Arick Auyang '00

Dr. Arick Auyang is a graduate of the class of 2000 from UMS-Wright and the Director of Product Innovation for Columbia Sportswear. After graduating UMS-Wright, he graduated from Emory University and then earned a PhD in Applied Physiology from GeorgiaTech where he specialized in robotics, prosthetics and human rehabilitation. He spent the next 7 years in academics, teaching and doing research at GeorgiaTech, University of Maryland, and CU Boulder. He transitioned to Nike in 2013 where he joined the Nike Sports Research Lab focusing on basketball footwear research. He developed research protocols and worked with elite athletes to identify opportunities for the next generation of Nike Basketball footwear. He later transitioned to become Nike Basketball’s head of Innovation Strategy and Integration for Nike Basketball. In this role, he worked with amazing product creation teams and athletes to create iconic products seen on courts around the world and helped chart the course for Nike Basketball’s most successful new franchise, the G.T. Series. He recently transitioned to become the Product Innovation Director for Columbia Sportswear where he continues to combine his academic mindset, knowledge of product and innovation excellence with his love of the outdoors. Arick enjoys spending time in the outdoors and traveling with his wife, Katie, and two children, Coraline and Archer. One of the things that Arick values the most is ‘Perspective,’ something that he incorporates into all aspects of his life and tries to instill on his children. Through education and travel and discussion, the ability to see the world from different perspectives without first introducing the bias of one’s own perspective can bring new understanding, empathy, and enlightenment.