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Jae Hwa Lee

Associate Professor

Interior Architecture & Design

Dr. Jae Hwa Lee joined the Department of Interior Architecture & Design as an Associate Professor in 2024. Previously, Dr. Lee was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Interior Design at the College of Design, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, from 2018 to 2024, where she was also affiliated with the Human Computer Interaction Graduate Program. Jae Hwa’s teaching and scholarly interests include creative confidence pedagogy across disciplines, evidence-based design for creative behaviors, and multisensory design for inclusiveness. She has presented extensively in peer-reviewed journals and at academic conferences, with notable works on the relationships between physical environments and creativity, and the creative self-beliefs of college students. Jae Hwa is enthusiastic about teaching and advising interior design students, guiding their innovative design processes rooted in both theoretical and practical evidence. She also serves on the review board for the Journal of Interior Design and was recently named an ASID Ones to Watch Winner and Scholar in 2024.

Education:

  • D., University of Florida, Gainesville, FL. Major: Design, Construction and Planning (Concentration in Interior Design).
  • S., Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea. Major: Housing and Interior Design.
  • F.A., Ewha Womans University, Seoul, South Korea. Major: Environmental Design.

Teaching:

  • Introduction to Interior Design
  • Materials and Methods
  • Interior Design Studio III (workplace/retail)
  • First professional graduate studio

Research Areas:

  • Creative confidence pedagogy
  • Creative self-beliefs for college students
  • Evidence-based design for creative behaviors
  • Multisensory design for inclusiveness

Professional Certification & Associations:

  • EDAC (Evidence-based Design Accreditation and Certification), The Center for Health Design, Concord, CA.
  • Certificate of Scoring Reliability in the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (Figural & Verbal Forms), Torrance Center for Creativity and Talent Development, University of Georgia, Athens, GA.
  • IDEC (Interior Design Educators Council) Member.
  • ASID Educator Member.
  • APA (American Psychological Association; Division 10 Society for Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and Arts).

Selected Publications & Awards:

  • ASID Ones to Watch Winner and Scholar, American Society of Interior Designers, 2024. https://www.asid.org/resources/awards/ones-to-watch
  • Lee, J.H., & Lee, S. (2023). Relationships between physical environments and creativity: A scoping review. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 48, 101276. DOI: 10.1016/j.tsc.2023.101276.
  • Lee, J.H., & Portillo, M. (2022). Transferability of creative self-belief across domains: The differential effects of a creativity course for university students. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 43, 100996. DOI: 10/1016/j.tsc.2021.100996.
  • Lee, J.H. (2022). Building Creative Confidence Through an Interdisciplinary Creativity Course: Changes in Creative Challenges and Creative Personal Identity. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 59(3), 316–325. DOI: 10.1080/14703297.2020.1835689.
  • Lorusso, L., Lee, J.H., & Worden, E. (2021). Design Thinking for Healthcare: Transliterating the Creative Problem-Solving Method into Architectural Practice. HERD: Healthcare Environments Research & Design Journal, 14(2), 16–29. DOI: 10.1177/1937586721994228.
  • Lee, J.H., Portillo, M., & Meneely, J. (2020). Insights into the Three Frames of Creative Minds: Perspective Transformation of First-Year University Students. Journal of Transformative Education, 18(2), 138–162. DOI: 10.1177/1541344619893314.
  • Park, H.J., & Lee, J.H. (2020). Looking into the personality traits to enhance empathy ability: A review of literature. In Stephanidis, C., Antona, M. (eds.) HCI International 2020-Posters, HCII 2020. Communications in Computer and Information Science, Vol 1224 (pp.173–180). Springer International Publishing. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-50726-8 23.
  • Kim, D., Bosch, S., & Lee, J.H. (2020). Alone with Others: Understanding Physical Environmental Needs of Students within an Academic Library Setting. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 46(2), 102098. DOI: 10.1016/j.acalib.2019.102098.