Dominic Muren

Teaching Professor Dominic Muren is affiliated with the Department of Design at the School of Art + Art History + Design, University of Washington, College of Arts and Sciences. He holds an office at ART 242 and uses he/him/his pronouns. His academic roles and professional background span various creative and technical disciplines, reflecting his interdisciplinary approach to design education and research. Before joining academia, he worked as a toy inventor at Meyer/Glass Design, an architectural systems researcher at Kieran Timberlake Associates, and most recently as a product designer at Michael Graves Design Group.

Education:

• MID in Industrial Design from The University of the Arts (Philadelphia), 2007
• BS in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh), 2003

Research Interests: Dominic’s work focuses on three primary domains. First, he investigates how play and games can motivate user action in design contexts. Second, he explores appropriate manufacturing technologies for distributed production, emphasizing sustainable and accessible methods. Third, he develops systems and methodologies to foster inter-disciplinary collaboration. His book, Green’s Not Black & White: The Balanced Guide to Making Eco Decisions (2009), underscores his commitment to ethical sustainability practices. These interests bridge biological art, industrial design history, and socially engaged creative processes.

Scientific Awards: None explicitly mentioned in the provided text.

Advising & Grants: No specific grants or advisee information is listed. However, his professional experience includes roles at leading design firms, which inform his teaching and research. He advises students through his academic position but no formal advisee names are provided in the sources.

Labs/Teams: The text does not include details about specific labs, research groups, or collaborative teams associated with his current work.