Title: "STEM Women Changing the World: Reshaping Computing Technology through the Lens of Product, Fashion, and Interior Design"
Speaker: Prof. Sara Nabil
Date: Tuesday, April 4
Time: 2:00 pm
Location: Goodwin Hall, Room 247, Queen's University
Abstract
In this talk, I'll present what I and my, mostly female students, have been working on in our research lab, iStudio, to reshape technology by caring about what people need, feel, and want. We invent new ways of creating rugs, curtains, or seat-belts to have sensing or morphological capabilities by designing with people rather than for them. We use smart materials that can change their shape and colour to design aesthetically-pleasing everyday products, garments, and accessories that are digital. We mix interaction design methods and state-of-the-art digital fabrication techniques with traditional crafting and making practices to make tech that is not cold, mass-produced, or device-y, but warm, soft, and customizable/handmade.
Short Bio
Sara Nabil is an Assistant Professor at Queens Computing and head of the HCI Design Studio. Sara did her postdoc at the CIL (Creative Interactions Lab) in Carleton University and her PhD at OpenLab in Newcastle University, UK. Her research integrates interior, fashion and product design with interaction design, using seamless soft sensing, e-textiles and smart materials that are malleable, shape-changing or colour-changing. Sara’s work of interactive spaces and wearables has been showcased at a number of exhibitions including ‘Living with Adaptive Architecture’ (Lakeside Arts Gallery Nottingham, UK 2018) and the ‘Persuasive Pharmacy Space’ (London Design Festival, UK 2018). Her background includes both a BSc and MSc in Computing with prior experience as an HCI Lecturer, Interior Designer and Sr. Software Developer.