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Education
- B.S. Industrial Design, University of Cincinnati (1980)
Biography
After retiring as a senior executive in the world of industrial design, Lou Lenzi has forged another career as a human-computer interaction instructor. He offers the new generation of innovators a valuable real-world perspective, and opportunities to engage with industry innovators.
In 2016 Lenzi was named one of the Top 50 Industrial Designers over the last 50 years by the Industrial Designers Society of America.
He is the architect of our school’s Industry Lecture Series, which began in 2017. This series has brought professionals from logistics, agriculture, government, and other sectors to the school to share insights on the Internet of Things and to partner with students on projects through the school’s Department of Human-Centered Computing.
In his classes, Lenzi has helped students to see how physical products can utilize human-computer interaction theory and online technology. In 2018 he represented Indiana University at the opening of the Indiana IoT Lab in Fishers. In this space for innovation, staff, faculty members and students can utilize everything from 3-D printers and touch-screen walls to table saws as they create product designs.
At academic, trade and professional society venues, Lenzi has given numerous lectures and presentations on design, innovation, and its impact on business. Prior to joining our faculty, he amassed 36 years of experience creating, developing, and sustaining high-performing product and service design organizations within complex, multinational corporations, notably IBM, Thomson/RCA, and GE.
Lenzi increased the impact and effectiveness of design within these organizations, developing design strategies and innovation initiatives to meet the overall goals of the business. Along with growing design teams organically, he led the integration of design functions following multiple business acquisitions while at Thomson/RCA.
As an organizational leader, Lenzi built multi-disciplinary design teams in order to create a seamless customer experience, from the physical object to digital interfaces and end-user services. He worked successfully across a broad range of industries, from consumer products, to digital media and home entertainment services, and medical diagnostic imaging equipment and health care information systems. His effectiveness in each role was based on understanding that industry’s unique market needs, channel dynamics, and government regulatory requirements and translating these requirements into creative and innovative design solutions.
Courses
INFO-H 554 Independent Study in Human Computer Interaction
INFO-H 567 Internet of Things Interface Design for Business Innovation