Cassini Nazir is a designer of conversations, curricula, and interfaces. He is an Assistant Professor in the College of Visual Arts and Design at the University of North Texas, where he teaches classes in interaction design.
His current research explores how curiosity can be meaningfully infused into design processes. Because curiosity is linguistically rooted in the notion of care, he explores ways that designers can also extend care to those for whom they build as well as that which they choose to build.
In spring 2020, he was Designer-in-Residence for the SMU Masters in Design and Innovation (MADI) program.
Prior to joining UNT, Cassini taught at The University of Texas at Dallas for 10 years, where he directed two research labs. He was founding director of the Arts and Technology Usability Lab, which fosters collaborative research with community partners and offers experiential learning to students. He was also Director of Design for the ArtSciLab, a transdisciplinary research lab helping the arts, science, and technology communities by pursuing initiatives of societal urgency and cultural timeliness.
His academic projects include collaborations with art historians, astronauts, biochemists, brain scientists, futurists, materials scientists, new media artists, and a university press. He has worked with industry partners such as Toyota, Intuit, Sabre, DFW Airport, and projekt202.