Melissa Dawson Headshot

Melissa Dawson

Associate Professor

School of Design
College of Art and Design
Undergraduate Program Director, Industrial Design

585-475-5647
Office Location

Melissa Dawson

Associate Professor

School of Design
College of Art and Design
Undergraduate Program Director, Industrial Design

Education

BS, Cornell University; MS, Philadelphia University

Bio

Melissa Dawson is an Associate Professor of Industrial Design at Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY USA, who earned a BS in Textiles & Apparel at Cornell University and a MS in Textile Design at Philadelphia University. Melissa has spent both her professional design and academic careers espousing the technological complexities of successful soft product design. Over the last several years, Melissa has used her experience to successfully integrate formal soft goods product design courses into RIT’s internationally-ranked Industrial Design undergraduate and graduate programs through the creation of RIT Soft Studio. Melissa’s scholarship interests include RIT Soft Studio’s Abracemos lo Nuestro Project, which empowers traditional Paraguayan textile artisans with design strategies to encourage innovation in new product applications. Melissa is currently on the Fulbright Specialist roster and working on her PhD in Textile Science & Engineering.

585-475-5647

Areas of Expertise

Select Scholarship

External Scholarly Fellowships/National Review Committee
1/1/2021 -12/31/2025
     Fulbright Specialist Program
     Amount: 0
Published Conference Proceedings
Esteche, Andrea Gonzalez and Melissa Dawson. "Abracemos lo Nuestro: Encouraging New Ideation with Traditional Paraguayan Textiles." Proceedings of the Cumulus Conference: The Design After, held October 30 – November 1, 2019 in Bogotá, Colombia. Ed. Hernando Barragán and Claudia Mejía. Bogotá, Colombia: Cumulus International Association of Universities and Colleges of Art, Design and Media, 2019. Web.
Dawson, Melissa. "UnWasted Possibilities: An Exploration in Product Design Using Felt Offcuts." Proceedings of the NETInc Conference 2019, held May 5-8, 2019 in Indianapolis, IN USA. Ed. PaperCon 2019. Indianapolis, IN: TAPPI Press, 2019. Web.
Dawson, Melissa and Mary Golden. "Abracito: Designing Skin-to-Skin Incubation Garments for Preemies & Micro Preemies." Proceedings of the 2019 International Textiles and Apparel Annual Conference. Ed. ITAA. Ames, Iowa: Iowa State University Library Digital Press, 2019. Web.
Rivera, Michael L., et al. "Stretching the Bounds of 3D Printing with Embedded Textiles." Proceedings of the ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Denver, CO, May 6-11, 2017. Ed. General Chairs: Gloria Mark, Susan Fussell. Denver, Colorado: ACM New York, NY, USA, Web.
Shows/Exhibits/Installations
Studio, RIT Soft. Soft Studio at NYC Design Week. By Melissa Dawson and Josh Owen. May 2018. WantedDesign IC, Brooklyn, NY. Exhibit.

Currently Teaching

IDDE-301
3 Credits
Students will explore the benefits and challenges of working with a design team to address a complex product, problem, or system. Students will explore group dynamics, creativity in design teams, as well as the nature of complex problems and the various methods required to solve them.
IDDE-498
1 - 6 Credits
The industrial design internship provides students the option to work in the industrial design field. Students must obtain permission of an instructor and complete the Internship Permission Form to enroll.
IDDE-599
1 - 6 Credits
Industrial Design Independent Study provides students the means to study in a specialized area with an individual faculty member. With the assistance of their faculty advisers, students will propose a course of study. Students must obtain permission of an instructor and complete the Independent Study Permission Form to enroll. A 3.0 or higher GPA required.
IDDE-702
3 Credits
This course is the second of a two-course studio sequence that provides a forum for discourse and experimentation in design. Course continues the methodology established in Design Laboratory I, and extends the scope to human-centered concepts, artifacts and systems at both local and global levels. Assignments will include topics such as: responsible design practices, universal design, environmental sensibility, project management and fabrication.
IDDE-799
1 - 6 Credits
Industrial Design Independent Study provides students the means to study in a specialized area with an individual faculty member. With the assistance of their faculty advisers, students will propose a course of study. Students must obtain permission of an instructor and complete the Independent Study Permission Form to enroll. **NOTE: Student must have a minimum 3.0 GPA **
IDDE-890
6 Credits
The second of a two-course thesis sequence, this course focuses on continued concept development of a thesis, concluding with the implementation and retrospective evaluation of chosen design problem. Solution is presented in a public exhibition, complemented by a written articulation of how the theories and methods employed in the project impact the current and future state of design in society.
ITDL-150
3 Credits
Climate change, racism, lack of accessibility, poverty, moral disagreement, civil conflict, access to water, and piracy are all examples of enduring human problems. This shell course allows students to explore a single “human problem” across disciplines, bringing together knowledge from liberal arts, science, technology, engineering, mathematics, health, arts and design. Students will read transformative texts across a variety of disciplines and apply those texts to a single modern “human” problem in this project-based course. Students will pay particular attention to the social and ethical components within the texts, the problem, its causes, and proposed solutions. The possible problems are intentionally broad and reach across multiple disciplines. Students will be expected to apply their understanding to practice-based projects in interdisciplinary groups and then present their findings, demonstrating both the breadth and depth of their understanding, as well as their creativity. Throughout the semester and in each assignment, students will explore the ethical and social implications of the course topic, exploring the ways different disciplinary approaches assess and think about ethical and social problems and their possible solutions.

In the News

Featured Work