Beth Altringer

Altringer earned a Master's degree in Architecture from the University of Cape Town and a PhD in the psychology of design from the University of Cambridge at Emmanuel College. During a visiting scholarship at Stanford University's Computer Science Department in human-computer interaction she quantified the benefits of parallel prototyping{{Cite book|last1=Dow|first1=Steven|title=Proceedings of the 2011 annual conference on Human factors in computing systems - CHI '11|last2=Fortuna|first2=Julie|last3=Schwartz|first3=Dan|last4=Altringer|first4=Beth|last5=Schwartz|first5=Daniel|last6=Klemmer|first6=Scott|year=2011|isbn=9781450302289|page=2807|chapter=Prototyping Dynamics|doi=10.1145/1978942.1979359|s2cid=14028649}} and taught at the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she developed new active learning courses to improve user-centered design and emotional design pedagogy for engineers and product designers.

Altringer was an early advocate of user-centered design{{Cite journal|title=The intended and actual impacts of mega events|s2cid=158512814}}{{Cite web|title=Tsoga Project|url=https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/13406164/tsoga-environmental-centre-local-sustainability-catalyst-/2|access-date=2020-03-08|website=Yumpu}}{{Cite journal|title=Engaging with care: A vision for the health and care workforce of England|url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20203081|access-date=2020-03-08|journal=Journal of Health Services Research & Policy|year=2010|pmid=20203081|last1=Altringer|first1=B.|volume=15|issue=3|pages=174–7|doi=10.1258/jhsrp.2009.009064|s2cid=23501816}} and emotional design.{{Cite journal|title=The emotional experience of patient care: A case for innovation in health care design|url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20203081|access-date=2020-03-08|journal=Journal of Health Services Research & Policy|year=2010|pmid=20203081|last1=Altringer|first1=B.|volume=15|issue=3|pages=174–7|doi=10.1258/jhsrp.2009.009064|s2cid=23501816}} In 2010, she joined Jochen Zeitz to develop the 2025 strategy for the luxury group, Kering, including a sustainable materials design lab and the first environmental profit and loss account.{{Cite web|title=New standard in luxury-sport lifestyle retail sectors|url=https://www.kering.com/en/news/ppr-group-sustainability-initiative-ppr-home-set-new-standard-in-luxury-sport-lifestyle-retail-sectors|access-date=2020-01-13|website=Kering}} In 2015, Altringer joined the founding team of Piaggio Fast Forward as Chief Design Research Officer, to develop the Gita (mobile carrier) robot.{{Cite web|title=Piaggio Fast-forwards to a new era|url=https://www.smartcitiesworld.net/news/news/piaggio-fast-forwards-to-a-new-era-1335|access-date=2017-11-04|website=Smart Cities}}{{Cite web|title=Startup pioneers human-centric urban travel|url=https://techxplore.com/news/2017-09-startup-human-centric-urban.html|access-date=2017-11-04|website=Tech Explore}}{{Cite web|title=Gita robot|url=https://mygita.com/|access-date=2017-11-04|website=Gita website}} Her design studio develops learning products including the Flavor Genome Project{{Cite web|title=Flavor Genome Project|url=https://www.flavorgenomeproject.com//|access-date=2019-12-01|website=Flavor Genome Project}} and Chef League{{Cite web|title=Chef League interactive flavor learning|url=https://chefleague.app/|access-date=2019-12-01|website=Chef League}}{{Cite web|date=31 May 2019|title=Chef League challenges you to improvise recipes like the pros|url=https://venturebeat.com/2019/05/31/chef-league-challenges-you-to-improvise-recipes-like-the-pros/|access-date=2019-12-01|website=VentureBeat}}{{Cite web|title=Cooking up an educational competition|url=https://www.seas.harvard.edu/news/2019/04/cooking-educational-competition|access-date=2019-12-01|website=Harvard University}} that explore how to help users learn their own preferences.{{Cite web|title=Tech that helps us understand ourselves|url=https://digital.hbs.edu/editions/the-merge-of-tech-and-society/?sf113471764=1|access-date=2019-12-01|website=Digital Initiative}}{{Dead link|date=October 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{Cite web|title=Smart kitchens need to smarter ideas to solve real problems|url=https://fortune.com/2019/10/19/smart-kitchens-appliances-innovations-technology/|access-date=2019-12-01|website=Fortune}} Her studio is the technical launch partner for Off Their Plate, an initiative providing economic relief to restaurant workers, while providing meals and care packages for frontline workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. In its first six weeks Off Their Plate provided emergency workers with 340,000 meals and $1.7 million in economic relief to restaurant workers.{{Cite web|title=Off Their Plate|url=https://offtheirplate.org/|access-date=2020-05-03|website=Off Their Plate}}

Altringer joined the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences in 2014. She teaches several Harvard courses, including the Innovators' Practice{{Cite journal|title=How Big Money Can Encourage Calculated Risks in the Classroom|url=https://www.chronicle.com/article/How-Big-Money-Can-Encourage/150747/|journal=The Chronicle of Higher Education|date=11 December 2014|access-date=2019-12-01|last1=Berrett|first1=Dan}} and Product and Experience Design: Experiential Lessons in Design for Desirability.{{Cite web|title=Harvard Class Teaches the Design of Desirability -The unique course teaches students how to design attractive products and services|url=https://www.bostonmagazine.com/arts-entertainment/2015/02/12/harvard-design-of-desirability-class/|website=Boston Magazine|date=12 February 2015|access-date=2019-12-01}} In 2016, students voted her one of Harvard's top 15 professors.{{Cite web|title=15 Professors of the Year|url=https://www.thecrimson.com/topic/fifteen-most-int-2015-2016/15-professors-of-the-year/|website=The Harvard Crimson|access-date=2019-12-01}} She is a founding faculty member of Harvard's joint Master of Science in Engineering and MBA Program{{Cite web|title=Harvard University MSMBA in Engineering Sciences Faculty|url=https://harvardms.mba/faculty/|website=Harvard University|access-date=2019-12-01|archive-date=8 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200408204639/https://harvardms.mba/faculty/|url-status=dead}} and helped launch the Undergraduate Technology Innovation Fellows Program.{{Cite web|title=Undergraduate Technology Innovation Fellows Program|url=https://www.hbs.edu/mba/seas/Pages/default.aspx|website=Harvard Business School|access-date=2019-12-01}} She has published on topics including human-centered design,{{Cite book|last1=Habbal|first1=Fawwaz|title=Creating Innovation Leaders|year=2016|isbn=978-3-319-20519-9|series=Understanding Innovation|pages=149–162|chapter=Embedding Design Thinking in a Multidisciplinary Engineering Curriculum at Harvard University|doi=10.1007/978-3-319-20520-5_8}} creativity,{{Cite web|date=26 March 2013|title=Present at the Creation|url=https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2013/03/26/creativity-tips-experiment-innovation/|access-date=2020-04-13|website=Boston Magazine}} motivation and social psychology in creative work (with Beth Hennessey and Teresa Amabile),{{Cite book|last1=Hennessey|first1=Beth|title=Wiley Encyclopedia of Management|last2=Moran|first2=Seana|last3=Altringer|first3=Beth|last4=Amabile|first4=Teresa M.|year=2015|isbn=9781118785317|pages=1–4|chapter=Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivation|doi=10.1002/9781118785317.weom110098}}{{Cite book|last1=Hennessey|first1=Beth A.|title=Encyclopedia of Creativity, Invention, Innovation and Entrepreneurship|last2=Altringer|first2=Beth|last3=Moran|first3=Seana|chapter=Social Psychology of Creativity |year=2017|isbn=978-1-4614-6616-1|pages=1–7|doi=10.1007/978-1-4614-6616-1_390-2}}{{Cite book|url=https://www.smakprov.se/smakprov/?l=liber&isbn=9789147098231|title=Creativity across cultures|website=Liber|access-date=2020-04-13}} innovation methods beyond design thinking,{{Cite journal|date=19 November 2013|title=A new model for innovation in big companies|url=https://hbr.org/2013/11/a-new-model-for-innovation-in-big-companies|access-date=2020-04-13|journal=Harvard Business Review|last1=Altringer |first1=Beth }} and digital nomadic creative work.{{Cite web|title=Are digital nomads the future of work or too good to be true?|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesleadershipforum/2015/12/22/globetrotting-digital-nomads-the-future-of-work-or-too-good-to-be-true/#b636b607594e|access-date=2020-04-13|website=Forbes}}

In 2021 she joined Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design as professor of practice and director of their joint Master of Arts in Design Engineering program.{{Cite web|title=Beth Altringer, Ph.D.|url=https://scholar.harvard.edu/altringer/home|access-date=2021-10-29|website=scholar.harvard.edu|language=en}}

• 2018: Top 50 Thinkers: Emerging thinkers with the potential to make lasting contributions{{Cite web|title=Top 50 Thinkers: Emerging thinkers with the potential to make lasting contributions|url=https://thinkers50.com/biographies/beth-altringer/|website=Thinkers 50|date=6 February 2018|access-date=2020-05-03|archive-date=2 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200202092642/http://thinkers50.com/biographies/beth-altringer/|url-status=dead}}
• 2016: Professors of the Year{{Cite web|title=Professors of the Year|url=https://www.thecrimson.com/topic/fifteen-most-int-2015-2016/15-professors-of-the-year/|website=Harvard Crimson|access-date=2020-05-03}}
• 2005: Holcim Awards for Sustainable Construction{{Cite web|title=Tsoga Project|url=https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/13406164/tsoga-environmental-centre-local-sustainability-catalyst-/2|website=Yumpu|access-date=2020-03-08}}
• 2003: Fulbright Program, Fulbright Scholar{{Cite web|title=Award Recipients 2002-2003|url=https://onsa.asu.edu/our-scholars|website=The Lorraine W. Frank Office of National Scholarship Advisement|access-date=2020-03-08}}

{{Reflist}}

• [https://scholar.harvard.edu/altringer/bio/ Beth Altringer] at Harvard University
• [https://designlab.seas.harvard.edu/ Design Lab at Harvard]
• [http://desirabilitylab.com/ Desirability Lab]

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Category:21st-century American designers

Category:Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences alumni

Category:Harvard Business School faculty

Category:University of Cape Town alumni

Category:Pontifical Catholic University of Chile alumni

Category:Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge

Category:Design educators

Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty

Category:Stanford University faculty

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Category:Living people

Category:Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences faculty

Category:Harvard Graduate School of Design faculty

Category:Brown University faculty

Category:Rhode Island School of Design faculty