Each year, the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) hosts their Student Merit Awards competition. Upon nomination by faculty at their University, students then compete to win at the University level, with winners then competing against the winners from the other schools in the same of the five national districts. According to IDSA.com, this competition, “…highlights the very best creativity, problem solving and design brilliance among emerging design talent.”

At the University level, students must verbally and visually present a portfolio of work featuring three projects in under 10 minutes to a group of judges hand-picked by IDSA themselves, which in this case each came from IDSA Louisville, the local professional chapter.

In 2024, I competed and was selected as the winner at the University level (University of Kentucky) and then went on to compete in the final round. From this, I am now featured on both IDSA’s website as well as in the Winter 2024 edition of IDSA’s quarterly magazine, INNOVATION.

click here to see my biography on the IDSA website