Ricardo Gomes, Professor, Design Center for Global Needs, San Francisco State University

Professor Ricardo Gomes has been a faculty member in the School of Design at San Francisco State University for over 29 years; Chair of the DAI Department from 2002-2012; and coordinator of the Design Center for Global Needs/Shapira Design Archive Project. This non-profit international research and development center is dedicated to promoting responsive design solutions to local, regional and global issues such as: inclusive/universal design, the aging, community development, design thinking, health care, social innovation and sustainability of the built environment.

Prof. Gomes was awarded the 2020 Faculty Award for Excellence in Service Learning, from the Institute for Civic and Community Engagement, SFSU; and the IDSA 2020 Education Award presented in recognition of significant, distinguished, and long-term contributions of faculty to the field of industrial design academia.

He is on the Board of Directors of the Institute for Human Centered Design in Boston; a member of the Industrial Designers Society of America; and Trustee of the Beta Beta Chapter, Epsilon Pi Tau International Honor Society for Technology.

Prof. Gomes was a Fulbright Research Scholar from 1984-1986 at the University of Nairobi, Kenya.
He conducted post-graduate research and product development of a container system for mobile health care delivery in East Africa from 1982 – 1987. In 1986, he was Program Coordinator of Design Projects in Developing Countries, Ecole nationale supérieure de création industrielle in Paris, France where he directed student liaison projects with European international development agencies.

For over 30 years, Prof. Gomes has conducted keynote speeches, presentations, symposiums and workshops at universities and international conferences throughout Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the U.S. In addition, he has served on juries related to Inclusive Design; Universal Design; Design for Social Responsibility; Sustainability; and Equity for BIPoC in the Built Environment.

He received his MFA in Industrial Design for Low-Income Economies, University of California, Los Angeles (Design of a Container System for Mobile Health Care Delivery in East Africa); M.A. in Architectural Building Technology from School of Architecture and Urban Planning, UCLA (Analysis of Alternative Building Materials and Construction Systems for Small-scale Industries in the Cape Verde Islands, West Africa); BFA in Industrial Design, Massachusetts College of Art (Design of an Adaptive Structural Environment for Severely Disabled and Developmentally Challenged Children)