美国工业设计协会教育副主席、董事
国际杰出设计奖IDEA组委会前主席
欧文·福斯特Owen Foster,美国萨凡纳艺术与设计学院工业设计系前主任、终身教授、美国罗德岛艺术与设计学院客座教授、国际杰出设计奖IDEA组委会前主席、美国工业设计协会终身教育成就奖得主,现任美国工业设计协会教育副主席、董事,美国工业设计协会教育智库首席执行官。福斯特教授长年作为戴尔公司、可口可乐工业设计与创新部、美国航天局工业创意部门、谷歌集团创新实验室等多家核心设计创新机构顾问,并为美国工业设计协会的教育智库开设了SHiFT设计教育法,通过融合来自全球的创意人才在野外与企业环境中分别封闭集训并为高校、企业输送优质人才。
A diverse background in architecture, landscape, environmental, and industrial design has afforded me the opportunity to work on an extensive array of projects ranging from small consumer products to complete green environments for several municipalities around the world. I have held positions such as: design director for multiple product design and manufacturing companies with high-profile clients, co-founder of Fulcrum Collaborative, and East Coast landscape architect representative for Monrovia Nurseries.
Though very successful in those endeavors, becoming an educator and mentor seemed to be my calling. I started this career with professorships at Auburn University and University of Louisiana-Lafayette in the field of industrial design. Recently I held the positions of ID Group Department chair (industrial design, design management, service design, design for sustainability, business of design, interaction design, and marine design) and professor at SCAD. Under my leadership tenure, SCAD industrial design was ranked in the top 10 by DesignIntelligence each year, top by Red Dot World Ranking, while earning awards from world renowned competitions.
As a professor, I have facilitated more than 20 cross-disciplinary collaborative studio projects with Fortune 100 companies such as Coca-Cola, GE, Mattel, HP, McDonald’s, BMW, and many others. I have also guided international study abroad programs in Ireland, UK, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China. Honored and humbled, I was named one of the Top 30 Most Admired Educators in the Field of Design in 2014; IDSA Educator of the Year 2015; IDEA jury member for 2014-15 and 2015-16; IDEA jury chair-elect for 2017; Alabama Art’s Impact Award 2017.
In my most recent venture, I am a co-founder, director, and overall ‘Troublemaker’ of Aether Global Learning and SHiFT Design Camp. With an amazing team, we look to create freethinking empathetic practitioners who will passionately lead their local and global communities through logical discourse, impeccable craft, and sound strategic direction. I want to provide a world-class educational experience through platforms for discovery, creation and reflection for the global community of makers, thinkers, changers, givers and leaders.
With a strong passion for being viewed as a mentor, I believe every experience is an opportunity to learn something new. That the measure of success has to do with applying yourself to everything you do. This approach has afforded me the opportunity of being featured in many articles, interviews and discussions around the world.
My journey started as a farm boy in the cotton fields of Alabama, where I began dreaming of how to help the world around me become a better place. Today those dreams and life lessons that were instilled in me on the farm still fuel that passion. I never worried about my name being remembered--just my deeds.