Students will engage in direct conversations with ecotourism stakeholders connected to Puerto Rico and Southeastern Connecticut, surface and challenge their own assumptions, and produce evidence-based empathy artifacts grounded in real user voices to inform later problem definition and design work.

Students will synthesize interview data from Puerto Rico and Connecticut stakeholders into evidence-based insights, identify patterns across users, and craft a clear, research-grounded How Might We statement that defines a focused ecotourism design challenge for the next phase.

Students will generate, expand, and narrow diverse ecotourism design concepts for a Southeastern Connecticut site by applying human-centered design strategies grounded in their user research from Puerto Rico and local stakeholders. They will move from rapid divergent brainstorming to evidence-based convergence, producing annotated concept sketches that directly respond to documented user needs and cultural considerations.

Students will build, test, and refine low- to mid-fidelity prototypes of their Connecticut ecotourism concepts, using real user feedback and documented iteration to strengthen alignment with economic, environmental, and cultural sustainability goals.

Students will conduct a final validation round of their sustainable Connecticut ecotourism plans with new users, refine their interactive digital exhibits based on stakeholder feedback, and present their full design journey—from empathy to iteration—to community partners including the Hispanic Alliance of Southeastern Connecticut, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, and the Connecticut Blue Economy Coalition.