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K-State Today

September 7, 2022

Industrial design students to present at international design conference

Submitted by Thom Jackson

Dustin & Kayla headshots

Dustin McDermott, current fifth-year graduate student in industrial design in the College of Architecture, Planning & Design, has been invited to be one of the three main presenters at this year's International Design Conference for his Industrial Designers Society of America paper, "Artificial Intelligence, Music Therapy, and the Fight Against Mental Illness: Exploration of Product/Service Opportunities for Designers."

McDermott's research study focuses on the interactions people currently have with music therapy and AI, and how integrating them into the smart home system could improve the user's daily life.

Additionally, Kayla Roles, who is also a fifth-year industrial design graduate student, has been invited to lead the only panel discussion session during the education symposium under her research topic, "Creative Burnout: Suffocating the Future of Design." She will act as moderator for the discussion, which was inspired by her research.

Roles' study is to better understand creative burnout and its effects on creative individuals, gaining insight on how to prevent, cope, and eliminate creative burnout.

Assistant Professor Byungsoo Kim guided their research in his Design Research class last spring.

"I am delighted to hear that they will be presenting the results of their research at 2022 IDSA Education Symposium," Kim said. "Having enthusiasm for the research topics and a desire to share the findings with the design community motivated them to go above and beyond in producing meaningful and valuable research outcomes." 

The International Design Conference and IDSA Education Symposium will be in Seattle Sept. 12-14. Professionals, educators and students will have a chance to reconnect with one another and be inspired by various focus topics, such as designs that challenge the status quo, physical and digital experience integration, fostering wellness and health with technology design, equity and intersectionality in design and more.

View more information about the education symposium schedule.

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