Expertise

Areas:

  • Impact of traditional textiles on the design process.
  • Creative design scholarship: zero-waste patternmaking, using traditional textiles in contemporary apparel.
  • Scholarship of teaching and learning (SOTL) creative design processes
  • Cross-cultural interchange through creative practice.
  • Apparel patternmaking, sizing, and fit problems
  • Functional design: Creating worn products to meet human needs–design, materials selection, production.

Ellen does research in Functional Design for specific users, Patternmaking, and Cultural Interchange through fashion design.

Skills and Expertise:

  • Clothing
  • Fashion
  • Design Thinking
  • Teaching and Learning
  • Creativity
  • Design Theory
  • Product Development
  • Fashion Design
  • Cross Cultural Studies
  • Japanese Culture

Research Fields: Worn Products Design

Past Affiliations

Assistant Professor, Textiles and Clothing, Iowa State University (past)

Virtual Reality Applications Center, Office of the Vice President for Research, Iowa State University (past)

Chair, Department of Clothing, Textiles and Interior Design, College of Human Environmental Sciences, University of Alabama

Associate Professor, Department of Apparel, Events, and Hospitality Management, College of Health and Human Sciences, Iowa State University (past)

Assistant Professor, Apparel, Merchandising, and Design

Associate Professor, Apparel, Merchandising, and Design

Communities
Hospitality and Tourism, Economics, Textiles and Apparel, Interior Architecture, Interior Architecture
Degrees
PhD, University of Minnesota, Design, Housing and Apparel, 2007
MA, Texas Woman’s University, Fashion Design, 1999
B.S., Texas Christian University, Fashion Design, 1996
Keywords
japan design arts fashion or textiles design sustainable design adaptive technology development people with disabilities human ecology wearable computers apparel clothing
Associations
International Textiles and Apparel Association