Kathleen Brandt is Assistant Professor in the Industrial and Interaction Design Program at Syracuse University’s Department of Design.
She works between the fields of design, art, and education to develop and promote design systems that respond to current issues of social and cultural change. Building on her background in sculpture, information arts and electronic media installation, Kathleen explores how the thought processes behind design work can be reflected upon, visualized, and represented to advance design towards more deeply ecological strategies of making and doing in the world.
Her focus on design practice as a process of negotiation more than of material production has led her to develop intensely collaborative teaching and research strategies. To host and advance this work, she has co-developed an innovative work environment called Thinklab which utilizes advanced interactive technologies to foster creative thinking in design collaboration. Rooted in structured and participatory thinking methodologies, Thinklab is an experimental resource for transdisciplinary thinking on complex problems.
Kathleen has also developed a body of work exploring the implications of designed artifacts to our larger social and spatial environments. From wearable computing devices to interactive installations and documentary video works, these projects seek to theorize how and what we make, and reflect upon the impacts design and the making of things have left on the world.
Prior to her position at Syracuse University, Kathleen has taught across a variety of disciplines, including Industrial Design at Carleton University, Media Arts and Communication Studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Electronic Art at The State University of New York at Albany, and Film and Media at Siena College.