Hector Silva brings over seven years of teaching experience at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the University of Notre Dame, the Academy of Art University, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Rochester Institute of Technology at their nationally-acclaimed industrial design programs. Recognized for his contributions in academia, Hector was awarded the Young Educator of the Year Award by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA).

An active professional in the field, Hector works as an industrial design consultant through his own studio, H Design, partnering with Crate & Barrel, DesignLab, Nickelodeon, LeapFrog, Foster Grant, Insight Product Development, and Lund & Company Invention, as well as with various entrepreneurs. Hector is also the founder of the design nonprofit

Advanced Design (AD), an organization awarded IDSA’s Special Achievement Award for making design education more accessible and disrupting the mediums through which design education has been traditionally offered. AD continues to grow today, connecting students and working professionals to foster a community of design excellence. Most recently, Hector founded Offsite, a 12-week program catered towards furthering design education outside of the traditional academia space. This program was developed to translate the needs of the industry into course content taught by design industry leaders. The goal is to help students develop the right skill set and mentorship to thrive on the job and support them along the way.