Joyce Thomas is an innovator/educator with a passion to empower people through good design. She has used empathic research strategies to design consumer products that have been awarded 59 US and international patents. Ms. Thomas is an assistant professor of industrial design at Auburn University, Auburn, AL, teaching design thinking and studio courses. As chief creative officer for the ThomasSchumer Group, she provides entrepreneurship education and innovative product solutions for a diverse group of small businesses. She received her MFA from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the United States.