Skip to Main Content

MCEN 4045/4085: Mechanical Engineering Senior Design Project (Riffell): Social Innovation

Research a Population or Problem

In designing for social innovation, you may need to learn more about the population you are creating your design for, or the problem you are solving.  This page includes research strategies for social innovation.

Search Terms

Figuring out what keywords to search with is an important part of the research process.  The population or issue you are researching may have several different terms by which it is referred, for example:

  • adaptive technology / assistive technology
  • climate change / global warming
  • poor / economically disadvantaged / poverty / needy

Below are databases, lists of databases, or journals where you can search for information about the population or problem you are researching. Some databases include a "controlled vocabulary" or "thesaurus" where you can look up the term scholars use to describe that topic.

Developing Countries

Under-Served Populations

Adaptive Technology

Sustainability & the Environment

Ask A Gemmill Librarian