From Milstein Scholar to Design Tech Pioneer

By Sarah Marquart

Julia Beitel’s path to Cornell Tech began years before the program she now studies even existed. Fascinated by natural systems, she began exploring sustainable design as a high school student in Seattle, Washington — studying aquaponics in the Bahamas and using data to understand how scientific research could be applied to real-world challenges. By connecting sustainable systems, data analysis, and design, she sought tangible solutions to issues like food insecurity.

That early experience taught her the value of thinking across disciplines — a mindset that would ultimately shape her path from Cornell University undergraduate to member of the inaugural Master of Science in Design Technology cohort, where she’s helping define a new approach to design and innovation.

As an undergraduate, Beitel joined the Milstein Program in Technology and Humanity in Cornell’s College of Arts and Sciences, an enrichment initiative for students eager to explore the nexus of liberal arts and emerging technologies. The program’s small cohort, speaker series, and summer residency at Cornell Tech provided exactly the kind of setting she had been seeking.

“When I learned about the Milstein Program, its interdisciplinary approach to learning immediately resonated with me,” she recalls. “The program’s emphasis on collaboration across fields of study felt like the ideal environment for the type of experiential learning I valued most.”

The Milstein program encouraged Beitel to see innovation not just as technical problem-solving, but as a creative and ethical endeavor. Her projects reflected that blend of creativity and conscience. During her first year, she helped produce Voices on the Underground Railroad, an interactive website grounded in critical fabulation, a method that reimagines historical narratives by filling gaps in the archival record. Later, she conducted an information ethics audit of the project to investigate why such a vital digital resource hadn’t reached its audience.

By senior year, Beitel knew she wanted to keep building at the intersection of technology, sustainability, and design. “I wasn’t done learning — not just in the sense of wanting more education, but in wanting to deepen my ability to apply knowledge meaningfully,” she explains.

Cornell’s new master’s program in Design Technology — particularly its Studio Track — offered that next step: a chance to merge experimentation with research and explore how wearable technologies, biomaterials, and sustainable systems can be designed for accessibility and equity.

Joining the inaugural class of Design Tech students has been both experimental and exhilarating for Beitel. “It’s been pretty surreal,” she says. “I’ve learned things I never imagined doing as an undergrad, from taking courses like “Biomimetics in Design” and “Rethinking Timber Joinery” to working hands-on with fabrication tools like 3D printers, laser cutters, Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machines, and even a 6-axis robot.

Her coursework has led to a series of inventive projects that blur the line between digital and physical systems: “Drum & Vase,” an interactive plant device that translates environmental data into generative music, reimagining AI as a tool for empathy; “AirBend,” a kirigami-inspired wearable that uses movement to activate airflow and explore sustainable, passive cooling; “The Shopping Speed Bump,” a browser extension that prompts users to reflect on purchases to counter overconsumption; and a Product Studio class initiative where her team is developing an end-to-end AI-powered community gardening tool that guides users from planning to harvest.

In each, Beitel fuses empathy, design, and technology — core principles of both Milstein and Design Tech. Reflecting on the connection between the two programs, she says, “It feels like a natural evolution: Milstein gave me the lens to think critically and collaboratively, and Design Tech has given me the tools to build those ideas into reality.”

This fall marks Beitel’s transition from the Ithaca campus to Cornell Tech on Roosevelt Island, where she’s immersed in a community of students from across disciplines: computer science, urban tech, connective media, and more. Over the summer, she also returned to the Milstein Program as a teaching assistant for two Milstein Summer Program classes at Cornell Tech, applying her newly acquired Design Tech skills to enrich the same interdisciplinary environment that first shaped her academic path.

“It’s such a dynamic and interdisciplinary community,” she says. “I’ve worked alongside students from completely different academic and professional backgrounds, and it’s pushed my own thinking in new directions.”

She’s also taken advantage of the MakerLAB and fabrication spaces that define Cornell Tech’s hands-on approach. “Having my own desk in the Tata Innovation Center has made the experience feel grounded,” she adds. “The access to labs and mentorship opportunities here is unmatched.”

Looking ahead, Beitel is keeping her options open — by design. “Both the Milstein and the Design Tech programs have given me such a wide range of experiences that I don’t feel confined to a single discipline or career. Instead, I’m excited by how many directions feel possible.”

Sarah Marquart is a freelance writer for Cornell Tech.