Sheng-Hung Lee

Sheng-Hung Lee, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in Urban Technology at the University of Michigan and Director of the d-mix lab. His work focuses on urban systems, service innovation, and Design for Longevity (D4L)—exploring how individuals, organizations, and societies navigate life transitions across services and systems. Trained at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Lee’s doctoral research introduced a hybrid design-research framework that integrates constructivist grounded theory, causal loop diagrams, and design ethnography to examine behavioral and systemic dynamics in longevity planning. His work bridges human-centered design, systems thinking, and real-world experimentation, connecting research with practice.

An active leader in the global design community, Lee has served as a Board Director of the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) since 2020 and joined the World Design Organization (WDO) Education Committee in 2023. He has held editorial and leadership roles, including Guest Editor of DIID (2024) and Track Co-Chair of the 2024 Design Research Society Conference in Boston. His work has received international recognition, including IDEA Gold, iF Gold, Braun Prize, and Red Dot Best of the Best, and has been exhibited worldwide at venues such as Dubai Design Week, Venice Design Week, and the Cooper Hewitt Museum.

Previously, Lee was affiliated with MIT AgeLab and MIT Ideation Lab, where he co-taught courses on global aging and the built environment and contributed to initiatives across sustainability, governance, and professional education. He has taught and lectured internationally in Europe and Asia. Lee holds a PhD in Human Behavior and Service Design and two master’s degrees from MIT, and undergraduate degrees in industrial design and electrical engineering from National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan.