Indiana
Darshini Render is a higher education professional. At present, she serves as an Assistant Director for Student Success in the College of Engineering at Purdue University, where she operationalize and implements programs for professional development. She teaches career development, cross-cultural leadership skills and introduction to Strategic Doing for undergraduates.
Since 2009, Darshini has been involved in training and development in several public and private universities. Darshini has considerable practical experience in mentoring, coaching, career services program development, multidisciplinary research, consulting, and teaching. Darshini is a PLUS-Fulbright scholar, and received her B.A in Sociology and Business Administration from Colorado State University and her M.Ed. in Higher Education Leadership from the University of Nevada Las Vegas. Darshini is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Engineering Education at Purdue University. Her research interests are in pedagogies of collaborative sciences.
The associate director at the Purdue Agile Strategy Lab, A social scientist who has studied and practiced strategy and collaboration since 1992, Scott Hutcheson’s focus is on designing tools and learning experiences related to collaborative, agile approaches for doing complex work. He has applied his work in diverse settings like economic development, innovation, business growth, and social change.
Scott has been engaged by nearly 400 industry, public sector, higher education, and nonprofit clients in 30 U.S. states and internationally.
His teaching at Purdue focuses on helping engineering technology students build their skills in agile approaches, collaboration, strategy, and project management.
Scott has a Ph.D. in public policy, a masters in public administration, and an undergraduate degree in theater. His doctoral research was on effective strategy in economic development.
Mel Edwards is a lead instructional designer at Purdue University, Certified Associate Project Manager (CAPM), Certified Career and Education Advisor, educator, community leader, author, and more.
If you wonder how one woman might have so many titles, you need to understand that Mel is a lifelong do-er. Because we are as strong as our personal interest, drive, networks, and vision, Mel knew once she was introduced to Strategic Doing that she found a framework she could happily share with others. This is why she now uses Strategic Doing to help others leverage their assets, act, and make decisions quickly and effectively for measurable results within weeks instead of years.
Are you looking for an experienced neighborhood coalition leader, nonprofit collaborator, professional network facilitator, and Strategic Doing workshop leader to help your project along? Mel has this background, and is happy to lead your Strategic Doing workshop, and employ her other areas of expertise to help your group move forward.
The founder of the Purdue Agile Strategy Lab, Ed’s work emphasizes the strategic value of focused regional collaborations and open innovation, network-based models in today’s global economy.
Ed is the developer of Strategic Doing to accelerate collaborations, now widely used across the U.S. and is now gaining attention internationally. His work won the first Arthur D. Little Award for excellence in economic development presented by the American Economic Development Council.
Prior to starting his economic development work, Ed worked for Telesis, a corporate strategy consulting firm. In this position, he served on consulting teams for clients such as Ford Motor Company, Volvo, and General Electric. He conducted manufacturing cost studies in the U.S., Japan, Mexico, Canada, Italy, Sweden, and France.
Ed started his professional career in Washington, D.C., where he has served as a legislative assistant to an Ohio Congressman, staff attorney in the Federal Trade Commission, and staff counsel in the US Senate. He holds a BA degree cum laude with honors from Yale University and MBA and JD degrees from the University of Virginia.
