A MaDE Student Fulfills Her Design Destiny

MaDE student Alice Enger ('25) combines her passion for design with technical skills to land a position at Procter & Gamble.

Before she arrived at Northwestern University in 2021, Alice Enger (’25) set her sights on design. 

As a high school student in metro San Francisco, Enger enjoyed the “fortunate” opportunity to take elective courses like product design and human-centered design. She relished her early foray into design – building a lamp and bed – and regularly inspected the parts and purpose of everyday items. 

“I grew up with design thinking around me and the opportunity to build freely, and I loved it,” Enger said. 

Eager to pursue product design in college, Enger investigated Northwestern’s Manufacturing and Design Engineering (MaDE) program. As she was most interested in design from an engineering perspective rather than an artistic one, the program’s pledge to combine process and product design with manufacturing systems and management intrigued. 

“MaDE was just right for me,” said Enger, now a fourth-year student at Northwestern Engineering. 

Maximizing her experience 

Once on Northwestern’s campus, Enger’s fascination with design intensified. 

In Design Thinking and Communication, the two-quarter course required of all first-year McCormick School of Engineering students, Enger teamed with classmates to design a discreet door-opening device for an individual with limited finger strength due to a C5 spinal cord injury. Her first collaborative design project and first for a real-world client, Enger learned how to ideate, prototype, and iterate solutions alongside peers with different perspectives and skill sets.  

“The best part of all, though, was being able to have a real-life impact with a direct stakeholder,” Enger said. 

Diving deeper into the MaDE curriculum, Enger bolstered her technical skills through courses such as Portfolio Design and Introduction to Solid Modeling. She also developed her leadership skills through extracurricular activities, including spearheading the reboot of Northwestern’s Women’s Basketball Club and serving as president of Kappa Theta Pi, a STEM-focused pre-professional student organization. 

Enger utilized the MaDE network to sharpen her personal vision as well, setting up cold calls with about 15 alumni working in fields like product design, industrial engineering, finance, and more. She asked questions about their daily lives, work-life balance, and applying MaDE skills in the workplace.  

“Those conversations helped me figure out what I wanted to do with my MaDE degree,” said Enger, who was drawn to product managers and the collaborative environments in which they worked. 

Applying her education 

Last summer, Enger spent 12 weeks in Cincinnati working at the global headquarters of Procter & Gamble (P&G), the corporation behind brands like Tide, Gilette, and Old Spice. As an innovation design engineer, she worked with professional design teams to create initial functional prototypes of new products within the home care sector. 

Every day, Enger leveraged her MaDE studies and advanced projects by analyzing problems from multiple perspectives, asking high-level questions, and using her knowledge of manufacturing technologies. Enger’s work ethic and skill impressed her P&G boss, who offered Enger a full-time position at P&G following her Northwestern graduation. As exciting as the job offer was, Enger called validating her passion for design the best part of her internship experience. 

“I woke up each day excited to get into work,” she said. 

Having accepted the P&G employment offer, Enger is looking forward to completing her Northwestern studies in June and putting her technical skills to immediate use at a corporate enterprise known for its innovative might. Long-term, she hopes to pursue a management role within product design. 

“The last couple of years have solidified my interest in design and my excitement for the profession,” said Enger, who will also graduate with a minor in environmental policy and culture. “It’s exactly why I came to Northwestern and pursued MaDE in the first place.”