The Nancy M. Bruce Center for Design and Material Culture’s new Design Research Fellowship program is an exciting opportunity for UW–Madison faculty and instructors to engage in substantial projects with the center team, particularly around classes, exhibitions, and programs connected to design research. Below are examples of current and past projects that were a part of the previous collaborative faculty-in-residence programs.
To learn more about this new program, please contact the Executive Director of the center.
Trudy Watt (2025-present)
Trudy Watt is currently the Kay Vaughan Innovation Fellow in Design for the Nancy M. Bruce Center for Design and Material Culture. Her work through the center is focused on amplifying the Design Pillar. This includes stewarding the center’s Levy Life-Centered Design (LCD) Fellowship program, expanding on course engagement opportunities in Design + Innovation through the center, and support summer fellowships and signature design events through the center and the School of Human Ecology.
Watt is also the Academic Director for the Master of Science in Design + Innovation program and serves on the center’s Steering Committee.
Assistant Professor Mengni Zhang (2025-2028)
Assistant Professor Mengni Zhang is currently the Dean’s CDMC Design Research Faculty Fellow with the Center for Design and Material Culture. This fellowship is a three-year opportunity for Zhang to conduct research related to design and leverage the support of the center to enhance their work and avenues for community sharing. One of the first projects Prof. Zhang shared with the center and community was the inclusion of his piece, Rustling Veil in the 2025-26 exhibition, Find Your Quilt. Though this fellowship, Prof. Zhang with have access to additional research funds and one course release to continue his research in design.
Prof. Zhang’s research is focused on understanding human-environment relations through building and testing assistive technologies embedded in architectural spaces, especially for independent living purposes.
Professor Jennifer Angus (2022-2024)
Professor Jennifer Angus worked closely with the center during the 2022-2024 academic years on a number of projects as the Kay Vaughn Innovation Fellow. In spring 2022 through her Design Studies course DS 527: Global Artisans and in partnership with the Division of the Arts and the Design Studies Department, Jenny helped host visiting curator Judy Frater. This collaboration resulted in the exhibition Coming Together: Culturally Inspired Creations in the Lynn Mecklenburg Textile Gallery with co-designed pieces inspired by objects from the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection.
In the spring of 2023 Prof. Angus began working with the center on the Feel the Beat: Felted Textiles exhibition. This included a collaboration with installation artist Janice Arnold for a large-scale installation in the main lobby of Nancy Nicholas Hall titled, Woolen Clouds. In the fall of 2024 in the Lynn Mecklenburg Textile Gallery, the Feel the Beat exhibition opened, co-curated by students in the DS527: Global Artisans course and in collaboration with makers from the Association of Craft Producers (ACP) in Kathmandu, Nepal, and Unay Muchiku in Iluman, Ecuador.
Coming Together Exhibition Archive
Feel the Beat Exhibition Archive
Professor Wei Dong (2019-2020)
Our first Faculty-in-Residence was Professor Wei Dong in Design Studies as part of the Audrey Rothermel Bascon Professorship. As a part of his residency, Prof. Dong curated Harmony and Evolution: An Exhibition of the Chinese American Art Faculty Association in the Ruth Davis Design Gallery. Prof. Dong also worked on developing related programming around making, wellness, and mindfulness in collaboration with the center for the 2020-2021 school year.
