Spring 2022 - In Progress | Principal Investigator
Appalachian State University, Department of Applied Design

This research project seeks to study and document the experiences of design students from racially minoritized communities who face the double challenge of navigating a professional field and an educational setting where they have been historically underrepresented. The project will use a grounded theory approach and semi-structured interviews and focus groups to characterize the experiences of these students, identify the main challenges they face during their design education, and identify opportunities to improve their learning experiences. The project's findings will be communicated to the design education community to promote changes in teaching practices and curriculum development that will create a more inclusive and equitable learning environment for all design students.

Fall 2022 - In Progress | Principal Investigator
Appalachian State University, Department of Applied Design

Since July 2022, I have been exploring the integration of AI tools, particularly text-to-image generators (e.g., Midjourney, DALL-E, and Stable Diffusion), into design education and research. I have introduced these tools to some of my students, who have been able to use them to strengthen ideation in their design process. Also, I have explored these tools with my colleagues at the App DigiFab learning community, creating a collective digital installation showcased at the Transformations Exhibition at the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts. This project intends to continue exploring AI's role in my teaching and research in design.