Ricardo Gomes

Professor and former Chair of the Department of Design and Industry, 2002-2012 (DAI) at San Francisco State University. Ricardo Gomes coordinates the Design Center for Global Needs and the Nathan Shapira Design Archive Project in the DAI Department. 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, health care, the aging, community development, social innovation and sustainability of the built environment.

Prof. Gomes is a on the Board of Directors of the Institute for Human Centered Design in Boston. He is also a member of the Industrial Designers Society of America; the Designers for the 21st Century; and Epsilon Pi Tau.

Ricardo Gomes received his MFA in Industrial Design for Low-Income Economies from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He received an M.A. in Architectural Building Technology from School of Architecture and Urban Planning at UCLA; and a BFA in Industrial Design from Massachusetts College of Art.

In 1986, he was Program Coordinator of Design Projects in Developing Countries, Les Ateliers, Ecole nationale supérieure de création industrielle (ENSCI) in Paris, France where he directed student liaison projects with European international development agencies. In 1984 as a Fulbright Research Scholar 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.

For over 25 years, Prof. Gomes has presented at national and international conferences and seminars and served on juries related to Inclusive Design, Universal Design, Design for Social Responsibility, Global Design and Cultural Identity. Prof. Gomes has lectured at universities throughout Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the U.S.