Neeta Verma

Biography

Professor Verma situates herself within the porous discipline of Visual Communication Design. Her areas of research and teaching explore the critical use of design as a tool for social equity and justice. Her work focuses on systemic social issues examined through the lens of power and privilege, and the examination of power structures within social ecologies. She teaches Social Design at the intersection of social innovation and collaborative practices, and Visualization of Data that investigates the aesthetics, ethics, and politics of representation.

Her current research projects examine youth violence in urban contexts locally and the design of conducive environments for the visually impaired in India. She concurrently serves as Faculty Fellow at the Center for Social Concerns, the Liu Institute for Asia & Asian Studies, Pulte Institute for Global Development. She is also appointed as an Affiliate Faculty for The Initiative on Race and Resilience.

Her professional design practice of over twenty-five years has exclusively focused on museums, cultural organizations, not-for-profits, and educational institutions. Selected clients include the American Red Cross, Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum, Liberty Science Center, The New York Botanical Garden, The New York Public Library, Whitney Museum of American Art, and The Wildlife Conservation Society. She is the recipient of numerous awards that include being selected to serve as a Fulbright Specialist.

Professor Verma's design awards include Core77 Awards, Graphis, A’Design Awards, DNA Paris Awards and International Design Awards. She has been an invited speaker and has presented her research both at national and international conferences. She currently serves on the SEGD Academic Task Force and is a member of the Pluriversal Working Group of the Future of Design Education.