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Dr. Alexis Hope loves to design experiences that help people find joy, self-compassion, and connection with others. She is the Creative Director of TEN FWD — a consultancy that helps clients build playful, experimental objects and social experiences.
Along with Nodira Khoussainova and Justin Trobec, she is a co-founder of focused, an online service that helps people reach their personal, professional, and creative goals in community with others.
Alexis spent a decade at MIT, where she received her PhD at the MIT Media Lab in 2021. As a designer, she has worked across a variety of domains — ranging from cameras for deep-sea exploration, creative learning technologies for children, artistic tools for zero-gravity environments in orbit, "hackathons" to improve breast pumps (...what?!), low-cost ultrasound machines for providing prenatal care in areas with limited resources, and more. She was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow from 2012 - 2015.
Alexis organizes a community project called “Trash Club,” a series of gatherings that invite people to come together to prototype playful objects using recycled materials. This builds on her work as the co-founder and Design Director of the “Make the Breast Pump Not Suck Hackathon,” which brought together hundreds of parents, caregivers, and their children to invent new ways to support breastfeeding and postpartum health.
As a musician, she sings and writes songs for two bands: Calico Beach Party, and Double Bitch.
When she is not doing the above, she works part-time as a barista at her local neighborhood cafe and record store. (In Seattle, the best way to meet your neighbors is to make them coffee!)
What I’m up to lately:
Working with Katy Croff Bell and the Ocean Discovery League to make exploring the deep sea more accessible via low-cost technology design and educational opportunities.
Serving on the Alumni Leadership Board for the Human-Centered Design & Engineering program at the University of Washington
Recently joined the faculty of the University of Maine Intermedia Arts department, currently co-teaching a course in the Arts & Humanities in Medicine program
P.S. I welcome opportunities to share what I’ve learned and am always happy to help people think through issues at the intersection of personal and career development. Feel free to get in touch with me if you think I can be helpful to your goals ☻
Education
MIT Media Lab - M.S. / PhD / Postdoc (2013 - 2022)
Massachusetts College of Art & Design - Industrial & Furniture Design (2016 - 2018)
Northwestern University - Technology and Social Behavior program (2012 - 2013)
University of Washington - Human-Centered Design & Human-Computer Interaction, B.S. / M.S (2005 - 2012)
Exhibitions
MAAM Museum / Mütter Museum / Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Discovery Center. Designing Motherhood: Things That Make and Break Our Births. 2021 / 2022 / 2023.
Walker Art Center. Designs for Different Futures. 2020.
Philadelphia Museum of Art. Designs for Different Futures. 2019.
Ars Electronica. Per aspera ad astra – 50 years after the Moon. 2019.
Selected Press
Honors & Awards
LEGO Papert Fellow (2019 - 2020)
MIT Graduate Woman of Excellence (2015)
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (2012-2015)
Shobe Entrepreneurship Prize (2011)
UW Society of Women Engineers Outstanding Graduate Female (2011)
HCDE Leadership and Engagement Award (2010, 2012)
Sakson Diversity in Engineering Scholarship (2009–2010)
Teaching
University of Maine IMD540: Intermedia Arts Seminar (2022)
Massachusetts College of Art& Design EDID225: Industrial Design Form (2021)
TechX Summit in Beijing: Introduction to Industrial Design (2019)
MIT Media Lab S64: Technology and Social Change (2014 - 2017)
MIT Media Lab S600: Future of News and Participatory Media (2015)
UW Human-Centered Design & Engineering 318: User Experience Design (2012)
UW Computer Science & Engineering 440: Human-Computer Interaction (2011)
UW Human-Centered Design & Engineering 231: Technical Communication (2010)
Advising
Cinthia Abundes & Geraldine Porras (National University of Mexico) — Industrial Design Thesis: Redesigning the gynecological experience from a feminist perspective.
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