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Student Stories

The students in the MID Cohort are working on a wide variety of projects from various areas of interest. Check out what they have been up to below!

A Look at Recent MID Projects

  • Designing Agentic AI for Smart Manufacturing

    ID 701 Vibe Coding for Agentic AI

    MID students tackled a complex manufacturing challenge: What happens when a production line fails? Using Design Thinking and AI, students built working systems of collaborating AI agents to monitor operations, evaluate solutions, and support decisions. Six unique prototypes demonstrated how human judgment and AI can work together to solve real-world problems.

  • Designing Through a Child’s Eyes: Kids Camera Prototype

    ID752 Innovation Studio I

    MID students stepped into the shoes of children ages 4–9 to design a better camera experience. Through interviews, observation, prototyping, and iteration, students developed kid-friendly features including colorful oversized buttons, durable shells, photo stickers, creative filters, and image stabilization—turning real user insights into innovative, practical product designs.

  • Growing Sustainable Innovation with MIdwest Hemp Technology

    ID 509 Applied Sustainability

    MID students are partnering with Midwest Hemp Technology to explore how industrial hemp can create new business opportunities across Kansas and the Plains. Using design thinking, sustainability frameworks, and business modeling, students identify innovative applications, solve industry challenges, and develop strategies to scale a more sustainable regional economy.

  • Collaborative XR Development: Designing Immersive Experiences

    ID 719 Collaborative XR Development

    MID students combine UX/UI design and extended reality (XR) development to create interactive dashboards, immersive experiences, and innovative digital solutions. Exploring real-world applications across industries, including the emerging space economy, students design and prototype new ways to visualize information, collaborate, solve complex problems, and interact with technology.

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Where Are They Now? MID Alums Are Making An Impact.

Lili Solorzano, MID Alum | COO, InstantBits
"After 15 years in corporate aerospace engineering, I pursued my MID to build the confidence and framework needed to transition into tech and entrepreneurship. Today, I am the COO of InstantBits, a shepherdess at Carlily Farms, and the manager of our family office, where I research and invest in early-stage tech, private equity, and regional ventures. MID taught me to approach messy, real-world challenges as design problems, a perspective I bring to both my work and everyday life."
– Lili Solorzano

Amanda, MID Alum | Experience Design Lead, Heartspring
“MID gave me a way of thinking, not just a set of tools. That’s why it works whether I’m designing an app or improving the experience for families waiting to start services at Heartspring.”

After MID, I joined Koch as a UX Designer, making websites and apps easier and more intuitive to use. Now I’m the Experience Design Lead at Heartspring, a Wichita nonprofit providing life-changing therapies and special education for children and teens with neurodevelopmental challenges. The goal is the same, but the focus has shifted from screens to people: the kids, their families, and the staff who show up for them every day. In both roles, I lean on what MID taught me: embracing messy problems, doing real research with real people, and bringing others into the process. I like to say I un-mess the messy, and MID is where I learned how.

Oreofeoluwa (Ore) Olulana, MID Alum | Multidisciplinary Product Designer at Bamboocraft Nigeria Ltd.
Graduating from the Master’s in Innovation Design (MID) program since 2018 has profoundly shaped my multidisciplinary design career. I remain deeply grateful to the institution for equipping me with foundational principles of innovation, critical thinking, research, problem-solving and technology-driven design, which continue to inform my professional achievements. From furniture design engineering & conceptualization to digital product design, interior architecture, branding and sustainable product development, I have consistently translated these principles into impactful solutions. Today, as a Multidisciplinary Product Designer at Bamboocraft Nigeria Ltd., overseeing the design, development, branding & packaging of numerous consumer products, I have efficiently integrated AI & contemporary technology into my workflow, leveraging the foundational principles gained from the MID program to enhance my creativity, productivity and innovation.

Cohort Highlight

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