FEBRUARY 2026

Social Innovation Blogs from DSI Alum

Social design is a never-ending practice, and the writing of these DSI alum illuminates this. These alum, Grace Kwon, Brielle Mariucci, and Edwin Mauricio Olivera, keep asking the necessary questions, from what is the future of service design, to how do we design with care when AI is at every corner, to the ethics of research data collection.

Grace Kwon graduated from MFA Design for Social Innovation in 2020 and now works as a Service Design Lead at Spotify. Grace’s thesis project, Untangling Philanthropy, focused on disrupting power dynamics in philanthropy by challenging funders to cultivate collaborative partnerships with their grantees and ground relationships in trust. Read Grace’s most recent Substack post which analyzes the future of service design.

Brielle Mariucci is a 2024 graduate of MFA DSI and now works at Public Policy Lab as a Design Research and Strategy Lead. Her thesis project, At-oneness, was co-created with East New York residents and the Neighborhood Safety Initiative to increase community autonomy and agency through improved public safety. In this Substack post, Brielle analyzes the ethics of research data collection, especially when it comes to synthesis. Read the full post.

Edwin Mauricio Olivera graduated from MFA DSI in 2025 and now works as a Service Designer at Cambio Labs. His thesis project was titled Artecno and through his work Edwin developed an STEAM-based after school training program in AI literacy and creative technologies for high school students in Bolivia. Read Edwin’s reflection on his experience in the MFA DSI Legacy and Leadership Journey to Montgomery, Alabama.