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NYU Tandon School of Engineering

NYU Tandon School of Engineering

Background

There are tons of funding opportunities for students at all levels but more than often students are not aware of these opportunities or lack guidance to write competitive applications. A study by Science, a peer-reviewed academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, suggests that the chances of an award are nearly double if the educational institution provides targeted resources and mentorship to its students. At the same time, more number of competitive applications from an institution lead to a greater number of awards.

Problem Statement

Create an all-inclusive portal for the 5500+ science - technology - engineering - mathematics students of NYU Tandon School of Engineering to help them prepare their applications for various prestigious fellowship opportunities with a special focus on the National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship Program.

My Role

I was responsible for undertaking a human-centered approach to conduct a user experience study and conceive and design a new website, including content, under the guidance of a Professor of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering at NYU Tandon School of Engineering.

User Persona

Age: 18 - 26 years old

Demographics: Science - technology - engineering - mathematics students enrolled in a bachelor's or master's degree course at NYU Tandon School of Engineering

Needs:

  • To know about various fellowships and scholarship opportunities available.
  • Resources to strengthen their application.


Motivations:

  • Fund higher education.
  • Build strong credentials for a successful career.


Desires:

  • To push forward research and innovation in their field.
  • To create substantial social impact as a result of their work.


Frustrations:

  • Either not enough literature on how to construct a successful application or scattered information.
  • Limited or no faculty support for guidance and mentorship for applying to fellowships.

User Journey Map

Newsletter Web Search Self Doubt Begin Application Stuck Help Mentorship Submit Application
Get to know about the funding opportunity. Dive into the details and figure out the eligibility criteria. Overcome self-doubt and prepare a to-do list. Start collecting data and filling out the application. Find solutions to questions and concerns. Reach out to friends for help and feedback. Find a mentor with relevant professional experience. Successfully finish and submit a competitive application.
😀 😮 😐 😞 😖 😐 😌 😊

Information Architecture

NYU Tandon School of Engineering NYU Tandon School of Engineering

Pain Points and Goals

  Pain Points Goals
1. Lack of quality and trustworthy information about the funding opportunity. A dedicated portal or sub-website maintained by the school or the university to disseminate relevant documentation.
2. Scarcity or limited access to human resources for guidance and mentorship. Connect worthy students with mentors from the faculty and industry.

Wireframes

User Testing

Here are the main issues found in usability or user testing:

  1. The Fellowship Opportunities website is a sub-website that resides inside the NYU Tandon School of Engineering's website; therefore, the school's logo should be visible in the navigation header and should be able to guide the users back to the main website.
  2. There should be a way to sort the fellowships based on the category since not all students are eligible for all the opportunities. For example, NYU Tandon has a vast amount of international students who aren't eligible for federal opportunities.
  3. Breadcrumbs are of great importance on the website since the content runs very deep in the hierarchy and the users can easily get lost.
  4. A button should be added so that the students can respond, if they please, for the workshops which will also help send a reminder to the students wanting to attend the workshops.

Web Design & Development

NYU Tandon School of Engineering
NYU Tandon School of Engineering
NYU Tandon School of Engineering
NYU Tandon School of Engineering
NYU Tandon School of Engineering
NYU Tandon School of Engineering

Key Performance Indicator

The key performance indicator used for the project is the growth in the National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship Program awards for NYU Tandon School of Engineering's students which was the primary fellowship opportunity for which the efforts were focused in 2019. Both the absolute number of awards and percentage share of NYU Tandon School of Engineering, with respect to the total number of awards, are taken into account.

NYU Tandon School of Engineering NYU Tandon School of Engineering

Visual Designs

Note: The work product shown is for informational purposes only and is the intellectual property of NYU Tandon School of Engineering. No copyright or any other infringement intended.

Problem Statement

Revamp the existing Mechatronics website as per the design and branding guidelines of the New York University as well as make all necessary changes deemed fit for tackling the user's pain points. All-in-all the new website should be user-friendly compared to the existing website and should be free from usability errors.

Existing Website

Pain Points and Goals

  Pain Points Goals
1. The website is full of broken links and contains a decade of old information. Publish updated content wherever necessary.
2. The box model website looks ancient and medieval. Use the complete width space available in the browser window.
3. It is not responsive to mobiles and tablets. Make the new website responsive to all screen sizes.
4. The navigation menu is not consistent throughout the website. Have a single consistent navigation menu.
5. The website lacks profiles of researchers and doctoral candidates. Add individual profiles of the people working in the lab.
6. Different outreach programs have different page structures. Implement a consistent design scheme and visual hierarchy.
7. No central page to look at all of the press coverage. Add a page with the press coverage received by the lab.
8. Background and foreground colors do not have a sufficient contrast ratio. Build an inclusive and accessible website.

Web Design & Development

NYU Tandon School of Engineering
NYU Tandon School of Engineering
NYU Tandon School of Engineering
NYU Tandon School of Engineering
NYU Tandon School of Engineering
NYU Tandon School of Engineering

User Testing

A user testing exercise was conducted with seventeen graduate students from the Mechatronics, Controls, and Robotics Laboratory where each one was asked to draw a comparison between the old and the new website based on purpose, ease of navigation, look and feel, engagement, organization of content, and overall. The results are depicted below.

NYU Tandon School of Engineering NYU Tandon School of Engineering

Key Performance Indicator

Net Promoter Score, a proven metric for rating user experiences and brand loyalty, was used as the key performance indicator for the project. 88.2% of users gave a 9 or higher rating when asked about how likely are they to share the new website with their colleagues, recruiters, friends, family, and network at large as a gateway to the work being done at Mechatronics, Controls, and Robotics Laboratory.

NYU Tandon School of Engineering NYU Tandon School of Engineering

Note: The work product shown is for informational purposes only and is the intellectual property of NYU Tandon School of Engineering. No copyright or any other infringement intended.