The IAC helps to keep the curriculum up-to-date to maintain program goals and competencies. To do this, members of the committee are asked to weigh in on and vote to support or reject any proposed changes to the UX program.

View the committee bylaws.

2024–25 Members

The UX IAC is comprised of industry professionals, MSOE UX faculty and students. The membership reflects a balance of high-tech, finance, retail, consulting and start-up companies that are located locally, nationally and internationally.

Community Members

Heidi Barrette Easter

Heidi Barrette Easter is a UX leader with over 15 years of experience designing human-centered digital experiences that drive business success. Heidi has a strong track record in retail, where she has honed her ability to craft user experiences for diverse areas such as Autoship and Funnel, Purchase, International, and membership programs at Chewy. Passionate about identifying strategic opportunities, Heidi is adept at diving into the details to uncover solutions that delight users and meet business goals.

Irina Becker

Irina is an experienced Milwaukee-based research lead and strategist. She is passionate about helping brands grow by gaining a deeper understanding of their customers and improving customer experience. Irina leads both qualitative and quantitative research for internal and external customers and mentors design and research team members at GE HealthCare. She also coaches teams through the side business of MB Collab. In addition, Irina has a Business Innovation and Advanced Design Thinking certifications from IDEO and UX Management certification from Nielsen Norman Group.

Hillary Black

Hillary is an AI conversation designer and marketing professional who has made it her mission to inspire the next generation of designers through mentorship, community, and content. Following a decade-long career in social media with brands like Beats by Dre, Vine, and the University of Michigan, she brought her passion for developing brand personalities and strategic content to chatbots in 2017 and has never looked back. Alongside her role in conversation design and marketing at the AI startup Mav, she mentors aspiring designers in an online community, authored the course Conversation Design for Chatbots with UX Content Collective, created the job-matching site Conversation Designer Jobs, and frequently shares her expertise online with partners like Miro, UX Professionals Association, and Amazon.

Ash Dzick

Ash is a data-driven professional who excels in managing UX teams with a focus on strategic leadership and persona-driven design. She harbors a deep passion for mentorship, leading several committees dedicated to fostering the next generation of UX. Ash chairs the Industrial Advisory Committee for Milwaukee School of Engineering and works as a Senior Manager of User Experience for Molson Coors.

Kristine Howell

Kristine is a seasoned senior user experience strategist with over two decades of industry experience. In 2021, she co-founded Lyssna Method, a leading UX consultancy. As an active member of the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WEBEC), Kristine specializes in elevating user experiences not only in healthcare but also across diverse sectors including manufacturing, ecommerce, non-profit and government. Collaborating closely with esteemed institutions such as Children’s Wisconsin, Kristine utilizes design-led practices to create impactful and user-centered solutions in various domains. She graduated with honors, holding a bachelor's degree in fine art and design from UW-Milwaukee. Additionally, Kristine is certified in UX by Nielsen Norman Group and has earned a UX strategy accreditation from Jamie Levy.

Kevin Kahler

Kevin is a people-focused and quality-driven design leader with a wealth of experience crafting user-centered solutions in both corporate and agency environments across Metro Milwaukee. He enjoys leading teams that research, plan, and design end-to-end experiences, empowering users through intuitive, delightful, and human-centric design. Currently serving as a UX Manager at Generac, Kevin leads a team of UX practitioners focused on mobile and web applications, enabling Generac customers and dealers to remotely monitor and manage their home energy products.

Amii LaPointe

Amii is a teacher at heart and believes that the world can be a better place through user experience design. She uses her 20+ years of usability experience as a practitioner and leader to mentor and share knowledge with her students as an assistant professor of UX at MSOE. In addition, she co-chairs of the MSOE UX Industrial Advisory Committee (IAC) where she assists Ash Dzick, IAC chair, to build relationships with industry that help to guide curriculum development and program strategy. Amii holds a M.S. in Technical Communication Management from Mercer University and a B.S. in Technical Communication from the University of Washington.

Tony Maurer

With 20 years of experience in creative, design, and technology, I have had the honor of winning prestigious awards such as the Awwwards Site of the Year, Webby, FWA Site of the Day, Effies, Integrated Gold Milwaukee 99, and Best of Show Milwaukee 99. I have held leadership positions at nationally recognized companies including Hiebing, Cramer-Krasselt, and Bader Rutter. Currently, I serve as the Senior User Experience Designer Lead at Komatsu. My work has also been featured in Adweek, The Drum, Communication Arts Annual, and AdAge. My career has taken me places where I've created multi-million dollar websites and produced television commercials featuring celebrity talent like Michael Jordan. My biggest joy as a designer is helping others solve problems through my talents and passion for visual interactive solutions. My mission in education mirrors my approach to work: solving problems for Fortune 500 companies through discovery, definition, design, and testing, all while having fun and bringing others along on the journey.

Cindy Miller

Cindy is the owner of a Human Factors Engineering consultancy where she works in both the digital and physical space for a diverse range of industries. With over 15 years of experience, Cindy works in areas of usability testing, UX strategy, UX research and UX design. Cindy has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Milwaukee School of Engineering, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Human Factors from Wichita State University. 

Serene Mireles

Serene is a Milwaukee-based Design strategist and leader with over 26 years of industry experience. She is the Director of Product Design at Labcorp Genetics where she coaches and mentors designers, researchers, and product managers, taking a human-centered approach to align teams around customer needs. As cofounder of MB Collab, she also focuses on design and research ops coaching, helping teams develop strategies to launch customer-centric products and services.

Rob Nero

Rob is a UX Manager at Volvo Cars in Stockholm, Sweden, leading UX for a domain focused on internal tools. With over 25 years of experience, he has touched all types of design, from enterprise insurance and financial tools, to agency projects for Samsung and HP, and to product companies with Spotify and now Volvo Cars. The common thread through all of his work is focusing on tools that bring efficiency and utility to users. What drives him now is building design teams through a growth mindset, and enabling focus through design visions and strategy.

Erik O'Brien

Erik is a product & UX strategy leader with 15 years of experience helping organizations make things people want. With his work spanning industries and clients like Royal Caribbean, Allstate, Verizon, BCBS, Walgreens, McDonald's, US Olympics, and emerging startups, Erik thrives on uncovering insights that reshape perspectives on people, categories, technology, and culture. Always seeking the path less traveled, he brings a unique blend of analytical rigor and creative thinking to drive innovation at the intersection of people and technology.

Joe Poeschl

Joe Poeschl is on a mission to be a catalyst for strategic innovation, inclusive collaboration, and community connections in Milwaukee. Throughout his career, he has facilitated learning and growth experiences for thousands of local students, professionals, entrepreneurs, and innovators of all backgrounds and disciplines. Formerly Co-Founder of The Commons, Joe is now the Director of Engagement at the MKE Tech Hub, a non-profit coalition that serves as a unifying voice for Milwaukee’s tech ecosystem.

Corey Poquette

Corey is the UX director for the Software and Control organization at Rockwell Automation. He leads a global team of more than 40 UX professionals. He found his passion for design and research at his prior company, Johnson Controls, where he spent 13 amazing years amongst great friends, learning the discipline and specializing in information architecture, design leadership, research and strategy. He is most at home collaborating with a group, tackling ambiguity and complexity, and where a design thinking mindset is shared by those partnering on the challenge.

Kat Richards

Kat Richards (she/her) is a systems thinker that has a passion for collaboration between business strategy, technology and CX. She has over a decade of experience spanning from consumer goods, tourism to B2B, healthcare and financial industries, working from interactive design, UX and product, to experience strategy and design operations. As an associate director of experience strategy at Digitas, Kat creates human-centered solutions that challenge the status quo and inequities.

Michael Seidel 

Michael is a Milwaukee-based design leader and mentor with more than 15 years of experience in the field. He has spent his career building strategic design disciplines for organizations within a diverse range of industries, with a focus on healthcare in recent years. Michael strongly believes that collaboration and curiosity are the cornerstones of successful design.

Jade Stewart

Jade is a customer-focused product manager based in Chicago, Illinois. Joining RSVPify in its early growth phase, Jade has grown with the company to its current position as a leading event management software solution. Jade shows a particular focus and commitment to innovation, with a deep understanding of user needs. Jade continues to shape RSVPify's trajectory, ensuring that the product remains at the forefront of software solutions in the industry. Jade has pursued further education by participating in Reforge's Growth Series, enhancing her expertise in driving product growth strategies. 

Jonathan Wagenknecht

Jonathan is a user experience designer who enjoys bridging the gap between design and software implementation. As a UX/Product designer at Northwestern Mutual, he utilizes his UX expertise and understanding of front-end development to improve digital experiences across internal and external-facing web applications. He has also worked with agencies, government entities, and startups as a designer/front-end developer, bringing people-centered digital experiences to life. Jonathan is also a proud graduate of MSOE's UX program, with a Bachelor of Science in User Experience and Communication Design.

Chelsea Wanta

Chelsea is the director of usability/human factors engineering at GE HealthCare. In this role, she leads a global team of usability/human factors engineers as part of GE HealthCare’s Experience Design organization, working across the GE HealthCare portfolio of products. The team helps optimize the quality of interaction between people and healthcare products as well as informs and evaluates design of user interfaces to ensure they are safe, effective and deliver a good user experience. Chelsea holds a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering and a master’s degree in human factors and ergonomics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Student Members

Olivia Eldridge 

Olivia is currently a junior at MSOE studying for her B.S. in User Experience. She is knowledgeable in the Adobe Creative Cloud, UX principles of research, interface design and visual design. Olivia is also certified in Microsoft Excel and the Dale Carnegie Leadership Training course. She is very excited to be joining and participating in the IAC for the first time.

Will Heffernan

William is a sophomore User Experience major studying at MSOE. He currently manages the Gene Carter User Experience Lab, and utilizes his strong drive for problem solving to improve the overall UX student experience on campus. Will seeks to provide his skills in User Experience to develop a more optimized and accessible future, and is excited to join the team this fall 2024.

Faculty/Staff Members

Dr. Alicia Domack

Alicia is the chair of the Humanities, Social Science, and Communications department, which houses the User Experience & Communication Design program at MSOE. She is also an Associate Professor. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Psychology and a Master of Arts in School Psychology from the University of Nebraska and Bachelor of Science in Psychology from University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Dr. Nadya Shalamova

Nadya is the User Experience & Communication Design Program Director and an Associate Professor at MSOE. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy, Rhetoric & Professional Communication from New Mexico State University, M. Phil., Post-Graduate Degree in Descriptive Linguistics from Mari State University (Yoshkar-Ola, Russia), and a Master of Arts, Graduate Degree in Teaching English and German as a Foreign Language from Tomsk State Pedagogical University (Tomsk, Russia). MSOE alum!