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Amanda Acquaire, EDI '24

Design Research, Service Design, Healthcare

Amanda chose EDI because of the collaborative and intimate nature of the cohort, the sense of shared purpose in the community, and the ample opportunity for cross-disciplinary, interactive applied learning. Beyond her areas of expertise, Amanda aspires to become a T-shaped designer with a breadth of skills to engage with any undefined problem that people face.

Experience before EDI: BA, Economics & Psychology, Middlebury College. Data Analysis & Insights Analyst, Fidelity Investments; Service Design and Delivery Analyst - Digital Workplace, Fidelity Investments.

 

Alex Andreiu, EDI '23

Design Research, UI/UX, Healthcare

Alex was drawn to the EDI program for its “Areas of Interest” structure that allow her to not only create a specialized learning environment, but also help her develop into a T-Shaped designer. 

Experience before EDI: BS, Cognitive Science with a Specialization in Design and Interaction and minors in Global Health and Business, University of California, San Diego. Clinical Research Assistant, The Design Lab; Project Coordinator, GO FAIR US; and Project Manager Intern, San Diego Supercomputer Center.

Autumn Basinger, EDI '23

Product Design, Tech, Entrepreneurship

Autumn fell in love with designing interactive experiences for people while pursuing her BFA in sculpture. She later chose EDI for its focus on human-centered design paired with opportunities for real-world problem solving and the chance to expand her technical skill set. 

Experience before EDI: BFA, Studio Art & Sculpture, University of Central Florida.

Bryanna Benicia, EDI '23

Product Design, Consumer Products, Social Impact

Bryanna chose EDI because of its strong focus on human centered design and innovation. She is excited to build connections with other like minded people at Northwestern University. 

Experience before EDI: BS, Mechanical Engineering , UC Berkeley.

Corinne Brady, EDI '24

Inclusive Design, Service Design, Social Impact

Corinne is passionate about accessible design and making all products and services within reach for each person. Design is a field that should provide opportunity for people to better interact with their surroundings. 

Experience before EDI: BS, Engineering, James Madison University.

Megan Bruneau, EDI '23

Product Design, Consumer Products, Experience Design

Megan chose EDI because she wants to strengthen her design skills. She is eager to learn about the iterative design process and how to sketch/prototype her ideas.

Experience before EDI: BS, Mechanical Engineering, Wentworth Institute of Technology.

Ana Carvallo, EDI '24

Inclusive Design, Physical Product Design, Sustainability

Ana's love for EDI was sparked by its mission of ethical creation and is fueled by her desire to make an impact designing and redesigning everything from the tangible to the impossible.

Experience before EDI: BS, Applied Mathematics & BA, French and Francophone Studies, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Design Engineer I, Redbud Labs.

Yaritza Chavez, EDI '24

Inclusive Design, Service Design, Social Impact

Yaritza chose EDI for its focus on human-centered design practices. While focusing on the intersection of design and social impact, she hopes to utilize her skills to design more inclusive experiences for users.

Experience before EDI: BS, Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University. Hardware Product Development Intern, Google.

Stacey Chen, EDI '23

Product Design, Design Engineering, Consumer Products

Stacey joined the EDI program because she aspires to go beyond the aesthetic level as an industrial designer. She believes that although the world has a surplus of products, it won't stop craving better, more user-friendly inventions — and designers who can make that happen.

Experience before EDI: BID, Industrial Design, Pratt Institute. Junior Industrial Designer, Hammerhead Navigation; and Product Design Co-op, Hasbro.

David (Yuzhou) Du, EDI '23

Product Design, Design Engineering, UI/UX

What drew Yuzhou to EDI is its project-oriented curriculum and the abundance of opportunities for hands-on and teamwork experience. Surrounded by many like-minded, creative people, he wishes to thrive in that environment and become a better designer, who might one day create effective solutions to real-world problems.

Experience before EDI: BS, Systems Engineering and Design, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Auston Ferrarer, EDI '23

Product Design, Design Engineering, Product Management

Auston was drawn to EDI because he values truly understanding the interactions between customers and products, and then using this knowledge to influence design choices. This is what he hopes to learn more about and explore first hand as a member of the EDI cohort.

Experience before EDI: BS, Mechanical Engineering , Georgia Institute of Technology. Mechanical Design Engineer Intern, Plexus Corporation.

Emerson Fister, EDI '24

Design Research, Inclusive Design, Service Design

Emerson was drawn to EDI because she saw it as an opportunity to learn, grow, and connect with dynamic people that believe that they can tackle challenges and build solutions to positively improve the quality of people’s everyday lives.

Experience before EDI: BS, Psychology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Patrick Giavelli, EDI '24

Design Engineering, Sustainability, UI/UX

Patrick believes that by pursuing the field of human centred design he will gain a holistic understanding on product development cycles. He choose EDI since it would allow him to gain this understanding whilst having enough space to focus on other subjects such as sustainability.

Experience before EDI: BS Liberal Arts & Sciences, Major in Psychology and Neurosciences, Amsterdam University College. Lead UI/UX Designer, Bits of Stock B.V. Junior UI/UX Designer, 3V Agency Srl.

Sounak Gupta, EDI '24

Physical Product Design, Social Impact, UI/UX

Sounak has a penchant for creating human-centered solutions and interactions for complex problems in society by applying the lens of Design-Thinking. He believes that the rich potential of technology needs to be made accessible to everyone in order to make the world a better place.

Experience before EDI: B.Tech, Computer Science and Design Engineer, IIIT-Delhi. Lead User Experience Designer, Rang De P2P Financial Services; Interaction Design Intern, Digital Product School.

Chloe Haderlie, EDI '23

Design Research, Product Design, Consulting

Chloe chose the EDI program at Northwestern University because it puts these principles into practice and will allow her to get experience in becoming a leader in problem solving and creating for impact.

Experience before EDI: BS, Marketing Management, Brigham Young University. Social Issues Writer and Editor, Ballard Center for Social Impact; Community Experience Designer, WeWork.

Lucas Iezzi, EDI '24

Consumer Products, Design Engineering, Physical Product Design

Lucas chose EDI to provide a human centered direction to the technical skills he has developed while pursuing his undergraduate engineering degree. He believes that product design gives a purpose to engineering that can directly improve the lives of people everywhere.

Experience before EDI: BS, Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin Madison. New Product Development Engineer, Fiskars Design; Engineer, Hinchey Design Co.

David Jelke, EDI '23

Design Research, Service Design, Healthcare

David specifically chose EDI because of its small cohort size, which makes it all the easier to stamp that sense of community into his work. He was also encouraged by the reliable presence of other psychology and medicine-minded students in the program.

Experience before EDI: BA, pre-med, Neuroscience, Dartmouth College. Director of innovation, Ignite Mental Health; reporter, Broadband Breakfast; SEO marketer, Voyij.

Albert (Weiliang) Jin, EDI '23

UI/UX, Product Management, Entrepreneurship

Albert is passionate to find defects (business, product, service) and solving their problems with his different skills. Albert believes that the EDI program provides knowledge and great opportunities for trials that perfect what he loves to do.

Experience before EDI: BS, Creative Technology and Design, University of Colorado at Boulder. Project Manager, Visual China Group.

sahibzada mayed, EDI '24

Social Impact, Liberatory Design, Emancipatory Research

mayed chose EDI because he is really excited to be part of a diverse cohort of aspiring designers that are committed to advancing human-centered practices. mayed seeks to harness the potential of transdisciplinary and intersectional work that draws from multiple disciplines and explore what possibilities emerge.

Experience before EDI: BS, Liberatory Design Engineering & BS, Communication Studies, Northwestern University. Intern & Consultant, The Institute for Anti-Racist Education; Design Research Intern, Kinetic Seeds.

Sue (Seungyeon) Kim, EDI '24

Entrepreneurship, Product Management, UI/UX

Sue chose EDI because she wants to develop her technological skills and make people's lives more convenient by creating products that better reflect a wide range of needs. Her value as an artist/designer is to blend art into our everyday life and aid people's lives through technological advancement and visual improvement.

Experience before EDI: BFA, Painting and minor in BARCH, Morphology, Pratt Institute. Robotics Lab Monitor and Researcher, Consortium for Research and Robotics, Brooklyn Navy Yard, NY, USA.

Elijah (Jingdian) Li, EDI '24

Entrepreneurship, Tech, UI/UX

Jingdian has always been passionate about car designs. As he started his journey in Artcenter, he grew into interior design where he first was exposed to the idea of human-centered design. Gradually, he realized styling and forms could not fulfill his philosophy of revolutionized interior space and interaction. Thus, with all these experiences, he was led into interaction design, not limited to cars, and this particular program.

Experience before EDI: BS, Transportation Design, Artcenter College of Design. Design Engineer Intern, Beijing Benz Automotive Corporation; Automotive Design Intern, Arch Motorcycle; Modeler Intern, Ford Motor Company; and Design Intern, IAT (China) Automotive Technology Co. Ltd.

Lindsay Lipschultz, EDI '24

Design Engineering, Inclusive Design, Physical Product Design

Lindsay chose the EDI program because of its flexibility to deep-dive into areas of interest, allowing her to specialize in medical device design. She is excited to develop skills in rapid prototyping and user needs research. Lindsay's interest in human-centered design stemmed from her realization that many products fail to consider the user's full situation -- often creating new problems after solving another.

Experience before EDI: BS, Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University. Research & Development Co-Op, Hollister Incorporated.

Youhua Lu, EDI '23

Design Research, Product Design, Design Engineering

Youhua chose EDI because she liked the intimate cohort and the collective curriculum. She believed she could connect more closely to her classmates and get a sense of working with people from all walks of life.

Experience before EDI: BS, Engineering Design, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.

Mikayla (Qixuan) Mai, EDI '24

Healthcare, Product Management, UI/UX

Qixuan Mai chose EDI in order to concentrate on human-centered design. She wants to explore a variety of disciplines in this program. She aspires to use what she has learned in visual communication and filmmaking to tell better stories and create better products in human-computer interaction, especially in the fields of health and UI/UX.

Experience before EDI: BFA, Visual Communication Design, School of the Art Institute of Chicago; UI/UX Intern, Children and Screens.

Macie Mancini, EDI '24

Sustainability, Physical Product Design, Circular Economies

Macie chose EDI because the structure and course selection fit her needs as an equally creative and analytical person. Macie loves the aspect of engineering that involves the fabrication of a physical product, and she finds that she further enjoys more creative activities like knitting, woodworking, and graphic design.

Experience before EDI: BA, Plants and Human Health, University of Connecticut, Project Manager, The Ditty Bag; Ambassador, Symmetry Trailers.

Ada Michaels Shapiro, EDI '24

Healthcare, Physical Product Design, UI/UX

Ada chose EDI because of its focus on human centered design and innovation, paired with opportunities to engage in solving complex, real world problems.

Experience before EDI: BS, Neuroscience, College of William & Mary. Assistant Sensory Scientist, MMR Research; Public Health Consultant, Crystal Hills FZE.

Kallie Mingay, EDI '24

Inclusive Design, Social Impact, Sustainability

Kallie saw in EDI the opportunity to strengthen her curiosity and to learn how to apply that curiosity to better champion the people, places, and well-being of our world.

Experience before EDI: BS, Materials Science & Engineering, NC State University. Research Engineer - Solutions Development, Saint-Gobain/CertainTeed.

Clark Mitchell, EDI '23

Product Design, Consumer Products, Social Impact

After seeing how a piece of jewelry that they made affected the wearer, Clark realized how much of designing products couldn't be expressed in engineering alone. From this experience, they wanted to learn more about how people and design interact so they could design not only for function, but truly improve the lives of those that use it as well.

Experience before EDI: BS, Mechanical Engineering (Minors in Art and Design, Art History), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Joaquin Moeller-Luzio, EDI '23

Design Engineering, Consumer Products, Entrepreneurship

Joaquin was drawn to EDI because he wanted to focus on something related to mechanical engineering, but he also wanted a program that allowed him to merge the technical side of engineering with the human centered design aspects of product design

Experience before EDI: BS, Mechanical Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Internships at Argonne National Laboratory; Internship at The Ford Motor Company, Human Factors and Ergonomics Department.

Ritika Ramesh, EDI '24

Design Engineering, Inclusive Design, UI/UX

Ritika chose EDI because of its human-centered approach to design and hopes to strengthen her technical skills in engineering design and grow further as a designer. The program’s interdisciplinary focus on research, iterative design, and hands-on product design presents her with an understanding of a variety of processes. Ritika looks forward to working with the diverse cohort, incredible faculty, and being a part of the supportive community at EDI.

Experience before EDI: Education: BFA, Fashion Design, Parsons School of Design Experience. Assistant Designer, Sabyasachi Couture; Creative Assistant, Bodice Studio; R&D Intern, Alexander Wang; Design Intern, Proenza Schouler; and Design and Production Intern, Bibhu Mohapatra.

Liam Rolle, EDI '23

Consulting, Healthcare, Design Research

Liam chose EDI because he wants to augment his mechanical engineering background with the design and technical skills needed to steer the development of products and services.

Experience before EDI: BS, Mechanical Engineering, Northeastern University. Development Engineer, Karl Storz Endovision Inc; Biomechanical Engineering Intern, Stryker Mechanical Design; Engineering Intern, Sensata Technologies; and Mechanical Engineering Intern, Boston Scientific.

David Schatz-Mizrahi, EDI '24

Design Engineering, Design Research, Physical Product Design

David decided to pursue design and innovation because he was drawn to the environment where thinking outside of the box and problem-solving was critical.

Experience before EDI: BS, Mechanical Engineering, University of Rochester. Building Systems Design Engineer, AMA Consulting Engineers; and Product Design Intern, A2Z Design.

Annie Thomas, EDI '23

Product Design, Design Engineering, Consumer Products

Annie's personal hobby in graphic design, educational background in mechanical engineering, and newfound interest in human-centered design made EDI the perfect intersection to further hone her skills. 

Experience before EDI: BS, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Oregon State University. Product Development Intern, TE Connectivity.

Rita (Xuerong) Wang, EDI '23

Experience Design, Interaction Design, Social impact

Rita chose EDI because she believes it could help her weave technology and art tightly together, transfer her ideas to products in hands, and bring positive influences to her surroundings. Under EDI's diverse and human-centered design environment, she is passionate to create more.

Experience before EDI: BS in Architecture in Washington University in St. Louis. Space Designer in Network Party Ltd., Shanghai and Attention Historical Building and Culture Research Institute, Nanjing. Catalyst (installation design intern) in teamlab, Tokyo. Architect Intern in Kengo Kuma & Associates, and Hiroshinamura & NAP in Tokyo.

Sherry (Yangmiao) Xu, EDI '24

Design Research, Product Management, UI/UX

Sherry decided to join EDI because the hands-on projects and comprehensive curriculum allow her to put theories into practice. During her time at EDI, Sherry aspires to weave human factors and psychology into product design to create human-centered solutions.

Experience before EDI: BFA, Industrial Design & BS, Intradisciplinary Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

ShaoBo Zhang, EDI '24

Design Engineering

ShaoBo sees EDI as an opportunity to further understand where he stands in the world of technology. During his time at EDI, he seeks to further explore different fields in design and computer science as well as take time to think about the specific roles and industry he is interested in within the field of technology.

Experience before EDI: BS, Human Computer Interaction, School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University. Fellow, Interact.

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