At Home, On Air: A Conversation with Professor Ricardo Gomes

At Home, On Air: A Conversation with Professor Ricardo Gomes

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Designing Across the Lifespan: 30 Years of Teaching & Enhancing Inclusive Design Values & Benefits

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Thank you to everyone who attended the live interview and discussion on November 14, 2024! The recording of this live conversation has been published as an At Home, On Air podcast episode.


“Equity filters of race, culture, gender, age, economic status… if we use those filters in conjunction with universal design, we have a much more inclusive application that deals not only with the physical phenomena but the social phenomena.”

Professor Ricardo Gomes


Thank You to Our Featured Guest:

Ricardo Gomes | Professor with the School of Design at San Francisco State University

Thank You to Our Forum Host:

Susanne Stadler | Architect, Executive Director of At Home With Growing Older

Conversation Details:

In this episode, we delve into Professor Ricardo Gomes’ 30+ year journey in teaching design empathy to students. Discover how his pioneering work in educating designers in inclusive and age-friendly design is responding to the needs of an increasingly neuro-diverse society. We discuss practical ways to foster empathy for aging in the next generation of leaders, from designers to medical professionals, who will shape our world.

Find our podcast by searching for “At Home, On Air” wherever you listen.

More About Ricardo Gomes:

Professor Ricardo Gomes has been a faculty member in the School of Design at San Francisco State University for 33 years, and was chair of the department from 2002 to 2012. He coordinates the Design Center for Global Needs and the Nathan Shapira Design Archive in the School of Design. Professor Gomes is on the board of directors of the Institute for Human Centered Design in Boston, and is a trustee of the Beta Beta chapter Epsilon Pi Tau international honor society for technology. 

He received his M.F.A. and M.A. at UCLA, and received a B.F.A. in Industrial Design at Massachusetts College of Art. He was a Fulbright Scholar in Nairobi, Kenya and conducted post-graduate research and product development of a container system for mobile health care delivery in East Africa from 1982 – 1987. Professor Gomes has lectured extensively, and conducted keynote speeches, presentations, symposiums, and workshops at universities throughout Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the United States. 

Most recently, he was selected for the second time as a 2025 iF Design Award Juror. The iF DESIGN AWARD is one of the world’s most prestigious design awards based in Germany since 1953.

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The original, live conversation was recorded on:

Thursday, November 14, 2024 at 5:30 PM PST.

Designing Across the Lifespan: 30 Years of Teaching & Enhancing Inclusive Design Values & Benefits

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