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.

2021–22 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

Ravi Adapathya

Ravi has built and led multidisciplinary design teams at Fortune 250 firms and a late-stage startup. Over the past 25+ years, he has co-authored 10 patents and contributed to the design of digital and physical product experiences across domains including consumer electronics, healthcare, occupational safety, materials handling, retail, legal practice, and data networking. Ravi focuses on connecting user insights to business strategy and fostering collaborative, diverse teams. He holds an MA in Experimental Psychology (Human Factors) from the University of Dayton, and an MBA from Duke University.

Barry Glasford

Barry is Human Experience Researcher at Kohler where he uses User Centered Design (UCD) and other human factors principles to analyze, design and evaluate all levels of prototypes to create products that make our user's lives more gracious. Barry holds a Bachelor of Science in Technical Communication from the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE).

Chris Gonzalez

Chris is a UX Engineer currently working on systems that power Google Search. Prior to joining Google, he worked at CNN Digital, designing and building election results for the 2016 US Primary and General Elections. Chris believes in the power of designing expressive systems with code and the value of education and mentorship as part of a healthy career. Chris holds a Masters of Science in Human Computer Interaction from Georgia Tech.

Anna Janusz

Anna's creative work started in communications, and has spanned advertising agencies, digital agencies, a software lab, and now corporate technology. Though varied, many things have been the same throughout those employers: She loves to work within a team, feels at home with the unknown of new challenges, and she believes in iterative work which allows taking action and adjusting plans as needed. She believes the best work is done when we honor the place that the user’s needs and the business objectives intersect. That’s where the magic happens.

Currently, Anna is a senior manager in IT at Generac where she works closely with the business groups to ensure technology is working hard to solve their business challenges in the best way. She consults on many projects to advocate for the user and assist with journey mapping, test theories for use cases and help with planning/strategy for execution. Anna is passionate about her community, serving as vice president of her school board, and president of her local soccer club. She's a writer and story-teller at heart and loves reading, dogs, coffee and cheering for her three children in all they do.

Marie Kieckbusch

Marie leads a team of UX Designers and UX Researchers at Northwestern Mutual where she specializes in usability and design strategy.  For 15+ years she has been designing and developing digital products.  Her expertise lay in visual design, user-centered design methodology, psychology of user behaviors, UX research and usability testing. She has a love for learning, a BA in Communications & Business from St. Norbert College as well as multiple Design, Development, Usability and Accessibility Certifications.

Dale Mittelsteadt

Dale is an Entrepreneurial and purpose driven technology and business leader bringing the power of software and innovation forward to propel organizational growth. Believer in the power of the collaborative design process and that the best solution lies somewhere between all the greatest individual answers. Dale holds a bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics from University of Wisconsin, Stout.

Rob Nero

Rob is a Senior Designer at Soundtrap, a collaborative music and podcast creation tool owned by Spotify, while being a designer for over 20 years. He's lead other design teams at Spotify within customer support and automotive and worked in enterprise software and multiple design agencies. In his career, Rob focuses on design strategy and how solutions provide utility for the user.

Doug Palmer

Doug is Senior Human Experience Researcher at Kohler. Doug holds a Masters of Science degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering focusing on Human Centered Design/Ergonomics in integrated system engineering.

Joe Poeschl

After graduating from Marquette and MIAD in 2008, Joe founded a web software design and development consultancy, where he leads the product design, project management and business strategy for web startups across the country. Joe also co-founded Startup Milwaukee, an organization devoted to showcasing and connecting the Milwaukee region's entrepreneurs. Most recently, he co-founded The Commons, an entrepreneurial skills accelerator for talented and motivated students across southeast Wisconsin.

Kat Richards

Kat is currently the Associate Director of Experience Strategy at Digitas North America where she crafts experience POVs with powerful, unexpected insights that inspire. Prior to joining Digitas, Kat was a UX Lead at Hoffman York where she provided well rounded strategies and educated recommendations through qualitative and quantitative data. She specializes in improving experiences through validated learnings with users, as well as aligning agreement with stakeholders. Kat thrives in finding clarity in chaos and communicating effectively to others, utilizing her skills within a lean UX environment. Kat has more than nine years of professional UX & interactive experience. She is a CUA (Certified Usability Analyst) through Human Interaction Factors and holds a BA in Advertising from Marquette University, as well as a minor in Psychology, and Graphic Design/ Visual Art minor through MIAD. 

Mike Rohde

Mike is a principal user experience designer at PKWARE where he creates powerful, useful, and delightful software products for data discovery and protection. Prior to joining PKWARE, Mike was a principal designer at Johnson Controls and the author of two bestselling books: The Sketchnote Handbook (2012) and The Sketchnote Workbook (2014). Mike is a veteran designer who creates usable, compelling design solutions for software and web applications. Additionally, Mike presents workshops around the world that encourage people to use visual thinking skills to generate, capture and share ideas more effectively.

Damon Sanchez (Committee Co-chair)

Damon is the Associate Director of Experience Strategy at Isobar Public Sector. Prior to that, he was the Managing User Experience Architect at Concurrency, where he is charged with the growth, excellence and execution of Human Centered Design Strategy.  He fosters engagement, collaboration and documentation across teams, departments and leadership. He has worked as an Interactive Director and Creative Lead on B2B and B2C experiences with international clients like BASF, Pfizer, Zoetis, Johnson Controls, GE, Miller Brewing Co. and Harley Davidson. Damon has managed teams from both a development and creative/conceptual perspective and is a speaker at conferences around the country. He holds a bachelors degree from Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design and a Masters in Psychology of Human Factors (Dec. 2021)

Chelsea Wanta

Chelsea is the Director of Usability/Human Factors at GE Healthcare. In this role, she leads the global Usability/Human Factors Engineering process, ensuring product development teams design medical device user interfaces that are safe, effective, and deliver a good user experience. Additionally, she is responsible for integrating user centered design and customer learning practices into the product lifecycle global process framework. 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

Ethan Latham

Ethan is a current User Experience major, minoring in Psychology and Technical Communication. Ethan went to high school at West Bend West High School where his technology and digital design classes played a major role in his decision to join MSOE and the User Experience program. He loves helping others and tries to make sure that people around him always have a smile on their face. Ethan also loves the idea that his designs and ideas may help people have a great experience with a product. In his free time, Ethan likes to stay active playing soccer, tennis and volleyball and also enjoys fishing. 

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.

Amii LaPointe

Amii designs experiences for people and believes that the world can be a better place through User Experience (UX) design. Currently, Amii uses her UX-abilities as an Assistant Professor of UX at the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE, located in Milwaukee, WI) where she teaches design, research, and agile classes in the newly formed undergraduate UX program. In addition, she is the chair of the MSOE UX Industrial Advisory Committee (IAC) where she works to build relationships with industry that help to guide curriculum development and program strategy.

Amii has 20+ years of experience as a UX leader and practitioner at large, small, and startup companies and also still consults when the opportunity arises. Amii holds a M.S. in Technical Communication Management from Mercer University (Macon, GA) and a B.S. in Technical Communication from the University of Washington (Seattle, WA). Outside of work, you’ll find Amii spending time with her partner, kids, and friends, walking her dogs, practicing yoga, and scuba diving. And, if you see her, ask her about her unusual love of sticky notes.

Dr. Katie Panciera

Katie is an assistant professor in the Humanities, Social Science, and Communication Department at MSOE. She earned her bachelor's degree in mathematics and computer science from Berea College. She earned her master's and Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. She teaches user experience courses at MSOE including Global User Experience, UX Research, Human-Computer Interaction, Easy by Design, UX and Com Design Internship, Creative Thinking, and Foundations of UX. She has industry experience serving as a user experience researcher for Google and Facebook.    

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!