Editor Biographies
Lisa M. Abendroth is a professor and coordinator of the Communication Design program at the Metropolitan State University of Denver in Colorado. She is a Social Economic Environmental Design (SEED) founding member, a SEED Evaluator coauthor, and a 2013 recipient of the SEED Award for Leadership in Public Interest Design. Abendroth lectures and presents the SEED methodology and case studies in diverse educational contexts, including the Public Interest Design Institute. Her research across design disciplines includes writing, curating, and critically assessing solutions that address underserved people, places, and problems. Along with Bryan Bell, Abendroth is coeditor of the Public Interest Design Practice Guidebook: SEED Methodology, Case Studies, and Critical Issues (2016). She holds degrees from Virginia Commonwealth University and The Rhode Island School of Design.
Bryan Bell founded the nonprofit organization Design Corps in 1991 with the mission to provide the benefits of design for the 98 percent without architects. His current work includes research on the field of public interest design and the SEED Network, which Bell cofounded. His work has been supported by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) College of Fellows Latrobe Prize and through a Harvard Loeb Fellowship. Bell has published three books in the field, and he organizes the Public Interest Design Institute and the Structures for Inclusion conference series. He was awarded a National AIA Award and was a National Design Award finalist. His work has been exhibited at the Venice Biennale and the Smithsonian National Design Museum. Bell holds degrees from Princeton and Yale and is an associate professor in the School of Architecture at North Carolina State University.