Dr. Beth Altringer Eagle

Biography

Beth Ames Altringer Eagle holds a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge and master's degrees in multiple disciplines. Her academic career began at Harvard, where she spent 10 years on the faculty developing innovative approaches to teaching and learning at the intersection of design, engineering, and the arts to tackle complex problems. In 2021, she was appointed full Professor of Practice and Founding Director of the joint Brown University and Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) Master of Arts in Design Engineering (MADE) Program, which has developed a unique pedagogical approach aimed at supporting individual and cohort-level interdisciplinary learning. This program quickly gained recognition as a leading initiative among universities. In fall 2025, she will be named the Inaugural Distinguished Professor of Design and Director of the Design Initiative at Dartmouth College and serves as an advisor to Princeton University's Keller Center for Engineering Education. Altringer Eagle is interested in the integration of data and design to enhance human experience, particularly through collaborative intelligence approaches to pressing issues. She is currently writing a book for Penguin Publishing Group and is developing fluency in flavor design through a selected data arts residency at UC Santa Barbara's National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis. Her notable projects include work with Kering, Uber, General Mills, and Piaggio Fast Forward, where she led design research on award-winning human-helper cargo robots, earning multiple patents in the process. With an interdisciplinary background spanning behavioral science, product design, and architecture, she has dedicated 15 years to engineering education, taking a collaborative and experiential approach to train a new generation of thoughtful leaders who will play an active role in designing the future.

Research Interests