Luis Garcia
Luis is currently a Teaching Fellow at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Design. He is an Ecuadorian designer interested in the intersection of design and the public sector. He seeks to understand how designers could be better prepared to engage in Latin American public sector processes and support the development of contextually appropriate solutions.
He has worked for the Ecuadorian Corporation for the Development of Research and Academia (CEDIA) and the German Cooperation Agency GIZ, supporting two open innovation processes focused on sustainable urban mobility with national reach. In 2019, he was part of a multidisciplinary team that monitored and proposed solutions for a new public bike-sharing system in Cuenca, Ecuador. Lately, he has been part of the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI) through the Research Jam program. The program collaborates with community members, patients, care providers, and other researchers using people-centered design research to improve health research, services, and quality of life.
As a Fulbright scholar, Luis studied an MFA focused on Design Research and Strategy from Indiana University, Indianapolis and has a BFA in Graphic Design from the University of Cuenca. While an undergraduate student, Luis was part of the university Honors Program, coordinated in collaboration with the Belgian University of Leuven, a multidisciplinary initiative that offered students dedicated training in scientific research approaches and methods.
Research interests include:
- The designer's role in Latin American Public Sector Innovation Labs
- Systems thinking
- Participatory design and co-production for urban transformations
- Latin American communities' response to systemic neglect from the state
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