Faculty Presentation · Assistant Professor, Graphic Design · College of Architecture and Design
Jaime Alejandro Rivera Gómez, Ph.D.
UX Design & Research · Design Strategy · Behavioral Science
10+
years teaching
20+
publications
14
courses
6
industry projects in dissertation
Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University · April 2026
Who I am
From Colombia, through Chicago, to the world
Colombian designer with a Ph.D. from the Illinois Institute of Technology — one of the oldest design programs in the United States, descended directly from the Bauhaus tradition.
ResearcherProvotyping, behavioral science, AI & design practice
Curing sick patients — nine years of interdisciplinary research at the intersection of industrial design, biomedical engineering, and clinical medicine. Designing ventilators, electromyography systems, and assistive communication technology.
BFA Industrial Design
Universidad de Los Andes · Colombia · 2008
IDEA Bronze Medal 2008
Lápiz de Acero 2009
My professional journey · 2 of 4
2010
Design Strategy
Prevention with people — shifting from treating illness to designing preventive interventions. Service design, innovation management, and strategic thinking at one of the oldest design programs in the United States.
Master of Design
IIT Institute of Design · Chicago, USA · 2013
Core77 Design Awards 2015
My professional journey · 3 of 4
2020
UX Research
Behavioral Design — applying behavioral science frameworks to technology design. Leading UX research for Fortune 500 clients while developing a doctoral framework for provotyping emerging technologies.
Ph.D. in Design
IIT Institute of Design · Chicago, USA · 2023
Fast Company World Changing Ideas 2020
My professional journey · 4 of 4
2026
AI Design
AI Partnership Design — investigating how artificial intelligence reshapes professional design practice across cultures. Leading a bilingual empirical study (n=217, 43 countries) and developing new frameworks for human-AI collaboration in design.
Paper under review at BDI · Stage 1 of 3
Academic lineage · IIT Institute of Design
Design used to be small. Now it thinks big again.
The Bauhaus tradition at IIT — from the basement to the crown jewel
Architecture upstairs, Design downstairs
ID operated in the basement of Mies van der Rohe's Crown Hall.
The Ed Kaplan Family Institute
Today: a dedicated building for design innovation.
1937
Moholy-Nagy
New Bauhaus
1955
Jay Doblin
Systems thinking
1990
Charles Owen
First US PhD in Design
2018
My PhD
Provotyping
Teaching experience · At a glance
Teaching at a glance
18+
Course Sections
2
Institutions & Countries
300+
Students Mentored
5
Design Disciplines
From graduate research studio to interdisciplinary entrepreneurship — courses across digital service design, IoT, consulting, community design, and healthcare innovation.
Teaching · 1 of 5
Student Assistant · 2013–2015
IIT Institute of Design, Chicago
Foundation in Digital Media
Graduate · Prof. Anijo Mathew · Spring 2013
HCI theory. Information Architecture, Interaction Gestalt, Information Platforms.
STEM Education Innovation
Undergraduate · Spring 2015
Five clients. IRB ethics, interview protocols, Research Wheel. Five interdisciplinary teams.
Digital Service Design
Undergraduate · 2 Sections · Fall 2015
First iteration of multi-year service design sequence.
Teaching · 2 of 5
Graduate / Teaching Assistant · 2016–2020
IIT Institute of Design, Chicago
Digital Service Design · Spring 2016 · 2 Sections
Co-taught with ID + Stuart Business. Civic tech. Baloonr ideation.
Computer-Aided Drug Design · Summer 2016
Scientific UX/UI. "Structured ignorance" as epistemic asset.
thyssenkrupp ACCEL · Spring 2017
Corporate-sponsored. 5 teams, Chicago urban mobility.
Consulting Unplugged · Spring 2020
Co-instructor. Power skills. COVID-19 remote pivot.
Product/Service Architecture · Spring 2020
Prof. MacTavish. Platform strategies, cyber-physical systems.
Teaching · 3 of 5
Lead Instructor · Fall 2016 – Spring 2017
Full accountability for lecture content, rubrics, multi-section coordination
Digital Service Design · Fall 2016 · 2 Sections
Sensors + IoT as core. A/B hypothesis testing. Created 20-page final report template adopted for all subsequent offerings.
Digital Service Design · Spring 2017 · 2 Sections
Community design with Bronzeville + thyssenkrupp. Financial prototyping. Institutionalized Digital Service Design as replicable template.
Teaching · 4 of 5
Adjunct Faculty · Sept 2020 – May 2021
Full instructional responsibility — curriculum, delivery, evaluation, multi-section
Internet of Meaningful Things · Fall 2020
Original course I created · 2 Sections
Not what IoT can connect, but what it can make meaningful. Custom Provocation Tool. Hybrid. Think–Build–Test–Pitch.
Design & Tech Entrepreneurship / Bronzeville · Spring 2021
2 Sections
Five community labs. Cross-class competition. Kanban agile. Demo Day.
Research paradigms, mixed-methods, hypothesis development.
Diseño, Cultura y Sociedad · Fall 2019
Design as social instrument. Three paradigms. Academic articles.
HCI Waves + Research Design · Spring 2026
Six HCI paradigms. Interactive web tools. AI study (n=217).
Graduate Supervision
Marianna Russi (M.Des.) — AI & design practice. Paper under review at BDI.
Teaching methodology
How I teach: design education grounded in real problems
Internet of Meaningful Things — IPRO 497 (Fall 2020)
Meaning precedes mechanism
Clarify what experience is worth creating before selecting technology.
Scaffolded autonomy
Real clients, real communities. Rigor with latitude.
Iterative double-loop
Think–Build–Test–Pitch repeated twice per semester.
Cross-cultural bilingual practice
English at IIT (8 years), Spanish at Universidad Nacional.
Doctoral research · 1 of 4
Research Through Provocation
How can provocations uncover strategies to design new technologies for long-term behavior change?
CONTRIBUTION 1
Structured Provocation Model
How provocations bridge problem framing and meaning creation. Validated across 6 industry projects over 7 years.
6 projects
7 years
Doctoral research · 2 of 4
CONTRIBUTION 2
The Provotyping Tool
Three interaction attributes:
TimeScarcity ↔ Abundance
SpaceIntimate ↔ Public
InformationTailored ↔ Generic
Distinguishes provotypes from prototypes across timing, intent, challenge focus, mindset, and role.
Doctoral research · 3 of 4
CONTRIBUTION 3
Ten Heuristics of Provotyping
Practitioner principles guiding application without the original researcher present — making the methodology transferable to any team working with emerging technology.
The heuristics emerged from a mixed-methods research design: qualitative provotyping sessions across six industry projects, triangulated with quantitative measurement using Self-Determination Theory scales, and refined through iterative practitioner feedback.
Mixed methods
Qual + Quant triangulation
6 industry projects
Doctoral research · 4 of 4
Statistical Validation — Autonomous Vehicles
CONTROLLED EXPERIMENT
Does spatial design measurably change motivation?
Three spatial conditions tested for Self-Determination Theory motivation quality. Zero-budget behavioral lab built inside Harman International using foam board, projectors, and screens.
p=.01
Overall ANOVA F(2,7)=6.30
p=.03
Personal vs. Social
Finding: Private interfaces shifted motivation toward more self-determined engagement. The design recommendation: provide adjustable privacy controls.
