Dr. Larry Leifer's engineering design thinking research is focused on instrumenting design teams to understand, support, and improve design practice and theory. Specific issues include: design-team research methodology, global team dynamics, innovation leadership, interaction design, design-for-wellbeing, and adaptive mechatronic systems.

The "designXlab" at the Stanford Center for Design Research (CDR) has long (30+ years) been focused on Engineering Design Team dynamics at global collaboration scale working with corporate partners in Dr. Leifer's graduate course ME310ABC. In their most recent studies they have added Neuroscience visualization of brain activity using fMRI and fNIRS. In doing so they have launched "NeuroDesign" as a professional discipline.