated position felt disempowering or passive, while standing felt more authoritative and in control.

Dr. Craft connected this experience to the lived reality of wheelchair users, who are always seated and often looked down upon in conversation. He then shared a striking example of HCE in practice: a wheelchair designed to adjust in height, enabling users to meet others at eye level and restoring both dignity and agency in everyday exchanges.

He also discussed how AI-supported systems can influence human engagement: either empowering users when designed responsibly or amplifying bias when built without empathy. That’s why, he argued, Human-Centered Engineering must begin with education itself.

Looking Ahead

As co-founder of the Human-Centered Engineering Consortium along with SCD’s Engineering Education team, Dr. Craft invited attendees to imagine new partnerships that bridge disciplines and foster equitable, people-focused innovation.

“You are the bridge,” he reminded the audience.

Siebel Center for Design will continue the conversation this spring by hosting the inaugural Human-Centered Engineering Symposium in March 2026.