Professor/Coordinator, Design Center for Global Needs/Shapira Design Archive
Design & Industry Department, San Francisco State University
Professor Ricardo Gomes has been a faculty member in the Design and Industry (DAI) Department at San Francisco State University for nearly 25 years. He was the Chair of the Department from 2002-2012. Prof. Gomes coordinates the Design Center for Global Needs and the Shapira Design Archive Project in the DAI Department. This non-profit international research and development center is dedicated to promoting responsive design solutions to local, regional and global issues such as: inclusive/universal design, health care, the aging, community development, social innovation and sustainability of the built environment.
Prof. Gomes is on the Board of Directors of the Institute for Human Centered Design in Boston. He is also a member of the Industrial Designers Society of America; and Epsilon Pi Tau International Honor Society for Technology.
Prof. Gomes received his MFA in Industrial Design for Low-Income Economies from the University of California, Los Angeles (Design of a Container System for Mobile Health Care Delivery in East Africa). He received an M.A. in Architectural Building Technology from School of Architecture and Urban Planning at UCLA (Analysis of Alternative Building Materials and Construction Systems for Small-scale Industries in the Cape Verde Islands); and a BFA in Industrial Design from Massachusetts College of Art (Design of an Adaptive Structural Environment for Severely Disabled and Developmentally Challenged Children). Prof. Gomes was a Fulbright Research Scholar from 1984-1986 at the University of Nairobi, Kenya. He conducted post-graduate research and product development of a container system for mobile health care delivery in East Africa from 1982 – 1987. In 1986, he was Program Coordinator of Design Projects in Developing Countries, Les Ateliers, Ecole nationale supérieure de création industrielle (ENSCI) in Paris, France where he directed student liaison projects with European international development agencies.
For over 30 years, Prof. Gomes has conducted keynote speeches, presentations, symposiums and workshops at universities and international conferences throughout Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the U.S. In addition, he has served on juries related to Inclusive Design; Universal Design; Design for Social Responsibility; Global Design and Cultural Identity.
View 2011 International Conference Education Symposium Session Profile
