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We Serve:
Students, Staff, and Faculty of Vanderbilt University
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Our Goal:
Creating an innovation ecosystem, where ideas can be explored and brought to life
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Fostering:
Collaborations across disparate knowledge domains in order to tap into the most creative potential
Vanderbilt's Center for Innovation and Design
The Wond'ry equips Vanderbilt students, faculty, and staff to explore ideas from conception to realization. Through a lens of human-centered design and design thinking, the Wond'ry teaches participants of our curricular and extracurricular programs how to examine an idea, determine needed resources, predict possible roadblocks, and develop strategies for advancement in order to optimize the idea's likelihood of success.
The Wond'ry exists to translate ideas into action
The Wond’ry is Vanderbilt’s applied innovation platform integrating human-centered design, deep technical development, prototyping, and commercialization into a cohesive student experience. It is where students move from asking important questions to building real solutions. Our programs and resources include:
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IDS Minor
The Wond'ry's Minor in Innovation and Design Strategy (IDS) teaches students to frame complex problems from a human perspective. They conduct user research, prototype solutions, test ideas, and iterate with intention. This is not abstract design thinking; it is disciplined creative problem solving grounded in technical rigor.
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IMPACT Program
The Wond'ry's flagship extracurricular program engages students in deep-tech innovation. They assess technical feasibility, evaluate intellectual property, develop operating models, and prepare ventures for launch. IMPACT builds the bridge between research and scalable real-world application.
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Making and Design Spaces
Students gain access to fabrication tools, electronics development, fiber arts prototyping, and advanced manufacturing capabilities. Ideas take physical form. Concepts become testable prototypes. Failure becomes data. Iteration becomes progress.
These offerings form the foundation for a powerful innovation continuum:
Insight → Prototype → Validation → Commercialization → Launch
The Wond’ry is not an add-on to the Vanderbilt experience.
It is an enabling infrastructure that amplifies the intellectual capital of the university.
Innovation & Design Strategy Curriculum
The Wond'ry teaches undergraduates the human-centered design process through a number of curricular offerings. Courses at the Wond'ry incorporate project work with real-life stakes to facilitate high-impact, experiential learning. Our classes count as electives in a number of degree programs, in addition to serving as the foundation of a minor in Innovation and Design Strategy offered by the Vanderbilt School of Engineering, open to majors of all schools and disciplines.
Extracurricular Programming
The Wond'ry also offers non-credit-bearing avenues for innovation exploration. Our extracurricular programs provide students the opportunity to meet and collaborate with a wide variety of external partners and organizations to get real-world experience in designing, making, prototyping, and uncovering solutions to needful problems.
The Mission of Making and Design Spaces
The Wond'ry provide students, faculty and staff from all Vanderbilt schools with the tools, training, and resources to actualize ideas and create tangible innovations.
What We Offer
Shared fabrication tools and equipment for rapid prototyping, fiber arts, mold making and casting, electronics and more in our 4,000+ sq. ft. space.
Workshops and courses offered by skilled makers that focus on skill-building through hands-on projects.
Expert makers and mentors on hand to assist with prototyping and design skills and feedback.
Free use of the space as well as a mix of free and subsidized materials to enable low-risk, low-investment making.
Additional Resources
The Wond'ry also helps further innovation through expanded connections and collaborations.