Katie Chen Mengzhu '18: Connecting Engineering and Empathy

As a User Experience Engineer at Microsoft, Katie Chen Mengzhu ’18 found that the success of the products she worked with depended on how well they fostered connections – between innovators of different backgrounds, between partners from a variety of fields and industries, and between the company and its users. To build products that made those connections stronger, Chen says, she relied on the empathy and cross-cultural communication skills that NYU Shanghai’s diverse environment nurtured in her, both in and out of the classroom.

“In the process of communicating with my classmates, I learned about our unconscious biases, how to listen respectfully, to connect, to communicate, and how to put myself in someone else’s shoes,” Chen said. “This is not only a really important quality in my work at Microsoft, this is an attitude and approach that is urgently needed in today’s globalized world.”

Chen, who majored in Interactive Media Arts with a minor in Business and Finance, devoted much of her work to inclusive and boundary-free accessible design, such as ensuring that navigation apps include 360 photos that show curbs and street crossings, allowing users with mobility issues to plan accessible routes. In her view, everyone’s abilities will change as they grow older, and we all go through periods where we are in some way “disabled.” Many of the accessible design features Chen worked on not only help those living with permanent disability, but also provide all users with assistance when their abilities are limited by illness, injury, or aging.

_{Chen presents her work with street-level 360 photos in navigation apps at a Microsoft conference. She and her team worked to include views of curbs and street crossings in these photos to allow those with mobility issues to find routes that are accessible to them.}

Now, after three years in the workforce, Chen says that the “start-up” seed NYU Shanghai planted in her heart spurred her to jump out of her comfort zone again. This fall, she began a  master’s in Integrated Design Management at MIT. The program brings together design, engineering, and management, striking the same chord of interdisciplinarity that Chen says has become a “keynote” in her life since she arrived at NYU Shanghai.

“I hope that in the future I can do something that is both commercially successful and beneficial to society, whether that means working for myself or for others,” Chen says.