Assistant Professor, Industrial Design, University of Houston
Jeff Feng is a designer and design educator with more than 15 years of experience in designing new products, providing product development service in the industries of healthcare, consumer electronics, product packaging, etc.
His work has been featured in ID, Metropolis, Medical Design and Appliance Design magazines. Feng has led his design team to win numerous recognitions, most notably IDSA’s International Design Excellence Award (IDEA), Medical Design Excellence Award and an ID magazine award. Feng holds more than 40 US and international design and utility patents.
Jeff Feng, IDSA, Associate Professor in the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design at the University of Houston and Principal at Enliving Research and Design LLC, also serves as Chair of the new IDSA Houston chapter.
“The IDSA city-based chapter initiative provides a great opportunity to the design community in the Houston metropolitan area,” says Jeff. This inspired him to lead in building the IDSA Houston chapter, IDSA HTX, in 2021. Working closely with Professor George Chow, IDSA, the South District Chapter Representative, Jeff led the effort to connect with local design professionals, recruit chapter board officers, and develop and execute the plan to establish the chapter.
IDSA HTX recently held an energizing kickoff event to connect with many local design professionals and students; and during IDESIGN 2021, organized by the student IDSA chapter at the College, the professional chapter helped to organize a one-day event with portfolio reviews by professionals, a career fair, and a design forum.
As a professor, Jeff’s research primarily falls in the design of medical and healthcare products and services, and in technology-driven innovation and entrepreneurship teaching and training. During 2021, in addition to teaching undergraduate and graduate-level studio courses, Jeff has continued his effort to expand the presence and influence of Industrial Design at UH and in the local community by forming vibrant and productive interdisciplinary collaborations with partners in the College of Engineering, the College of Technology, and the School of Business, among others. Jeff has served as an awardee and PI in multiple NSF and other national grants. These collaborations and Jeff’s work have realized many IPs at the University of Houston over the years.
As a member of the BRAIN (Building Reliable Advances and Innovations in Neurotechnology) Center, Jeff’s team has developed a novel EEG headset to help track patients’ brain neural function concerning the neurorehabilitation process. The device is in preparation for a clinical trial.
Infused with extensive design practice experience, Jeff’s teaching effectiveness is reflected in his students’ successes. In 2021, Jeff’s student Anna Bibikova won first place in the Bienenstock Furniture Design Competition. This is the third time one of Jeff’s students has won this award in the last three years.
2021 has been a challenging year for many of us, and particularly for industrial design students. Remote teaching brought many limitations to students’ learning in terms of an immersive studio experience, face-to-face mentoring, and hands-on making and building, says Jeff. The urgency to help students was a motivating factor for him to resume in-person teaching as soon as it was allowed in Fall 2021, following the University of Houston’s pandemic safety guidelines.
Jeff gratefully credits IDSA HTX officers for their passion, dedication, and leadership roles serving in the chapter. They are Eliot Martinez, IDSA, Vice Chair; Lauren Peters, IDSA, Secretary and Treasurer; Usna Ghaffar, IDSA, Social Media Lead, and Mariana Keymolen, IDSA, Events Chair.
The chapter’s young and energetic team has been a continuous source of inspiration to him. “They bring fresh ideas, bold initiatives, and energized social media presence to the chapter’s strategic planning and development,” Jeff confirms. “Without their diligence, IDSA HTX [would] not be up running so quickly and smoothly with a lasting impact.”
“The chapter board is looking forward to a more vibrant year of growth in 2022,” Jeff continues. “In the effort of inviting more professionals and students to engage and be part of IDSA-HTX, the year will be filled with in-person and online events.” These will include themed design forums, networking gatherings and parties, and collaborations with other chapters.
Optimizing sources of inspiration to support concept generation
Cultivating Creativity Through Empathy: An Empathy Focused Framework in Design Studio Teaching
Empathy development has been recognized, discussed and implemented in design practice for more than 20 years. Although empathy also is addressed in design education—the understanding of its potential impact on students’ creativity and the depth of its application are limited.
Empathy development often is seen as a part of the early stage research of a project, but not a main thread weaving through the whole design process, nor as the main mechanism contributing to students’ creative performance. Through a brief review of how empathic research has evolved in design, Jeff Feng, assistant professor of ID at University of Houston, proposes an empathy focused framework in a design studio teaching context.
