“How can we use clothing textiles, new materials and digital fabrication technology to enhance the quality of our lives through design?” This is the question Gözde Göncü-Berk and her students seek to answer every day in the WearLab and the newly minted Maria Manetti Shrem Institute for Sustainable Design, Fashion and Textiles at the University of California, Davis.
Göncü-Berk, associate professor of design and a leader in the emerging field of wearable technology, recently received the prestigious Jacquelyn Anderson Wellness Innovation Award from the UC Davis Office of Wellness Education (OWE). The award honors individuals who exhibit outstanding innovation in research, education or advocacy within the realm of wellness.
“It is a profound honor to receive this award,” said Goncu-Berk. “As I reflect on this award and what it stands for, I see innovation not just as invention but as connection. Connecting disciplines and people, connecting imagination with impact. Wellness is not just about the individual body, but our collective and planetary wellness.”
The award celebrates Göncü-Berk’s work at WearLab, which explores the potential of electronic textiles, smart clothing and digital fabrication technologies to promote health and well-being. She focuses on how electronic textiles — a type of wearable technology that is soft and blends in with clothing in our existing wardrobes — can help offer relief and hope to people, regardless of a person’s disability status, demographics or profession.
“We approach garments not as passive layers but as active agents capable of shaping human experience,” said Göncü-Berk, speaking at the JA Wellness Innovation Award 2025 Ceremony. “Through thoughtful design, wearable systems can play a transformative role across the full continuum of health and well-being.”
The UC Davis WearLab pioneers a unique approach through integrating textile-based sensing, actuation, and responsive systems for wearable technology applications in health, performance, and space exploration contexts. Regardless of a person’s disability status, demographics or profession, Goncu-Berk focuses on designs that offer hope to all.
The JA Wellness Innovation Award honors individuals who exhibit outstanding innovation in research, education or advocacy within the realm of wellness. It comes with a prize of $2,500. The winner of the 2026 award will be announced in the fall.
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