Biography
With a background in behavioral psychology, human-computer interaction, and user experience, I enjoy complex challenges that require systems design solutions. I am most passionate about bringing human-centered design to some of the toughest challenges we face today—those in our cities and schools.
It has been an honor of a lifetime to serve as a Digital Design strategist for the United States Digital Service (USDS), a team of cross-agency federal technologists working on complex issues affecting the American people. My nearly two years at USDS was spent working to decrease the barrier to federally funded state-administered benefits, such as Medicaid and SNAP, and improving the efficacy and accuracy of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
My entire career has been aimed toward civic technology and public service.
During my eight years at IDEO, a global design and innovation company, I led design research and strategy on a service design portfolio focused on the public sector and education. I designed the new brand and website for the City of Boston, designed financial literacy curriculum for young people, and crafted a career readiness strategy for a Boston arts college. Other notable projects include reimagining the first beer can for one of America’s premiere craft brewers, reinventing digital electronic medical records, rethinking trash behaviors in Boston’s densest neighborhoods, and creating an innovation toolkit for high school teachers.
I was recruited from IDEO to found a new master’s program in design and innovation at the University of Wisconsin–Madison (see page 7). The Master of Science in Design + Innovation program I created is a novel partnership of five UW—Madison schools and colleges—the College of Engineering, the School of Human Ecology, the School of Business, the Information School, and the Art Department in the School of Education. I launched, ran, and taught in the new interdisciplinary hands-on program through COVID (see page 8), leaving the university in 2022 to get closer to civic technology. I spent much of the next year working on projects aimed at improving state services (e.g. recruiting and hiring, victim compensation benefits) in California with Bloom Works and the CA Office of Data and Innovation.
I hold a Master’s degree in Human-Computer Interaction from Georgia Tech in Atlanta, Georgia, and a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.