Makda Bekele

Makda Bekele is a student at the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design at GW, part of the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences. She is double majoring in economics and interaction design, and she serves as a campus ambassador for Adobe. Her work spans visual design, digital products, and research, with a particular interest in music and in how people connect through the things they create and share. This year her coursework looks critically at the systems behind everyday technology, from data and surveillance to bias in AI and its effects on creativity. Further, she's studying community participatory design, discussing designing for a community versus with one. She brings a student's view of how AI is reshaping creative practice at GW, and of what it means to use these tools thoughtfully.