One-on-one with Michael Saubert

Former Kenmore design director and Army helicopter pilot Michael Saubert brings real-world innovation expertise to Segal, where he's preparing the next generation of engineers to solve society's pressing challenges.

For Michael Saubert, product innovation is critical to the world.  

It drives quality of life. It propels economies. It alleviates pressing societal issues. 

“Product development exists to get to the next best thing,” said Saubert, an adjunct lecturer at Northwestern Engineering’s Segal Design Institute and the inventor on 42 patents.  

After a three-decades-long career as a designer, including a five-year run as the director of design for Kenmore Appliances, a century-old brand with its appliances installed in millions of homes across the US, Saubert joined Segal’s faculty ranks in 2021.  

Over the last three years, Saubert, a 2012 alum of the Master of Product Design and Development Management (mpd²) program, has led graduate-level courses on product development in Segal’s Master of Science in Engineering Design Innovation (EDI) program and taught Design Thinking and Communication (DTC) to Northwestern Engineering first-year students. Along the way, the former US Army Blackhawk helicopter pilot has earned respect and praise for his efforts, including being honored with Northwestern Engineering’s Cole-Higgins award for outstanding teaching in 2024. 

How would you describe your teaching philosophy? 

Whether it’s helping students with visualization planning or working in the shop, I want to provide definitive guidance to students on accomplishing something with a tried-and-true methodology. That means blending academic theory with my professional experience to support students and their growth. I really try to lean in with the real-world lessons I learned in the commercial space to benefit the students. 

What are the primary goals you have for your students? 

When I’m teaching first-year students in DTC, I really want them to understand the fundamentals of the design process. With the graduate students, it’s about building integrity into that process. But with every student, I want them to understand solving the right problem is the most important part of any project, which is something that can only be achieved through thoughtful and thorough research with reflection. 

Ultimately, I hope to position students to deliver value on day one in the professional world, which means helping them develop the tools they need to be capable designers and leaders. That way, when they find themselves against the white board with five sets of eyes on them, they’re ready to execute because of the training and preparation they’ve had as thinkers, visualizers, and communicators. 

What do you most enjoy about working with students? 

I enjoy the energy of Northwestern students, who have an incredible capacity for learning and sincere desire to convert their education into meaningful action. It’s heartwarming and affirming in so many ways. 

While teaching you’ve also stayed active in the design field with Saubert Design Studios, which has clients in the aviation and life sciences markets. Why have you remained in practice as a designer? 

One, keeping my foot in the design and development world gives me credibility with students. It shows I’m someone in the business, doing the work, and using my design skills to develop products. Two, continuing my own design work makes me a more effective teacher because I’m able to dwell on what matters and put out to pasture what doesn’t. 

In what ways has your perspective on design evolved as a result of teaching? 

I came from a pure industrial design background, so I, like so many other industrial designers, was charged to bring artful execution to engineering. For so long, there was no crossover between industrial design and engineering. Today, though, that separation has changed, and I appreciate Northwestern’s holistic way of bringing art into engineering. The Renaissance engineer can identify aesthetic and practical aspects of a project and mold them together into something as functional as it is beautiful.