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Inside Our Program

Leader of the Bike Lane Uprising

March 2024   Christina Whitehouse leaned on her MDP2 education to create the app that allows cyclists to report bike-lane hazards and has prompted city action to promote a safer environment for bikers.

Leveraging AI in Healthcare

March 2024   Ayla Commet is applying the lessons she learned in the MPD2 program to her new job as a senior product manager at Digital Diagnostics, where she is using artificial intelligence to help diagnose eye and skin diseases.

Keeping an Eye on AI

February 2024   Oleg Evdokimov uses the lessons he learned from the MPD2 program to teach the pros and cons of artificial intelligence to Northwestern students — and his children.

The Tone-Setters

February 2024   Will Hubbard and Marty Ringlein teach the introductory course in the MPD2 program and sharpen the entrepreneurial focus for the new students.

Teaching About Customer-Driven Opportunities

January 2024   Elisa Vargas and JoEllen Kames are leading MPD2’s Customer-Driven Opportunities course for the first time, but the duo have a long-standing professional connection outside the classroom.

From the Research Lab to CEO

January 2024   New Industry Advisory Board Member Garry Cooper shares the Northwestern roots of his company Rheaply and why he’s excited to be a part of the MPD2 program.

MPD2 Welcomes Eight New Alumni Board Members

December 2023   The program's Alumni Group helps cultivate deeper engagement between former students and those currently in the program.

The Changing World of Product Development 

December 2023   Chris Rowe is the newest member of the MPD2 Industry Advisory Board. He shares his insights on how creating new offerings is changing and how the MPD2 program is successful at producing graduates who make a difference.

The New and Improved Capstone

November 2023   MPD2’s culminating class was updated for this school year. Learn why the change was made and what it will look like for students.

New Video Highlights Strengths of MPD2 

November 2023   Discover how alumni benefited from the program's emphasis on design, product management, and business.

Getting Ready for a Challenge

October 2023   Connie Meyer discusses why she finds excitement in negotiating and conflict resolution and how she will approach teaching those skills for the first time to MPD2 students.

Capping Off the Capstone Experience

September 2023   MPD2 students presented their final projects to classmates, faculty, and venture capitalists.

Lessons From Special Education

August 2023   Samantha Soloway talks about her road from teacher to product innovator and how she saw the need for human-centered design well before she started her MPD2 journey.

Putting MPD2’s Future in Focus

August 2023   The program’s Industry Advisory Board met in person for the first time to sharpen strategies to attract the best students and develop them for post-graduation career success.

A Course in Transformative Thinking

July 2023   Students in Birju Shah’s product management class are challenged to think about big problems and the goods and services that could help solve them.

Battling Through Uncertainty 

July 2023   MPD2 students talk about their ongoing capstone project experience and the journey from ambiguity to a well-defined goal of creating an app to help parents of children with food allergies.

Unfuzzying the Fuzzy

June 2023   Wilson Beebe (MPD2' 22), talks about how the MPD2 program helped accelerate his career and prepared him for his current role as manager of design for the disruptive innovation incubator at SC Johnson.

Making Bike Lanes Safer

May 2023   A new app from Christina Whitehouse is making bike lanes safer in urban settings.

from Northwestern Magazine

Focusing on the ‘Why’

May 2023   Nicolas Vivas realized customers needed to be the focus when it comes to developing new products. He learned how to make that happen thanks to MPD2.

Finding Empathy for Bike Riders

April 2023   MPD2 students’ bicycle-safety capstone project highlights the importance of following where the research leads when developing new products.

Betting on a Better Bean

April 2023   Leigh Hamp talks about how the MPD2 program helped her pivot careers and become a human-centered product creator at Banza, a company bringing more chickpeas to the public's diet.

The Lifelong Student

March 2023   Elizabeth Jacobsen (MPD2 ‘20) took advantage of a unique alumni opportunity to continue developing her skills while working as a global technical sustainability director for the health and wellness platform at Mars.

From Punchline to AWS Product Manager 

March 2023   Jayadev Kalla talks about how the MPD2 program helped him find the type of job he once thought was beyond his reach.

Spreading the Science of Sustainability

February 2023   The Sustainability in the Product Development Process course helps MPD2 students understand how to make environmentally responsible product design a priority throughout organizations. 

Applying MPD2 Lessons to Watson and IBM

February 2023   Erik Didriksen talks about how MPD2 helped him rethink product management and how he grew during his time in the program.

Mastering the Art of Negotiations 

January 2023   Thomas Gibbons helps fill MPD2 students’ conflict-resolution toolbox with a variety of skills he, himself, has needed during his career as a journalist, lawyer, and arbiter. 

Producing Profitable Products

January 2023   The MPD2 Business Model Design course gives students a toolkit to create and manage the things consumers want – and are willing to pay for.

MPD2 Celebrates 20 Years

December 2022   Alumni returned to campus this fall to interact with current students and share how the program made a difference in their lives and their careers.

Shopify’s ‘Benevolent Spider’

November 2022   Anna Mollenkopf (MPD2 ‘17) weaves a web connecting the ecommerce company's R&D teams to help create and launch products.

Developing the Mindset of a CEO

October 2022   Dahlia Haynes’ credits her time in Northwestern Engineering's MPD2 program with helping get her where she is today — which happens to be working in Malaysia for SC Johnson.

Unboxing User Experience

October 2022   Soudy Khan (MPD2 '20) has spent three decades focused on user experience, but it was his experience in MPD2 that helped him find a new appreciation for the field.

When Work and School Collide

August 2022   Kelli Palm (MPD2 ‘19) talks about how her career and graduate school lessons intersected to help make her more effective at Zimmer Biomet.

MPD2 Welcomes New Advisory Board

August 2022   Director Jim Wicks explained what excites him about the program's new board and how he hopes they can help students differentiate themselves in the marketplace.

Laundry Down to a Science

July 2022   Sammy Wang (MPD2 '17) leans on her MPD2 experiences to help communicate the high-tech innovation behind some of P&G’s most popular brands.

Getting Unstuck Thanks to MPD2

June 2022   Joshua Childs (MPD2 '20) talks about how Northwestern Engineering's Master of Product Design and Development (MPD2) program helped him kick start his career and grow as a leader with Validity Inc.

Riding His Own Wonkavator

June 2022   The MPD2 program helped Justin Zupnick (MPD2 '18) find new direction for his career and prepared him for his current innovative role at a progressive health benefits provider.

Alumni Mentorship a Key Part of MPD2 Experience

May 2022   Three graduates from Northwestern Engineering's Master of Product Design and Development Management (MPD2) program explain why it's important for them to help current and future students.

Designing Products People Love

April 2022   Bridget McMullan (MPD2 '17) is using her MPD2 knowledge to meet member needs as director of product strategy at Anthem, America’s largest for-profit health insurer.

A Capstone Culmination

April 2022   MPD2 students spend almost a year creating a product they think can impact the public and attract customer interest.

Modernizing and Expanding the MPD2 Program

April 2022   Director Jim Wicks talks about changes to the Master of Product Design and Development Management (MPD2) program curriculum and how they will help students thrive now and in the future.

Teaching the Value of Accounting

March 2022   Robin Soffer helps students in Northwestern Engineering's Master of Product Design and Development Management (mpd²) program understand that 'accounting is the language of business.'

Looking Forward to the Future of mpd²

February 2022   Jim Wicks, mpd² program director, shares what inspires him about Northwestern Engineering's Master of Product Design and Development Management (mpd²) program and what has him excited for the future.

Envisioning a Smarter Bathroom

February 2022   Amber Hall (mpd² ‘20) is changing how we interact with our home, starting with the bath. She shares how Northwestern Engineering's Master of Product Design and Development Management (mpd²) program gave her the product development skills to inspire the future.

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