Capping Off the Capstone Experience
September 2023 MPD2 students presented their final projects to classmates, faculty, and venture capitalists.
Inside Our Program
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.