NEW YORK, NY.- Parsons The New School for Design has announced a new Master of Fine Arts in Transdisciplinary Design, which will launch in Fall 2010. The studio-based program will serve as a laboratory to empower designers to face the complex challenges of today's 24/7, global culture, which are not easily addressed by a single design discipline, through new forms of collaborative, cross-disciplinary practice.

The program is the latest offering of the School of Design Strategies at Parsons, which encompasses innovative programs that apply design thinking to study the intersection of cities, services and ecosystems.

To celebrate the launch, the School of Design Strategies is presenting a series of programming this spring. The Stephan Weiss Lecture Series will feature conversations around design for a complex world. This includes a March 25 program with Andrew Blauvelt, design director and curator of the Walker Art Center and eating designer Marije Vogelzang, principal of the Amsterdam-based design studios Proef and Studio Marjie Vogelzang; and on April 6, Natalie Jeremijenko, director of the xdesign Environmental Health Clinic at New York University and Nigel Snoad, technical evangelist and product manager for the Microsoft Public Safety Initiative.

In addition, on March 26, Parsons will present HEADSPACE: On Scent as Design, a one-day symposium with The Museum of Modern Art in partnership with International Flavors & Fragrances Inc., which will bring together leading design thinkers, scientists, artists, architects, perfumers and designers to explore the untapped medium of scent as a new territory for design.

For more information on the MFA in Transdisciplinary Design or these related programs, visit http://www.newschool.edu/transblog