ThinkeringSpace, IIT Institute of Design

© 2007-2009, IIT Institute of Design

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Protoype Development Team Biographies of faculty and students at Illinois Institute of Technology who contributed to the ThinkeringSpace prototype development.
Fall 2007 - Fall 2008
Dale Fahnstrom, Professor, IIT Institute of Design
Dale Fahnstrom is former director of the Institute of Design, where he has been on faculty since 1966. As a member of the interdisciplinary faculty team that leads the graduate demonstration class, he works individually with students on human-centered product development theses. Professor Fahnstrom assists the Director on facilities planning and coordination.				Professor Fahnstrom has designed products for such diverse corporate clients as Knoll International, Philips Electronics, Steelcase, and NEC. His work in packaging design is featured in the permanent collection of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum; his ‘Bulldog’ chair, designed with Michael McCoy and introduced in 1990 by Knoll, was the largest-selling seating product in the manufacturer's line. He is a partner in the consulting firm of Fahnstrom/White and holds a B.F.A. and M.F.A. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Thomas J. McLeish, Studio Assistant Professor, College of Architecture, Illinois Institute of Technology
T.J. McLeish holds a Master's of Science degree in Media Technology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.Arch., BS in Environmental Design from the Ball State University, Department of Architecture. His background is rich in design, visualization, and prototyping with multidisciplinary teams on high pressure, deadline driven, ‘demo or die‘ projects for world class institutions.				His design experience covers architecture, interactive sculpture, interactive design tools, software engineering, tangible interfaces, and simple digital hardware development. His visualization experience ranges from leading the integration of 3D visualization into Murphy/Jahn Architects design process to designing and implementing a DirectX based 3D graphics engine for real time distributed applications.
Heloisa Moura, PhD, Research Associate, IIT Institute of Design
Heloisa Moura has an interdisciplinary academic background. She holds a Masters of Science Degree in Education and four expertise diplomas, graduate level: Computer Graphics; Internet, Interface & Multimedia; Distance Education; and Psycho-pedagogy. Her B.S. is in Mathematics.				Heloisa has concluded a PhD degree in Human-Centered Communication Design at the Institute of Design, Illinois Institute of Technology, funded by the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, CNPq. Her research focuses on understanding multimodal interaction and learning within technology-enhanced learning environments.
Greg Prygrocki, Associate Professor, IIT Institute of Design
Greg Prygrocki has served as the Institute's Associate Director and has taught courses ranging from the Foundation series (required of all in-coming students with no design background), to the Research and Demonstration Project class, the "thesis project" of the Master of Design degree.				His professional experience has included work in the areas of identity, signage, publication and book design. His own work and examples of his students' projects have appeared in various national and international publications. He holds a B.I.D. from the University of Manitoba, Canada, and an M.V.A., University of Alberta, Canada.
Summer 2008
Ann Hintzman, MDes Candidate, IIT Institute of Design
Ann recently completed her foundation year of the Master of Design program. Prior to coming to ID, she worked as a bond analyst at Putnam Investments, and studied cognitive science at Wellesley College.				Ann likes to figure out how the pieces of a puzzle fit together, and uses design as a means of understanding how things work, untangling conflicts, and finding solutions. Desipite this love of resolving complexity, she keeps a very messy desk.
Van Vuong, MDes Candidate, IIT Institute of Design
Van Vuong is currently pursuing a Master of Design degree. Her main interest is in communication and interaction design. Originally from Omaha, Nebraska, Van earned a Bachelors degree in Fine Art with minors in Math and Art History from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Van has experience in graphic and web design, digital textile design, quilt-making, and printmaking.				Prior to coming to ID, she was a designer for the Minnow Project, an advertising firm in Lincoln, Nebraska. She has also worked in the studio of world-reknown artist Michael James where, in addition to being a helpful hand, she designed her own line of digital textile patterns and art quilts.
Spring 2009
LaLuce Mitchell, BArch, IIT College of Architecture
LaLuce Mitchell is an aspiring preservation architect, a recent graduate of the IIT College of Architecture entering the School of the Art Institute in Fall 2009, that also has a passion for and interest in various technologies: interactive, web-based, and coded. Working on ThinkeringSpace allowed him to explore the line between architecture and technology, how a space can become experiential using technology, knowledge that holds interesting and mostly yet unexplored potential for older structures that are to be brought back to their golden days.				When not working, he loves Chicago, riding around it on the train, observing its people, and taking advantage of all it has to offer.