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Dr. Bruce M. Tharp is an Associate Professor at the Stamps School of Art & Design at the University of Michigan. He received a doctorate in sociocultural anthropology from the University of Chicago, a master of industrial design degree from Pratt Institute, and a bachelor of mechanical engineering degree from Bucknell University. Early in his career he served four years as an army nuclear weapons officer in Germany and just before teaching, worked as a design researcher within Haworth’s in-house think-tank, the Ideation Group.
Stephanie Munson Tharp is an Associate Professor in the Stamps School of Art & Design at the University of Michigan. She received a master of industrial design degree from the Rhode Island School of Design, and a bachelor of mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan. She has work experience at Ford Motor Company, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Armstrong Industries, and amazon.com.
Bruce and Stephanie run materious, which produces commercial and speculative products. They have won national design awards, lectured internationally, and recently published a book, Discursive Design: Critical, Speculative, and Alternative Things, which seeks to further legitimize and problematize alternate forms of design work that extend designers’ cultural agency.
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