iii Year in Review 2025
Join us as we look back at the iii community's accomplishments during 2025
By Jess Ignasky
Welcome to the Integrated Innovation Institute's 2025 Year in Review! From stories of our current students to graduates to alumni to faculty, we've rounded up some of this year's shining moments.
After an exciting, busy, and fun 2025, we can’t wait to see what 2026 has in store for the Integrated Innovation Institute! Continue to follow our blog or social media channels for the latest updates on what our community is up to.
146 New Students
This year, we welcomed 146 students across our Master of Integrated Innovation in Products and Services (MIIPS) degree, Master of Science in Software Management (MSSM) degree, Online Certificate & MIIPS Online Degree, and Engineering Design, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship (EDIE) additional undergraduate major.
The incoming class of 2025 represents 11 countries and brings over 550 years of collective work experience to the Institute.
2025 was a busy and rewarding year for our student community. Students built product management skills in improv workshops, thrived in the Silicon Valley startup scene, and used their innovation skills to pivot careers. Here are a few of the highlights:
- Sahaana Das fostered connections and built meaningful relationships as MSSM’s Community Bridge Fellow
- Krishna Pranav put his new skills to work as an Industrial Design intern at Ubicquia
- Kai Suematsu deepened his technical skills and found community in SV
- Robyn Roux used skills from the online program in her role at CMU
- Miriam Desta was charmed by Pittsburgh, her home during the MIIPS program
- Chloe Jian turned her love for playing video games into a research role
68 Internships
During the summer of 2025, 68 iii students completed internships at companies like Amazon, 7-Eleven, and Westinghouse Electric Company.
MIIPS students worked in roles like “Industrial Design Intern” and “Product Manager Intern,” where they honed their design skills with a newfound emphasis on business practices by negotiating pricing with manufacturers, improving client communications, and showcasing leadership skills by taking ownership and responsibility for their work.
MSSM students shared similar experiences in roles like “Product Intern,” and “Software Engineering Intern,” where they applied user research and prioritization frameworks skills learned in the classroom to update AI-based tools, synthesize feedback from user interviews to build new platforms, and collaborate with multiple teams.
103 Graduates
This year, we were fortunate to host many celebrations for our accomplished graduates, welcoming 103 new alumni to our network!
- During the Spring 2025 MIIPS Diploma Ceremony, we recognized 2025 MIIPS Online degree recipients, 2024 December MIIPS graduates, 2025 May MIIPS graduates, and awarded the annual MIIPS Alumni Changemaker Award to Catherine Sun (MPD ‘05).
- During the Winter 2025 MSSM Diploma Ceremony, we celebrated the classes of August 2025, December 2025, and (expected) May 2026 graduates, and awarded the annual Return on Education Award to Prashant Motewar (MSSM ‘07).
- During the Winter 2025 MIIPS Graduation Celebration, we honored our MIIPS class of December 2025.
1,500+ Alumniii
With the recent graduating classes joining the alumni network this December, we have now surpassed 1,500 alumni in the III community! Our alumni have had an incredible year:
- Areeb Sanadi (MSSM ‘22) returned to CMU-SV to lead a workshop on “Cracking the Product Manager Interview”
- Shobhit Aggarwal (MIIPS ‘22) is designing robotics courses for high school students in his role at CMU
- Michelle Yung (MSSM ‘17) gave back to the iii community as a guest speaker and workshop host
- Catherine Li (MIIPS ‘22) is simplifying the recommendation process for service providers with her startup, Locammend
- Moon Lou (MIIPS ‘24) is using her MIIPS knowledge as a Product Designer at Aurora
64 Courses
This past year, faculty and adjuncts taught a total of 64 courses over the spring, summer, and fall 2025 semesters. That’s a lot of knowledge. This year, students:
- Learned how to turn everyday interactions into seamless, delightful experiences in Human-Computer Interaction & User Experience Design for Managers
- Used game production to learn about leadership in a new way in Creative Leadership
- Gained insights about agentic AI from industry leaders in Innovation and Enterprise
- Built communication and interviewing skills during an improv workshop in Strategies for Your Industry Career
- Networked with entrepreneurs at the inaugural iii Entrepalooza
Professors had even more learnings to share with the community outside of the classroom! From hosting webinars on the ways AI is changing the way we think and how it has impacted service design to leading students in a STEM day aboard the USS Hornet, the iii was rich with new ideas and experiences to share. We also celebrated the retirement of three esteemed members of the iii community, longtime MSSM Program Director Gladys Mercier and Professors Stuart Evans and Shantha Mohan.
