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Join us in welcoming our new Tenure-track faculty, Assistant Professor Dr. Behnaz Farahi!

Behnaz Farahi holds a PhD in Interdisciplinary Media Arts + Practice from the School of Cinematic Arts at USC, an MArch Post Professional Degree in Architecture from USC, and an MArch from Shahid Beheshti University of Iran. She has trained as both an architect and media artist; she describes herself as a ‘critical maker’, combining ‘critical thinking’ and ‘practical making’. Her explorations of interactive shape-changing environments have been realized at a range of different scales, from an intimate wearable computing, to spatial interactive installations. Dr. Farahi’s research, “…centers on the question of how to foster an empathetic relationship between human beings and the world around them in order to address critical issues such as emotion, perception and social interaction." Her work has been widely published in both academic and popular media venues.

In addition to her critical making practice, Behnaz Farahi is a passionate and generous educator. She is experienced with instructing in person classes as well as remote global workshops that include a wide range of learners. Those courses have included design, physical computing, robotic fabrication, electronics, material interface design, algorithmic design and critical making. Dr. Farahi enjoys, “teach[ing] students to learn through hands-on and iterative processes where they develop material prototypes and responsive systems through making."

The Master of Arts in Human Experience Design Interactions program is designed for students to develop expertise with the tools and methods of experience design; as a strategy for making, and adding value to systems, products, spaces, and services. Dr. Farahi is an exciting addition to the MA_HXDI program and the Department of Design. Her background and expertise diversifies our faculty and opens up new opportunities for collaboration to serve our students. Through Behnaz’s instruction, students will use cutting-edge technology tools and develop the hands-on quantitative and qualitative skills necessary to excel in the field of human-centered design. Her focus in psychological and social aspects of the digital interactions throughout contemporary human communication and experience, supports the mission of the HXDI program and further facilitates our student’s move into the broad spectrum of professional design roles.

We are thrilled to welcome her to ºÚÁÏÍø!