Renato Russo is a Brazilian educator, designer, researcher, and father. He recently graduated from the Learning, Design and Technology master's program at Stanford Graduate School of Education. His mission is to find ways to integrate human-centered design in STEM and computer science education in the context of under-represented youth. He’s traveled an atypical journey to become a researcher in K12 education and didn’t expect to fall in this field at first, but now recognizes himself as an educator and designer. Renato shares, “At Stanford, I developed my skills (and identity) as a researcher, something that was quite unimaginable for me until a few years ago. My parents didn't go to college (my father worked in sugar cane fields before going to the big city and finding a job at a power plant) and at home we didn't have references of what being a scholar would be like. Interestingly, it turned out that my two sisters and I ‘ended up’ in the field of education.”

During the last quarter of his studies, he enrolled in the d.school class, Designing for Digital Agency, taught by Ariam Mogos and Laura McBain. Students explored how identities, biases and experiences show up in their design work and collaborated with project partners to craft K12 tools that introduces youth and educators to emerging technologies. Students learned how shaping emerging technology can also shape a more equitable and ethical world. In the class, Renato was exposed to scholars in tech research and equity work such as Simone Brown, Matthew Rafalow, and including education reformist, Paulo Freire, which became big influencers in this final capstone project. 

Renato’s project partner was a Latitude High School teacher and he had the opportunity to collaborate with her students. The focus of this high school class was youth agency and empowerment with a critical approach to computer science and design. Their project aimed at designing a curriculum for problem-solving within their engineering class.

d.school fellow and teacher, Ariam Mogos, saw Renato’s potential to continue exploration beyond the class and called for an invitation to work with YR Media. He assisted two high school students, Noah Villarreal and Lola Amin-McCoy, to publish Erase your Face as a tool to generate youth awareness on the biases of AI and facial recognition. 

Renato didn’t consider himself a designer until he found his calling as an educator. “Designing is about solving problems, and educators design tools for planning, keeping track of work, and improving processes. There are many layers in which design and education intersect and benefit from one another.”

Designing for Digital Agency has further changed his perspective as a designer and brought more light to equity and gender issues in tech and education. He hopes to carve new paths for the younger generations to exceed in STEM fields especially for his lively toddler, Flora.