2025 SEGD Academic Summit

Event Details

The 2025 SEGD Academic Summit is a virtual event hosted on June 17 and June 18 at 12:00-5:30 pm ET.

The SEGD Academic Summit is a forum for trends in design education research, projects and curriculum innovation for design academics, students and researchers. This event is great for industry members as well, to reconnect and learn about new ideas evolving from current research. This event is entirely free and promotes the latest developments in design research and education.

Agenda

June 17, 2025
June 18, 2025

June 17, 2025

Main Schedule

12:00 PM - 12:15 PM

Welcome

Joell Angel-Chumbley

Liz Griswold

12:15 PM - 2:05 PM

Session 1: Collaboration & Community in Practice

Presentations:

"Transforming Public Spaces: Enhancing Community Engagement through Experiential Graphic Design in a street parking garage" by Huiwon Lim + Phil Choo

"Perception of Space: Experience Oriented, Participant Activated, Exhibition Design" by Sofia Ingegno

"Creating with Community: Imagining Collaborative, Justice-Oriented Spaces in our Neighborhoods" by Kellyn Nettles

"Shaping EGD Education: Case Studies in Industry Collaboration and Urban Design" by Julie Hurley

Moderated Q&A

Huiwon Lim

Sofia Ingegno

Kellyn Nettles

Julie Hurley

2:05 PM - 2:20 PM

Break

2:20 PM - 4:10 PM

Session 2

Presentations:

"Hollow Motifs: Exploring AI’s Impact on the Public, Practice and Design Education" by Kleighton Burns

"From Pixels to Places: Reintegrating Typography’s Spatial and Experiential Dimensions in Design Education" by Seojoo Han

"Ethical Boundaries in Guerrilla Experiential Design" by Hamza Iqbal

"On Tap: The Columbia Tap Trail" by Gerald Sastra + Cheryl Beckett

Moderated Q&A

Kleighton Burns

Seojoo Han

Hamza Iqbal

Gerald Sastra

4:10 PM - 5:30 PM

Moderated Breakout Sessions

Topic 1: "Is there a Crisis in Higher Education? How do Academics Respond?"

Topic 2: "State of Cultural Institutions Losing Funding?"

Joell Angel-Chumbley

Speakers

Joell Angel-Chumbley

EGD Lead, DOTE, Architecture and Urban Design Office at City of Cincinnati

Liz Griswold

Director of Education and Experience at SEGD

Lisa K. Bambach

Master of Design Graduate at University of Washington

Kleighton Burns

Interior Design Instructor at University of Manitoba

Vivian Natalia Combariza Mejía

Graphic Intern at H&R

Steven Coward

Experiential Designer at Pinnacle Exhibits

Bamidélé Elégbèdé

Founder of RitualShare Lab, Adjunct Professor, Product & Exhibition Design, Drexel University

Seojoo Han

Assistant Professor at University of Florida

Julie Hurley

Lecturer at California State University, Long Beach

Sofia Ingegno

Student at California State University, Long Beach - CSULB

Hamza Iqbal

Brand and Product Designer at Hamza Iqbal Design

Huiwon Lim

Assistant Professor at Penn State

Sarah Miorelli

Planner at Exit Design

Kellyn Nettles

Designer / Worker-Owner / Co-Director of Publishing at Àrokò Cooperative

Maral Salehian

Interdisciplinary Designer at University of California, Davis (recent graduate)

Gerald Sastra

Student at University of Houston

Keira Wong

Human-Computer Interaction Graduate Student, UI/UX Designer at CSULB, XIRCLS

Liz Griswold is the Director of Education and Experience for SEGD. She is responsible for managing a portfolio of key internal projects and initiatives for the organization. With her focus aimed on strategic integration, Liz is responsible for the communication, management and logistical support of targeted milestones and projects. She contributes to knowledge-sharing efforts and coordinates with external partners and consultancy firms. Liz joined the SEGD staff in 2022, and has been an active professional member since 2005. In 2017, Liz co-founded the SEGD Raleigh Chapter, where she served as a Chapter Co-Chair from 2017 – 2022, and received the 2022 SEGD Chapter Chair Award. She also served as co-chair for the SEGD Emerging Experiential Professions (previously YDS) from 2020 – 2022. Prior to joining SEGD as a staff member, Liz Griswold led the Experiential Graphic Design markets for two different A/E firms.

Liz Griswold holds a B.S. in Graphic Arts from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, with a concentration in public relations and a minor in English.

Lisa K. Bambach is a designer, strategist, and educator based out of Seattle, Washington. Lisa graduated this summer from the University of Washington Master of Design program and holds a B.S. in Graphic Design and a Minor in German Studies from the University of Cincinnati. As an experiential graphic designer and strategist who specializes in workplace and urban design, Lisa enhances interaction with physical spaces by integrating narratives and navigation cues into the environment. Whether working within the private or public sector, she aspires to build collaborative environments that promote discourse and build relationships. As an educator, Lisa has worked for over 15 years with young designers in both the secondary and collegiate levels who are being introduced to design methodology, technology, systems thinking, and professional practices.

Kleighton Burns is an interior designer and design studio instructor at the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Architecture. With a portfolio of over 25 projects completed across Canada, his work includes educational facilities, transitional housing, and workplace interiors, all rooted in inclusive and human-centered design.

He brings a strong foundation in accessibility and experiential design to both his professional practice and teaching. His students have consistently ranked amongst the finalists in national competitions, such as the Annual Steelcase NEXT Student Design Competition - demonstrating his commitment to mentorship and design excellence.

Kleighton’s current research explores how emerging technologies are reshaping design education, creative authorship, and authenticity. He investigates the tension between rapid innovation and the loss of cultural and emotional depth in generative workflows, advocating for theory-informed and intentional use of digital tools.

Through his teaching, Kleighton aims to prepare the next generation of designers to navigate technological change while preserving the integrity, authenticity, and meaning embedded in the design process.

Vivian Combariza is a multidisciplinary designer from Colombia with a Master’s degree in Interior Architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). Her background bridges product design and spatial storytelling, and she is particularly interested in how exhibitions can function as environments for dialogue, imagination, and participation.

Vivian’s work explores the emotional and social potential of space, often drawing inspiration from systems in nature. She is especially drawn to projects that rethink how people engage with museums, cultural spaces, and each other—moving away from static displays and toward more collaborative, living experiences.

While at RISD, she led and collaborated on several student exhibitions and developed her thesis, A Living Storyscape, which imagines museums as ecosystems—responsive, interconnected, and co-created. The project blends ecological metaphors with design research to challenge how we build meaning through space.

Now based between the U.S. and Colombia, Vivian continues to explore exhibition and experience design, with a focus on creating spaces that feel alive, inclusive, and deeply human.

Steven Coward is a 3D Experiential Designer based in Brooklyn, New York, specializing in the design and architectural planning for museums, exhibitions, and branded experiences. With a background in architecture and interior design, he brings over a decade of experience in both 2D and 3D spatial design to his work.

Steven is passionate about crafting visitor-centered experiences that combine storytelling, digital media, and integrative spatial strategies in the built environment. His work is rooted in a collaborative design process that transforms authentic narratives into engaging, dynamic, and thought-provoking experiences. A recent graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology’s Exhibition and Experience Design program, he is driven by a commitment to create meaningful and inclusive spaces. He believes that successful design combines the aesthetically purposeful with the successfully functional in its ability to shape and interpret space, experience, and story.
In his free time, Steven can be found sewing fringe onto everything he owns while listening to his favorite Dolly Parton playlist.

Bamidélé Adio Elégbèdé is a Nigerian American designer, educator, and innovation strategist. He is the founder of RitualShare, a design lab that helps brands and institutions create meaningful, interactive experiences rooted in culture, care, and curiosity.

With a passion for bridging technology and tradition, Bamidélé has collaborated with leading institutions and global brands including the Exploratorium, University of Pennsylvania, McKinsey & Company, and NETGEAR. His portfolio includes major projects like the Space Race exhibition at the Kansas Cosmosphere, which brings the story of the Space Age to life through historic artifacts and immersive storytelling.

He teaches Product and Exhibition Design at Drexel University, where he created a hands-on curriculum that led to Connection Not Found, a student-led exhibition transforming abstract digital challenges into physical experiences that invite reflection and connection.

Bamidélé believes good design begins with a deep understanding of human behavior and the natural world and ends in shared moments that move us.

Seojoo Han is an assistant professor in the School of Art and Art History at the University of Florida. His current research explores the spatial manifestations of communication design and its historical and ongoing role in community-building across various domains, including typography, print and publishing cultures, archival practices, vernacular placemaking, and both historical and contemporary youth subcultures.

Most recently, Han has been active in South Dakota as a key contributor to two EPA-TAB-funded community visioning projects in Joplin, MO, and Arkansas City, KS. In 2013, he founded Blackberry Pancake Press, through which he publishes self-initiated projects and collaborations. His research and creative work have been featured in the Interdisciplinary Journal of Signage and Wayfinding and at the Emily Harvey Foundation.

Before entering academia, Han worked as the signage maintenance technician-in-chief at Spa Castle in College Point, NY—one of the most visited upscale Korean-style spas in the greater New York area, alongside King Sauna in Palisades Park, NJ.

Huiwon Lim, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Graphic Design at Penn State University, possesses a robust academic foundation, with a Master of Fine Arts in Graphic Design, a Master of Arts in Environmental Graphic Design, and a graduate certificate in Human-Computer Interaction from Iowa State University.

His research centers on utilizing data visualization as an integral facet of graphic design, implementing it to foster community engagement, enhance user experience, improve human wellness, and promote sustainability awareness.

His interdisciplinary project secured recognition at the 2020 Next Work Environment Competition hosted by Work Design Magazine, highlighting his impactful contributions. Additionally, Lim was honored with the 2023 College of Arts and Architecture Sustainability Faculty Award at Penn State in acknowledgment of his significant contributions.

He actively engages in various professional organizations, including the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), the Society for Experiential Graphic Design (SEGD), the University and College Design Association (UCDA), and the Data Visualization Society (DVS).

Kellyn is a Brooklyn-based designer with a background in editorial design and publishing. As a member of Àrokò Cooperative, They help support the design of the group’s published materials. Their current explorations in design expand into physical space, conceptualizing spatial design solutions that enable communities to co-create and learn in engaging, sustainable, and nurturing ways.

Kellyn believes that design has the potential to heal, unite, and cultivate individuals, communities, and environments. To them, it is essential that their work develops and upholds restorative and eco-centric practices as our collective need to find new ways to bring our built environment into harmony with nature becomes increasingly urgent. They hope to continue exploring how design can be used to enhance the human experience of play and creation as a means of generating restorative and equitable communities and environments, and providing communities with active spaces to work together towards creating equitable solutions for systemic issues.

Maral Salehian is an Iranian interdisciplinary designer based in California. Over a decade-long design journey, she has worked across product, spatial, and experiential design. Trained in industrial design, she developed a strong foundation in form, materials, and user-centered thinking. She began her career as a furniture and product designer, cultivating a deep sensitivity to how objects shape everyday life. Later, as a creative director, she led teams through concept development and execution, designing collections and spaces that communicated narrative through physical form. While her early work was rooted in function and aesthetics, her practice has since shifted toward emotional resonance, moving from the tactility of product to the totality of experience.

She recently earned her MFA in Design from the University of California, Davis, where she focused on the emotional and psychological effects of immersive environments. Her research explored how biophilic design, sensory engagement, and storytelling could be integrated into virtual experiences to foster well-being and connection.

Maral’s design process is grounded in empathy, shaped by storytelling, and informed by research. She works across physical and digital media and focuses on experience-driven environments that respond to human emotion and sensory perception.

Gerald Sastra is a recent graduate of the University of Houston’s BFA in Graphic Design program, where he focused on experiential graphic design—crafting spatial experiences that merge storytelling, interaction, and place. While at UH, he collaborated with multiple departments on environmental graphic design projects that activated campus spaces and fostered a stronger sense of community and identity.

Gerald also gained professional experience working with the Experience Design team at HOK, a global architecture and design firm. There, he contributed to large-scale projects that integrated branding, placemaking, and wayfinding into built environments, sharpening his ability to think across disciplines and scales.

In Summer 2025, Gerald will begin graduate studies at the Rhode Island School of Design, pursuing an MDes in Interior Architecture with a concentration in Exhibition and Narrative Environments. This next chapter reflects his growing passion for immersive design—where graphics, interiors, and narrative coalesce to create environments that are not just seen, but deeply felt.

At the heart of Gerald’s design ethos is a belief that environments shape behavior and belonging. His purpose is to design spaces that act as gentle invitations—sites of memory, clarity, and possibility—especially for those often left at the margins. He is drawn to how visual language can express care, build identity, and make spaces more legible, inclusive, and humane.

Keira is a Product Designer specializing in brand identity design and front-end development, creating cross-platform products for web, mobile, and XR that bridge utility, identity, and interaction. She currently leads UX design and strategy for a startup, where she redesigned web and mobile interfaces for XIRCLS—a SaaS B2B marketing platform for entrepreneurs across India and the U.S— leveraging Repl.it and Figma AI tools for faster design-to-dev handoff.

Her recent work includes The Collective, a remote peer-support platform with AI and multiplayer integrations, where she led UI/UX design and development in collaboration with trauma recovery experts and a back-end developer to deliver a trauma-informed design solution for 24/7 accessible, stigma-free support via VR, web, and mobile.

Keira’s design experience spans industries—from prototyping car dashboard interfaces for Ford under mentorship of a UX designer at Edenspiekermann to redesigning Cage the Elephant’s website with custom motion graphics. She has also designed an mobile ordering app for In-N-Out with UCLA UX team, developed a decision-maker Android app alongside a CSULB developer team, and designed brand systems for organizations like BUILD, Women in Computing, and the Society of Hispanic Engineers.

At Stanford University’s XR Hackathon, her team was recently awarded Best Use of ShapesXR for designing an AR posture-correcting app with HCI students and an XR developer. Keira’s work connects system-level thinking with human-centered design, bringing clarity to complex workflows while adapting to a wide range of user contexts and business goals.

Outside of work, she is a personality psychology enthusiast and sugar fiend.

2025 SEGD Academic Summit Registration

Register for the virtual SEGD Academic Summit, on Tuesday, June 17 and Wednesday, June 18, 2025.

If you are registering multiple attendees please be sure to enter all attendee information during the registration process.

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SEGD

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Event Details

Agenda

June 17, 2025

June 18, 2025

June 17, 2025

Main Schedule

June 18, 2025

Main Schedule

Speakers

Joell Angel-Chumbley

Liz Griswold

Lisa K. Bambach

Kleighton Burns

Vivian Natalia Combariza Mejía

Steven Coward

Bamidélé Elégbèdé

Seojoo Han

Julie Hurley

Sofia Ingegno

Hamza Iqbal

Huiwon Lim

Sarah Miorelli

Kellyn Nettles

Maral Salehian

Gerald Sastra

Keira Wong

Tickets

2025 SEGD Academic Summit Registration

Community

Connect with 103 people attending this event

Sponsors and Partners

SEGD

Contact us

2025 SEGD Academic Summit

Event Details

Agenda

June 17, 2025

June 18, 2025

June 17, 2025

Main Schedule

June 18, 2025

Main Schedule

Speakers

Joell Angel-Chumbley

Liz Griswold

Lisa K. Bambach

Kleighton Burns

Vivian Natalia Combariza Mejía

Steven Coward

Bamidélé Elégbèdé

Seojoo Han

Julie Hurley

Sofia Ingegno

Hamza Iqbal

Huiwon Lim

Sarah Miorelli

Kellyn Nettles

Maral Salehian

Gerald Sastra

Keira Wong

Tickets

2025 SEGD Academic Summit Registration

Community

Connect with 103 people attending this event

Sponsors and Partners

Organizer