Joyce Thomas

Joyce Thomas, IDSA | SAGE Vice Chair | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaigne

Joyce Thomas, MFA, IDSA is an innovator and educator with a passion for design. As a professional industrial designer, she has worked across interdisciplinary boundaries and integrated marketing, engineering, and consumer needs into creative products for Electrolux, Euro-Pro, Bosch, Jarden Consumer Solutions, Sunbeam, Crock-Pot, and others for 30+ years. Joyce has invented products that have been awarded 58 US and international patents. She has employed the consumer as an active participant in the designing process, utilizing user-centered design, design ethnography, and empathic design research strategies. Thomas is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Industrial Design at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where she teaches user-oriented collaborative design, studio and technology courses. Her research interests include Design and Disability and Design for Disaster Preparedness and Recovery.