Industrial design student Kaitlyn Benoit received the National Student Merit Award at the 2009 Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) Midwest District Conference on April 4.
Benoit’s award and recognition were based on a public presentation of her senior portfolio before a jury of industrial design professionals and an audience of 400 design practitioners, design faculty, and design students. The award establishes her as one of five top design seniors in the nation and entitles her to free registration and a display of her work at the IDSA National Conference in Miami, September 23-26, 2009.
The Midwest District’s National Student Merit Award is presented to the best student among nine accredited design programs within the district. Competing programs included Purdue, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Wisconsin-Stout, University of Kansas, Southern Illinois University, Columbia College, and the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design.
“This is the single highest honor for excellence in industrial design,” says Paul Down, associate professor of industrial design and director of the University’s Industrial Design Group.
This is the third year in a row that a Notre Dame Senior has earned this honor for the University’s industrial design program. Past winners include 2008 graduate Ashley Ceniceros and 2007 graduate Mansour Ourasanah.
Originally published by at newsinfo.nd.edu on April 16, 2009.