Sawyer and Orawannukul honored with alumni awards

This month, University of Michigan School of Information honored two alumni who have made notable contributions to the information field and to UMSI. 

Distinguished Alumni Award: Carrie Sawyer 

Carrie Sawyer, MSI 2005, is the CEO of Diversity by Design, a San Diego firm that uses design thinking to help organizations build internal practices and policies that lead to equitable business outcomes. With almost two decades of experience in human centered design, Carrie launched Diversity by Design after using her people-centered approach to build and implement diversity and inclusion strategies at both Intel and Qualcomm. 

Carrie is also the founder of the Inclusion 1st™ Project, a platform for allies to ask their most important questions on antiracism. By creating a safe space for honest dialogue, her goal is to support allies who want to unlearn racism from the inside out and co-create societal frameworks that put inclusion first. 

“Carrie was the commencement speaker for UMSI this year,” says Joanna Kroll, director of career development at UMSI. “Additionally, she has partnered with our office to engage with students to promote advocacy in the workforce as well as to provide career advice and  guidance to support students' career development needs.”

Carrie earned her Master of Science in Information degree from the University of Michigan School of Information and her bachelor’s degree in New Media Arts and Science from Indiana University. She is a design thinker, master manifester and uplifter of people dedicated to co-creating a world where all can thrive.

Rising Alumni Award: Voratima Orawannukul

Voratima Orawannukul, MSI 2007, is a principal user experience engineer at Mitsubishi Electric’s Advanced Development research and development center. Since joining the team in 2017, she has led a global development team in creating a compelling automobile occupant experience and determining future technology strategies. Through design thinking, she helps the team unlock creative potential and solve complex problems across domains, including infotainment, IoT, autonomous driving, ADAS and many more. 

“Voratima is a thought leader who challenges the status quo to drive change in her industry and

field of expertise: automotive UX design,” says Jacek Spiewla, MSI 2011. “I know of no better candidate who carries out SI's mission — coalescing information and technology to build a better world — than Voratima.”

Known for her expertise in digital design and development, her work has won international awards and she has been featured in the New York Times and AutoBeat. Voratima holds a Master of Science in Information degree with a focus on Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) from UMSI where she has appeared as a guest speaker.