William Nickley is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Design at The Ohio State University. He holds an MFA in Design (2020) and a BSD in Industrial Design (2010) from The Ohio State University. He researches co-design as a member of the Ohio State DESIS Lab and teaches courses in the industrial design major. Before joining the faculty of Ohio State's Department of Design in 2020, William spent a decade practicing industrial design in consultancy, in-house and freelance settings, specializing in the development of consumer goods. His work has earned several patents and numerous design and industry awards.
William's co-design research lies at the intersection of social design, design methods, and community-engaged design. He is currently employing co-design to include LGBTQIA+ youth in an interdisciplinary research effort to develop training simulations for healthcare providers to improve their affirmative care practice (part of a $2.7 million grant funded by the Ohio Dept. of Medicaid). He also explores youth design-based making in out-of-school settings, drawing on conceptual frameworks from Positive Youth Development to understand how design and technology can empower youth to enact positive and lasting change; this includes a grant-funded project with Columbus City Schools, as well as engagement with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Ohio.
William is co-founding board member of Local Tech Heroes, a nonprofit engaging underserved communities in the central Ohio region through design. At Ohio State, he serves on the departmental Diversity & Belonging, Studios for Art & Design Research, and Industrial Design Area committees, as well as the Arts & Sciences faculty senate. He serves as faculty advisor to the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) Ohio State student chapter. He was elected to serve on IDSA's Education Council as the Central District's Representative for 2024.
William's co-design research lies at the intersection of social design, design methods, and community-engaged design. He is currently employing co-design to include LGBTQIA+ youth in an interdisciplinary research effort to develop training simulations for healthcare providers to improve their affirmative care practice (part of a $2.7 million grant funded by the Ohio Dept. of Medicaid). He also explores youth design-based making in out-of-school settings, drawing on conceptual frameworks from Positive Youth Development to understand how design and technology can empower youth to enact positive and lasting change; this includes a grant-funded project with Columbus City Schools, as well as engagement with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Ohio.
William is co-founding board member of Local Tech Heroes, a nonprofit engaging underserved communities in the central Ohio region through design. At Ohio State, he serves on the departmental Diversity & Belonging, Studios for Art & Design Research, and Industrial Design Area committees, as well as the Arts & Sciences faculty senate. He serves as faculty advisor to the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) Ohio State student chapter. He was elected to serve on IDSA's Education Council as the Central District's Representative for 2024.
His free time is filled with family fun (partner + 2 kids). Sometimes, it's also filled with FPV Drone Racing (check out my team Safety Third Racing), birding, geocaching, cloud-spotting, all forms of frisbee, physical hacking, typography, boomerang, sketch-noting, one-wheeling, almost all games, science, info-graphics, gadgets, coffee, and pie.