Victor Martinez

Product Design

Susan Soo Jin Ju is an alumna of Kwantlen Polytechnic University, where she obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Design in Interior Design. After years of practicing in the Interior Design industry including involvement in residential and commercial projects to import and export operations, her previous teaching experience overseas brought her back to focus on teaching in the field of design. With over 15 years of teaching experience, she has made significant contributions to curriculum and program development while continuing to be engaged in the design community. Susan is passionate about bringing awareness to Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Indigeneity in design and she shares this commitment through her teaching, coordination of workshops, and active participation in committees aimed at promoting inclusivity within the design community. 

Susan currently teaches in the Foundations of Design program and the Product Design program at KPU, as well as in the Interior Design Fundamentals program at BCIT. In addition to teaching a variety of content, she enjoys sharing the importance of freehand drawing skills in a digital world and reminding students why History is still relevant today. Susan also has plans to further her studies to strengthen her knowledge of sustainability in design and to empower students to become stewards of our environment. 

 Areas of research:

Alternative urban mobility systems, biodegradable/recyclable materials, and sustainability and systems thinking for design.

Research Group: FutureXplorations

FutureXplorations: a community-based research project where we help communities untangle the complex challenges they see in their future; we guide them in the process of exploring the possible futures and collaborate to design and implement actions to take them there. We work together with communities through workshops, training sessions, research, design, planning and implementation. We follow a specific methodology we created based on 14 years of working with complex social