Stephen Melamed, FIDSA, is an industrial designer and design educator experienced at navigating complex situations and projects, having worked in consulting, corporate and non-profits, collaborating with and bringing together multiple disciplines to create a culture of innovation. He began his studies in theoretical physics at Boston University and later received a master’s degree with distinction in Industrial Design from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Stephen was also an apprentice to Bauhaus designer/artist/author Werner Graeff. He has been awarded a Design Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts & Humanities and was privileged to study with R. Buckminster Fuller at World Game. In 2016, Stephen was inducted into the IDSA Academy of Fellows (Industrial Designers Society of America). In 2017, he was named President of the International Society for Design Thinking (ISDT), a public/private partnership of the Chinese Ministry of Education and Fasinno Academy based in Beijing, China. He is currently Clinical Professor/Founding Chair of Industrial Design at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and Associate Director of the Interdisciplinary Product Development Program (IPD) at the UIC Innovation Center. He was also a founding member of the not-for-profit AIGA national design advocacy group, Design for Democracy (D4D), and has served on its Board of Directors.