Greg Holderfield Receives Inaugural Meshii Award

Greg Holderfield has received the inaugural Masahiro and Eiko Meshii Award. The new award will be given every two years by the Segal Design Institute to honor one or more faculty members for excellence in design education.

Endowed with $250,000, the award was donated by the family of emeritus faculty member Masahiro “Mike” Meshii (PhD ’59), who helped develop and teach the first-year design curriculum, including Design Thinking and Communication.

“This award stands as a great honor to Professor Meshii,” said Julio M. Ottino, dean of the McCormick School of Engineering. “By rewarding excellence in design education, we pay tribute to his lasting legacy.”

Holderfield is director of the Segal Design Institute, the Pentair-D. Eugene and Bonnie L. Nugent Clinical Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and co-director of the MMM Program.

Well known in the design field, Holderfield is a passionate advocate for the power of design. Before joining Northwestern, he served as vice president of design and strategy at ARC Worldwide – Leo Burnett and director of strategic design innovation at HLB. His design work has been recognized globally, having received more than 25 design awards. His research interests include design thinking, industrial design, product design and development, and design management.