D-Lab: Design for Scale (2.729)

About the Class

Faculty

Focuses on product development of technologies for people in less industrialized markets. Students work in interdisciplinary teams to develop previously established prototypes or technologies towards manufacturing-ready product designs. Topics are presented within the context of the developing world and include technology feasibility and scalability assessment; value chain analysis; product specification; design for affordability, manufacturability, usability, and desirability; and product testing and manufacturing at various scales. Lessons are experiential and case study-based; taught by instructors with field experience and by industry experts from product development consulting firms and the consumer electronics industry. Student taking graduate version complete additional oral and written assignments. In person not required.

Macauley Kenney

Macauley Kenney is an Entrepreneur in Residence and a lecturer at MIT Sloan and MIT D-Lab. Macauley is an executive leader at SurgiBox, a medical device venture creating novel surgical technologies. At SurgiBox, she oversaw the launch of the first ultraportable operating room, taking the product through the design for manufacturing process and into use on the battlefield in Ukraine. Macauley also served as the PI on a $2.5M SBIR P2 with US Air Force Special Operations Command, and as company liaison for DOD engagements. She is passionate about human-centered design and increasing the success of impact-based ventures, particularly in hardware. Macauley teaches manufacturing technologies, with a focus on adaptation within low-resource settings, at MIT’s D-Lab. She is also the author of two patents on OR technology. Prior to this she was an early joiner at a rapidly expanding consulting startup in Bogota, growing the company 4x in two years and overseeing the expansion into three new country offices: Kenya, Peru, and Morocco. A serial entrepreneur, Macauley has specialized in scaling organizations in emerging markets, and has led operational systems for ventures in the U.S., Rwanda, and Uganda. Additionally, she has studied early founding team dynamics and their impact on growth strategies. Her research has been featured in multiples news outlets, including Forbes and Engineering for Change. Macauley is an accomplished public speaker, winning the MIT Can Talk competition while at university, and the North American Present Around the World Competition. She frequently serves as a competition judge, and coaches public speaking with an emphasis on stage presence and narrative building. Macauley holds an MS in Technology and Policy from MIT, a Sustainability Certificate from MIT Sloan, and a BS in Biomedical Engineering from WPI. Outside of her work as an EIR she serves on the Council of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, an international professional engineering society.