Katherine Higgins serves as the Academic-Research Program Administrator at MAD, where she develops the academic agenda, including graduate and undergraduate degree programs, and strategies to integrate design into MIT's pedagogy.

Katherine brings experience building interdisciplinary research projects, academic partnerships, and collaborations between visiting artists and MIT faculty and students to enrich MIT’s community. Prior to joining MAD, Katherine was the Senior Producer for MIT's Office of the Arts. In this capacity, she supported creative projects by MIT faculty and facilitated collaborations between visiting artists, faculty, and students at the intersection of art, science, and technology.

Before her work at MIT, Katherine held the position of Outreach Director for the Center for Pacific Islands Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

Katherine’s educational background includes a B.A. from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, M.A. from the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, and Ph.D. in art history from the University of Auckland.