Meet our Facilitators
Every year, we welcome several facilitators to Eureka! to help our student teams ask good questions and develop effective solutions. Our facilitators are often RIT alumni or past Eureka! participants. They’re familiar with the Eureka! process and they’re here to help you, so don’t hesitate to ask them questions! Learn more about our 2021 facilitators below:
Joe Hodapp
Joe can’t believe he is already 5 years deep into his career as a UX/UI/Product/Interaction designer. He participated in the first 2 Eureka Design Blitzes, even creating the 2015 designs. In addition to relating to you students, he relates to parks and groves of all kinds. Joe graduated from RIT’s graphic design program in 2016, but also insists we tell you he took multiple philosophy classes that changed his outlook on life.
He is currently at ustwo in New York City, where he employs user-centered design to explore interaction, game design, and new ways of digital escapism.
Laura Hoerner
Laura is a graphic designer and illustrator currently based in Brooklyn, New York. She graduated from RIT’s graphic design program in 2016, and now she works for Apartment Therapy Media designing and illustrating on their editorial team. In her free time, she can usually be found eating some kind of dessert and hanging out with Jay and their dog, Sullivan. As a nature lover and frequent park patron herself, Laura is excited to be a part of this project!
Jay Fleckenstein
Jay graduated from RIT’s Graphic Design program in 2016 and participated in his first and only Eureka! Design Blitz in 2015. He has since worked at an ad agency in Brooklyn, a small film promotion studio in Austin, and is now working in-house at BuzzFeed as a Brand Designer, where he gets to create branding, develop packaging, illustrate and animate, send and receive emails, and do all sorts of exciting things.
He is delighted to be part of this year’s Eureka! challenge. Let’s have some fun!
Annie Wong
Annie is a product designer with a background in marketing design currently based in Brooklyn, NY. She currently works QOMPLX on the development of a proprietary enterprise application. She’s passionate about process, design thinking, and user-centric design. Annie is a 2016 graduate of RIT’s graphic design program and has participated in EUREKA! twice.
In her free time, she enjoys being a plant mama, making papercraft illustrations, and being a nerd about architectural history and urban exploration. Hidden gem? Urban park? Sign her up!