Rob Watters

Biography

Rob Watters is an industrial designer and design professor with over twenty years of experience. He holds both a Master of Design and a Bachelor of Industrial Design from Carleton University. Prior to teaching, Rob has worked extensively in a full-service product design consultancy, aiding North American clients across various industries.

In his role as a senior designer, Rob led comprehensive design projects, ensured effective client engagement and emphasized user needs. This led to a robust and flexible design process that focused heavily on ongoing prototyping and testing to ensure alignment with the opportunity, and that the scope of the final solution surpassed requirements. Rob is a named inventor on over 60 patents at the USPTO and has played a key role in navigating and securing competitive intellectual property for clients.

As an instructor, Rob focuses on enhancing the student experience and developing their ability to design responsibly within interdisciplinary teams. He emphasizes the importance of facilitating communication and inquiry processes, helping students break down projects into well-researched sub-issues and ensuring alignment with associated communities. Rob enjoys interaction and connection with students in design studios and lecture formats. His teaching interests include environmentally sustainable solutions, validation for production, insight generation, competitive innovation, and enhancing people’s lives through design.