Inquiries

Francesca Polito, Ph.D.

I am an experienced educator, researcher, and senior interdisciplinary innovation and design leader.  My research and practice areas are highly focused on innovation, design + development practice, education, and social justice - how we consider vulnerabilities of the societies we design and build products for, and how we train and educate practitioners in these fields to be more inclusive and aware and to incorporate best practices for social justice, human rights, dignity in their practice.

In the public sector, I have over 20 years of experience in various design leadership roles from Head of UX Design and Director of Product to Founder where I have worked with Fortune 500 companies, publicly traded companies, private companies, startups, educational companies, and nonprofits and played a role in both leading and building multi-disciplinary teams to deliver simplified, elegant, value-driven innovative experiences for highly complex problems with diverse scopes. I utilize a human-centered design approach to thoroughly examine and address societal issues, working towards the promotion of social and design justice.

I currently hold teaching positions at the University of Maryland and Maryland Institute College of the Arts in their HCI and UXD departments. I have also served as a member of the Advisory Board for the University of New Haven and helped to design and launch their MS and MPS UX graduate programs.

I teach various courses in Technology and Innovation, Product Management, HCD, UX Design, User Research, and Technology, Culture, and Society with a specialty in designing and teaching courses in the business and innovation side of human-centered design and product management.

My research area is focused on human development in education and explores vulnerabilities that exist and continue to persist as we consider technology's use and application in this space and requirements for experiential learning. I explore the socio-technical dimension of the educational system and the vulnerabilities that threaten human development in each sphere as we transition to STEM and 21 Century learning. I also research ethics in product design methodologies, ethical considerations in persona creation for diverse groups, and vulnerabilities in various forms of product design practice and adaptive management strategies for HCD, Computer Science, Info Science and Engineering design and development lifecycles. I am interested in ethical decisions that designers, engineers, educators, and researchers face and must consider in evolving societies. I completed my Ph.D. and Masters in HCI at Iowa State University. I am a member of the Human Development &Capability Association, a group that researches and supports human development and capability.