Frequently Asked Questions
The Usability Experience Center (UXC) is entering an exciting new chapter, grounded in more than 25 years of industry partnership, innovation and experiential learning.
Since its founding, the UXC has provided students with meaningful, real-world experience, built strong relationships with industry partners, and has become a defining part of the HFID community. The contributions of its founder — as well as former and current leaders, staff and student departmental assistants — have shaped what the center is today, and that foundation remains central to what comes next.
As the UXC evolves, its mission remains the same: engaging students through applied, impactful work. The next phase is designed to engage more industry partners, reach more students, support more faculty research and strengthen connections across the Bentley community.
The FAQs below outline what’s changing, what’s staying the same and how the UXC will continue to build on its legacy.
The UXC is evolving from a consultant-led model to a faculty-led structure that builds on its 25-year foundation, expanding access to its core offerings and developing new offerings.
The center will continue its core mission of experiential learning and industry engagement. The new model will build upon that by engaging more partners, enabling an increased number of students to participate in real-world projects and faculty research, integrating directly into academic programs, courses and other opportunities at Bentley.
This is a strategic evolution intended to broaden the reach of the center while preserving what has made it successful.
The founding model has been highly successful in delivering deep, high quality experiences to a select group of Master of Science in Human Factors in Information Design students.
This evolution builds on that success by expanding student engagement across both graduate and undergraduate programs, bringing more faculty with industry experience into the work, and strengthening alignment with academic and research priorities.
The goal is to scale what has worked while maintaining the quality and impact that define the UXC.
Students will gain enhanced access to hands‑on, real‑world experiences that build professional skills and career pathways. Opportunities include:
- More Departmental Assistant (DA) positions
- Greater involvement in industry-sponsored projects
- Increased opportunities to support faculty research
- Stronger integration of UXC projects into Experience Design (XD) and Human Factors (HF) courses
Yes, They will continue to work on industry projects.
The new structure is designed to increase the number of available DA positions over time, while ensuring students remain central to the center’s applied work.
Industry partners will continue to receive high‑quality research and collaboration, with additional benefits including:
- Increased faculty involvement
- More student engagement
- Broader connections to academic programs and other centers
The redesigned UXC will create more avenues for faculty to engage in applied research, collaborate across departments and connect their expertise to industry-sponsored work.
Faculty who take on leadership roles within the center will do so with dedicated support, including adjusted responsibilities such as a reduced teaching load, to ensure they can effectively lead and grow these efforts.
Yes. The center will begin piloting elements of the new model over the next academic year, allowing us to refine and strengthen the approach.
A full relaunch is planned for the fall of 2027, aligned with the reopening of the Adamian Academic Center, which will include three research labs for XD faculty members.