Koncelik enjoyed a 44 year career in higher education at Cornell University, The Ohio State University and the Georgia Institute of Technology. He was promoted to Professor with Tenure at the Ohio State University in 1979 and awarded tenure as a Professor at Georgia Tech in 1996. He consulted after retirement from Georgia Tech in 2002, producing a book called Conceptual Drawing, written with his colleague Associate Professor Kevin Reeder, published in 2008. He offered short courses and consultation on research to faculty at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and also taught a short course on design at Marmara University in Istanbul. From 2010 onward, Koncelik has devoted his time to two endeavors. The first is writing fiction, the latest work being The Twins of Demeter. He also paints and illustrates some of his books with drawings and computer generated graphics. For a full biography see the narrative below the graphics that follow.
Academic Career
Joseph A. Koncelik, Retired Professor, College of Architecture, Georgia Institute of Technology & Professor Emeritus, Department of Industrial, Interior and Visual Communication Design, College of the Arts, The Ohio State University;
Formerly: Director, Center for Assistive Technology and Environmental Access (CATEA) and Professor of Industrial Design, College of Architecture, Georgia Institute of Technology, from 1995 until December 31st, 2002; also, Interim Director of the Advanced Wood Products Laboratory (AWPL) from 1995 until 2001; Associate Professor, Department of Industrial Design, 1973 until 1979, and Professor of Industrial Design, The Ohio State University from 1979 until 1995; Department Chairperson from 1988 through to 1992.
Education: Bachelor of Industrial Design, Pratt Institute, 1962; Master of Arts, Stanford University, 1963; Fulbright Scholar, Royal College of Art, London, G.B., 1965/66. Recipient: General Motors Scholarship/Pratt Institute and a Harley J. Earle Scholarship/ Stanford University;
Academic Career: Koncelik was involved in higher education from 1966 through 2002, 36 years including, Cornell University (6 years), Ohio State (22 years) and Georgia Tech (8 years).Koncelik has taught previously as an Adjunct Professor at Rhode Island School of Design. His teaching interests span the full gamut of design instruction, including: design fundamentals, upper division studio courses in product design and a graduate research course for designers. Koncelik developed a Human Centered Design Course at graduate level at Georgia Tech and has utilized video and other media instruction in his teaching for over 25 years. Koncelik served in the roles of Acting Chairperson, Associate Chairperson for four years and as Chairperson for four years from 1982 until 1990 in the Department of Industrial Design at The Ohio State University. During his tenure as Chairperson, Koncelik was successful in having the Department of Industrial Design recognized as a Program of Excellence in Ohio which brought with it an award of $125,000.00. He also negotiated and obtained a new position, the Eminent Scholar in Industrial Design that was subsequently awarded to Professor Noel Mayo a distinguished African American industrial designer who created the first minority recruitment and mentoring program in the College of the Arts. During his tenure as Chair, Koncelik also obtained funding from two donors: Thomas and Kathleen Huff who provided the support for the Thomas and Kathleen Huff Lighting and Imaging Laboratory. Over his four years as Chair, Koncelik was successful in obtaining $1,200,000.00 in direct support for the Department of Industrial Design.
Research Interests
Primary research interests during his academic and professional career included: gerontological and geriatric aspects of human factors applied to the design of special products and interiors; environmental evaluation; age-related human factors modeling; research integration with design process and the application of computing to the design process – especially in the development of surface anthropometry. His research has been funded by the Department of Agriculture, The Battelle Endowment for the Humanities, The National Endowment for the Arts, The Ohio State Department of Aging, the Gerontological Society from Administration on Aging Resources, The Department of Education, the National Institute for Disabilities and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), The State of Georgia Department of Rehabilitation Services, the State of Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education, and Hamamatsu K.K. During his tenure at Georgia Tech, Koncelik initiated a program of research that was successful in obtaining over $30,000,000.00 in research funding. He was also responsible for the acquisition of $5,000,000.00 in support for the development of the Advanced Wood Products Laboratory (AWPL). Koncelik advanced the development and utilization of full body scanning and digital anthropometry at Georgia Tech – both in association with the Civilian American Surface Anthropometry Resource Project and independently through acquisition of scanning technology from Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. Corporation.
Koncelik is the recipient of several awards in recognition of his research and design work including: the IBD Silver Medal in 1980, Designer’s Choice in 1981, NEA Grants Recognition in 1980, and the NEA Outstanding Research in Design Award in 1983. His conference series: “Technology and Aging” given in 1988 won both regional and national continuing education awards for creative excellence in 1988 and 1989. Koncelik is listed in the Who’s Who in the Midwest since 1979, in the Directory of International Biographies and The International Who’s Who in American Education since 1983.
Koncelik has been listed in the Who’s Who in America since 1989. He was appointed a Faculty Fellow in the Office of Geriatrics/Gerontology in the College of Medicine at The Ohio State University in 1989. In the summer of 1994, Koncelik was honored by the Industrial Designers Society of America when they presented him with their National Education Award; in 2001, he was presented with the Outstanding Research Award and in 2002 the Distinguished Administration Award by the College of Architecture at the Georgia Institute of Technology upon his retirement. Upon retirement in January 2003, Koncelik published a book on Conceptual Drawing with his colleague Kevin Reeder, Associate Professor of Design at the University of Illinois.
Design & Publication
Professional Design Career: Koncelik headed his own consulting firm from 1976 through 1982 called Design and Research Services, Inc. He was also Vice President for Research and Development for Zoetech, Inc.; a firm specializing in the development and manufacturing of products for an aging population from 1991 through 1995.
Design Services and Clients: From 1978 through to 1985, Koncelik was President and Principal Designer in his own firm, Design and Research Services, Inc. This practice specialized in the research and development of products and interiors for the health-care and high technology fields. He has been employed by General Motors Corporation and his clients for consulting services include: JG Furniture Systems Corporation, Herman Miller Corporation, Lumex Corporation, RCA/Consumer Electronics, The Chaney Associates, Inc. COMSIS Corporation and many other industrial and professional service concerns. His service roles include Chair of the IDSA/NASAD Liaison Committee from 1988 to 1991; service as an Accreditation Evaluator, Design Education Consultant and as a Commissioner on the Board of Commissioners for the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD).
Professional Publications: Koncelik has authored 74 articles, monographs, papers, book chapters and the books: Designing the Open Nursing Home and Aging and the Product Environment in 1976 and 1983 respectively; he has also developed video media presentations on design fundamentals while at Cornell University and for the introductory industrial design lecture series while teaching at Ohio State. After leaving Georgia Tech, Koncelik initiated a project in the development of an asynchronous learning web course on Aging Awareness for his former center at Georgia Tech that was released in autumn, 2003.
Koncelik has authored 74 articles, monographs, papers, book chapters and the books: Designing the Open Nursing Home and Aging and the Product Environment in 1976 and 1983 respectively; he has also developed video media presentations on design fundamentals and for the introductory industrial design lecture series while teaching at Ohio State. His current project is the development of an asynchronous learning web course on Aging Awareness for his former center to be released in autumn, 2003.
Work Beyond the Academic Career: Koncelik has devoted his time to two endeavors. The first is fiction writing and the second is painting. The writing is a cold weather activity, occupying the months from September through April. Painting is a warm weather activity, usually extending from May through August. A complete listing of his published works, including Koncelik’s fiction writing, can be found at Amazon.com. The list can also be accessed through his website at naleli2222.com.
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Red Moth Writings 