High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! John Maeda (born 1966 in Seattle, Washington) is a Japanese-American graphic designer, computer scientist, university professor, and author. He is the current President of the Rhode Island School of Design. His work in design and technology explores the area where the two fields merge. Maeda was originally a software engineering student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) when he became fascinated with the work of Paul Rand and Muriel Cooper. Cooper was a director of MIT's Visual Language Workshop. After completing his bachelors and masters degrees at MIT, Maeda studied in Japan at Tsukuba University's Institute of Art and Design to complete his Ph.D. in design.