Assistant Professor of Product Design, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Aziza Cyamani is a multidisciplinary designer with experience in product development, visual communication, and sustainable systems. Her main research focuses on the integration of cross cutting topics in industrial/product design education, with a particular focus on sustainability and transdisciplinary collaboration. Her creative scholarship centers on object meaning in diverse cultures and the social impacts of artifacts after posttraumatic events. Ms. Cyamani holds a Master of Design in Sustainable Environments and a Master of Industrial Design from Iowa State University.
For years, she has been a significant contributor to IDSA’s Women in Design and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives, while also speaking to the adaptation of design education through the difficult time of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cyamani is a multidisciplinary designer with specialized training in user-centered design, visual communication, product development, and sustainable systems. She received her master’s degrees in Industrial Design and Sustainable Environments from Iowa State University and has taught at Kansas State University and Iowa State University.
At UNL, she has proposed a comprehensive plan of curricular re-development to build a more robust Product Design minor, with enough curricular flexibility to include students earning degrees in several programs across campus. She has done this by identifying core learning outcomes, knowledge domains, and skill development as appropriate for students pursuing a minor with various degrees of competency, from beginner to advanced understanding.
Cyamani co-edited IDSA’s annual Education issue of INNOVATION magazine in 2021, developing and co-writing a series highlighting the diverse voices of academia on mainstream industrial design issues. Additionally, she co-emceed IDSA’s Education Symposium in 2020 and 2021 and served as an IDEA juror in 2021 and 2022.
This is all on top of Cyamani’s work at UNL, where she has successfully introduced and connected students to globally complex problems—such as sustainable agricultural practices in Africa—in ways that have rendered purposeful and innovative design solutions.
“Aziza has demonstrated a passion for and commitment to teaching excellence in the classroom and through co-curricular development,” says Lindsay Bahe, Associate Professor and Director of the Interior Design Program at UNL. “As a 17-year veteran educator, I have found Aziza’s ability to communicate and craft a disciplinary learning framework for a minor program to be remarkable.”
Says one of Cyamani’s former students, Lizeth Sustaita-Delgado, “Aziza cares deeply about empowering students and about the issues of diversity and inclusion that concern us…She is an important role model in my life as an industrial design student and as a person.”
Aziza Cyamani, IDSA, Assistant Professor of Product Design at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, was essential to upholding IDSA’s pillars of education and community this year. In addition to serving on the IDEA jury, she and Verena Paepcke-Hjeltness, IDSA, significantly contributed to IDSA’s INNOVATION magazine and co-chaired the annual IDSA Education Symposium, part of the International Design Conference 2021.
“I cannot speak about my accomplishments,” Aziza says, “without highlighting my partner, the IDSA Education Council Chair, Verena Paepcke-Hjeltness, whom I first met as a student but who has continued to be an invaluable source of mentorship, opportunity, and occasionally, a sharer of laughter. Together, in 2021, we engaged in bringing diverse voices of academia into current industrial design conversations in a limited column called Academia 360° published in INNOVATION mag. For the second year, she invited me to co-chair the annual IDSA Education Symposium and serve on the organizing committee with Bryan Howell, IDSA and Carly Hagins, IDSA. This year’s virtual conference included a diverse portfolio of presentations centered upon ‘Breaking down barriers to foster collaborations for systematic change.'”
On this topic, Aziza and Verena also co-guest edited the Winter 2021 issue of INNOVATION, in which they curated contributions that discuss and provide critical insights on equity, shifts brought by the pandemic, and work culture in industrial design education.
Aziza joined the College of Architecture at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln this year and, “building upon the work that has been done before me, I have been contributing to teaching and designing a robust and sustainable curriculum for the product design minor program,” she notes. “Part of what has also inspired me this year was serving on the IDEA jury and witnessing innovation and design excellence from around the world.”
She’s also been motivated by the spirit of her students, peers, colleagues, and design community in general during this unpredictable and difficult time for so many. “The past few years have been insightful to say the least,” she adds, “but for the most part because it feels like, as a society, we are building bridges over community borders. I see it among students who, more than ever, are reflecting care for advocacy, social equity, and environmental stewardship in their design endeavors. Speaking about these important matters on mainstream platforms is clearly allowing us to take the power back and make way for them to permeate our lives and work. So, for the next year, I am looking forward to continued conversations, witnessing design excellence, and hopefully, in-person connections.”
Adapting on the Fly, COVID-19 & Industrial Design Education
We are living through a time of constant change due to the global pandemic and the design industry continues to adapt to these changes. What role does academia play? How has Industrial Design education adjusted to the global pandemic? In times when students and professors are working under unprecedented disruptions, how can we provide a meaningful educational environment? How can we support adaptive collaborative research and development through setbacks? How can our academic-industry collaboration model facilitate a new approach and lead the way? What are the experiences we can learn from and build upon, fostering DESIGN EXCHANGE across academia and industry? Join us for an actionable discussion!
Moderator: Aziza Cyamani
Panelists:
