In 2026, after nearly 90 years, the Institute of Design was folded into Illinois Tech's School of Design & Society.
This website is an archive of the impactful and inspirational work produced by the ID community before that transition.

László Moholy-Nagy opened the New Bauhaus in Chicago in 1937, treating design as a discipline that was teachable, testable, and consequential. Nine decades on, its scope had widened from the things people use to the systems they depend on: hospitals, government agencies, classrooms, supply chains, digital platforms. Along the way, ID community members developed the published research, methods, and frameworks that designers rely on every day.

Chief among them is human-centered design: close attention to how people actually live, and advocacy for what that research reveals. It shaped designers who are comfortable with complexity and ambiguity: curious, rigorous, inclusive, and stubbornly optimistic about design's ability to change the systems that shape our lives.

To every one of them, who taught, studied, built, critiqued, and stayed late in the studio: thank you, and keep designing.

institute
of desiGn
Search

Anamitra Deb

Senior Vice President of Programs and Policy at Omidyar Network

Anamitra Deb standing against a dark background

Anamitra Deb currently serves as Senior Vice President of Programs and Policy at Omidyar Network, a philanthropic organization whose mission is to bend the arc of the digital revolution toward shared power, prosperity, and possibility. In this role, he oversees the organization’s programmatic strategy across platform accountability and regulation; privacy, data governance, and online trust and safety; better tech cultures and products; responsible and open source tech; and guardrails for emergent tech, such as generative AI.

He has authored several reports in responsible tech, market-based solutions, impact investing and strategic philanthropy, and lectured on these topics at the University of California, Berkeley and Georgetown University, among others. His writings and perspectives have been featured in major publications, including The Economist, The Washington Post, Wired, Barron’s, Bloomberg, Techonomy, MIT Innovations, Inside Philanthropy, The Times of India and Outlook India.

Anamitra is a Senior Fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto. He sits on several advisory boards including Consumer Reports’ Innovation Council and the Center for Media Engagement at the University of Texas.

As a Rhodes Scholar, Anamitra received two master’s degrees from the University of Oxford and is a proud graduate of Mount Allison University and the Lester B. Pearson UWC in Canada. Originally from India, he lives in California with his wife and two energetic sons.

Shapeshift Session

Keynote & Fireside Chat: Shaping an Inclusive AI Future | Friday, May 30

About the Summit

Shapeshift Summit

Program

Immersion