FEBRUARY 2026

New Social Innovation Blogs by MFA DSI Alum

Social design is an ever-evolving practice. Writing, speaking, and sharing are also essential aspects of our work, contributing to the growing and changing social innovation field. MFA DSI Alum, Grace Kwon, Brielle Mariucci, and Edwin Mauricio Olivera, keep asking the necessary questions: What is the future of service design? How do we design with care when AI is around every corner? How might we approach the ethics of research data collection? What impact do we want to have?

Grace Kwon (MFA DSI ’20) 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 (MFA DSI ’24) 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 in improving public safety. In this Substack post, Brielle analyzes the ethics of AI in systems change, and how human-centered designers might approach data collection and AI assistance in their work. Read the full post.

Edwin Mauricio Olivera (MFA DSI ’25) is 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.