North Carolina State University, Master of Graphic & Experience Design

🌟Alumni Spotlight🌟

Meet Mac Hill, Class of 2018! 🎓✨ Now the Director of UX Design at Fidelity Investments.

Her advice for current MGXD students:
Explore! Grad school was an incredible opportunity to discover my design interests. It provided rare freedom and minimal restrictions, fostering experimentation and rapid learning. The MGXD program taught me how to explore new contexts and ask probing questions, which has been a powerful tool in my career. 🎤💛

Practice discussing your designs! Articulating your design decisions is what distinguishes successful designers. Storytelling is crucial for developing a design career, and graduate school provides an excellent opportunity to refine these skills.🌱✨

Reflecting on her MGXD experience, Mac shares how her thesis on visualizing uncertainty for non-expert audiences continues to shape her perspective today, especially as she encounters similar challenges in areas like health and data communication. 📊

We’re so proud to celebrate her journey and impact! 🌟

We’re proud to share that our talented thesis students Laurel, Kimaya, Heather, and Aisha presented their research 🧾 at the NC State Graduate Student Research Symposium, an incredible annual event showcasing innovative work from 200+ graduate students across disciplines. ✨🎓

A special congratulations to Laurel for earning 🥈 Second Prize in the College of Design — a well-deserved recognition of her outstanding work! 👏💫

We’re proud to share that our talented thesis students Kimaya, Laurel, Heather and Aisha presented their research 🧾 at the NC State Graduate Student Research Symposium, an incredible annual event showcasing innovative work from 200+ graduate students across disciplines. 👏

🌟 Meet Valeria López Torres, our inspiring Assistant Professor of Graphic & Experience Design! 🎨✨

A designer, researcher, and educator, Valeria works at the intersection of human experience and emerging technology—exploring Human-AI Interaction (HAI) and UX/UI to better understand how design shapes our relationship with technology. 🤖💡 From researching long-term AI companionship to designing explainable AI systems, her work pushes the boundaries of what design can do.

She thrives in MGxD’s culture of innovation, where curiosity and collaboration spark new ideas and future-focused thinking. 🚀 Her advice to students? Stay radically open-minded and embrace the power—and responsibility—of design to shape the world. 🌍

Beyond the classroom, Valeria is passionate about building interdisciplinary connections and creating meaningful, real-world experiences for students—like co-curating the “Your Brain on Art” exhibition at the Gregg Museum. 🧠🎭

When she’s not teaching, you’ll find her enjoying live performances, exploring the outdoors, discovering local breweries, and hunting for unique vintage fashion finds. 🌄🍻👗

We’re so lucky to have Valeria guiding and inspiring our MGxD community! 💛

We’re proud to share that our MGXD thesis student, Chengchen Zhang, has been recognized in GDUSA Magazine 2026 Students to Watch list 🎊, a prestigious honor from one of the design industry’s most influential platforms.

From a background in mechanical engineering and technology to building her own creative studio, Chengchen’s journey reflects a powerful blend of curiosity, resilience, and vision. At MGXD, her work explores how thoughtful UX design can make complex AI systems more transparent, understandable, and human-centered 🤖💡

We’re incredibly proud to see her creativity and dedication recognized on a national stage 👏

🔗 Read more about her feature: https://gdusa.com/features/students-to-watch/?y=2026§ion=CHENGCHEN_ZHANG

Spring break highlights!
Our students made every moment count! ✨📸

Professor Valeria López Torres and our Explainable AI (XAI) Seminar students brought their work to life at Brain Night at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences!
Connecting with neuroscientists, engaging with the public, and showcasing XAI in action👩‍💻🗣️
Learning, sharing, and growing beyond the classroom 🚀

What happens when our students log off?
Life gets just as creative ✨🎶❄️
Hobbies, passions, and everything in between 💙