Sean Olson

Sean Olson is Director of Engineering Laboratories at the University of San Francisco, where he develops and manages fabrication environments that support hands-on engineering and design education. He helped establish the university’s Innovation Hive laboratories, creating safety protocols, equipment training systems, and operational frameworks that enable students from engineering, art, architecture, and other disciplines to prototype ideas and build functional objects.

Sean teaches courses in prototyping, fabrication, and ceramics, emphasizing iterative design, sketching, and material experimentation as tools for developing and testing ideas. He also mentors student design-build projects and oversees technical staff supporting laboratory operations.

In addition to his work in engineering education, Sean maintains an active studio art practice that explores material processes, ceramics, and object-based experimentation.

• Fabrication laboratory development and management
• Digital and analog fabrication
• Rapid prototyping and design translation
• Engineering lab operations and safety systems
• Design-build project mentorship

• Prototyping and iterative design methods
• Ceramics and material-based making
• Cross-disciplinary design and fabrication

• MFA, Visual Arts, Mills College, 2004
• BA, Art History, Eastern Washington University, 2003
• BFA, Studio Art, 2002