AU/IND Faculty, Staff and Students

Associate Professor Tin Man Lau was acknowledged in Auburn�s �AU Report, 2/27/97� for his studios� work with Brother International Inc. over the past three years. Lau and IND seniors Andrew Saving, Tom D�Agostino and Scott Ellis accompanied a display of our students� work for Brother to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this January. Tin Man has been appointed to the Board of Directors of Design Alabama, a publication focused on bringing cross disciplinary design issues into the public realm. He also serves as the AU/IND WebMaster, providing new information and updates on a regular basis.

Associate Professor Laura Prange has been invited to do a studio installation at the Spaces Gallery in Cleveland, OH. The installation will be on exhibit May 2 through June 6. She has had a paper entitled: �How Art Works in a Second Year Industrial Design Studio� accepted for presentation at the Foundations of Art: Theory and Education (FATE), National Conference in Richmond, VA. Laura is also directing the Design History class and offering a graduate course on the history and theory of the Bauhaus.

Assistant Professor Rich Britnell is directing an industry collaboration project with Hitachi Home Electronics Inc. focused on the redesign of Hitachi�s camcorder product line. He is also preparing to direct our Spring Quarter Ireland Study Abroad Program. Rich, GTA Michael Browning and ten third year IND students will travel and study at four Art and Design schools in Ireland. This is a wonderful and affordable $3,500+tuition) opportunity for our students to travel and be exposed to design experiences within a rich cultural tradition. As Juniors they will return with this experience to enrich our AU/IND program.

Our required senior portfolio class, also directed by Randy, insures that all students graduating from AU/IND carry a complete professional portfolio with them. This has been an important asset to our students and a reflection of our commitment to appropriately prepare AU/IND graduates.

Assistant Professor Brenda Peters is participating in a federally funded grant to introduce design education into high school curricula. The project entitled �Ventures in Education� is a national effort administered out of New York. Brenda serves as the project coordinator for two schools in west Alabama. Brenda will also be presenting a paper entitled �Worlds Apart: Closing the Gap through Design Education� at the FATE National Conference. For the third summer the department will be offering an Industrial Design Workshop, July 13-18, for high school and college students interested in industrial design. Brenda has been assisting in the advanced planning, redesign and distribution of this summer�s promotional material .

Industrial Design Laboratory Specialist II Glen Boyd is working on a grant from the Department of Energy to develop promotional material to support the commercialization of a new residential utility wall design. This product called ResCore was designed and prototyped by AU/IND under an earlier phase of the DOE grant. Glen is also managing the installation of new �Information Technology� equipment acquired through the Industrial Design Tuition Differential Program. This program directs significant tuition funding toward expanding IND computer resources.

AU/IND students Chad Patterson, Karl Wendt, Juan Lopez and Naomi Nelson received Honorable Mentions in the National Housewares Manufacturers Association (NHMA) Design Competition. Their designs, the second largest number selected from any school, were on display at the NHMA national meeting at McCormick Place in Chicago in January. There were more than 200 design submissions from 17 schools across the country that participated in this annual competition.