PARTICIPANTS

Cynthia E. Smith serves as Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum’s Curator of Socially Responsible Design. Trained as an industrial designer; for over a decade she led multi-disciplinary design and planning projects for cultural institutions; and after earning a graduate degree at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government joined Cooper-Hewitt, where she integrates her work experience with her advocacy on human rights and social justice issues. She co-authored The Politics of Genocide: U.S. Rhetoric vs. Inaction in Darfur for the Kennedy School Review; co-organized the Social Impact Design Summit, white paper and public forum; curates the Design with the Other 90% exhibition series and co-curated the 2010 Design Triennial: Why Design Now? Named a “20/20 New Pioneer” by Icon design magazine and is one of Metropolis magazine’s “next generation of young curators”, she has served on several international design juries and lectured widely on socially responsible design.