When Daniel Greenblatt ’11, M.S. ’13 wants to relax, he turns to his model airplanes, trains, and ships. “I’ve long been obsessed with scale,” he said.
He was all but predestined for the hobby. As a child in Chicago, Greenblatt often accompanied his mother on trips while she worked as a flight attendant for Eastern Airlines. “I was around airplanes all the time, which made them my first big love for models,” he said.
His father, an attorney and art collector, was another major influence. “Our house was full of outsider art,” Greenblatt said. Learning about self-taught artists who built careers outside traditional systems left a lasting impression. “It inspired me to not heavily rely on formal education,” he said—a mindset that would later serve him well in the emerging field of user experience (UX) design.
That independent streak eventually led Greenblatt out of the Midwest to Syracuse University, which he fell in love with during a campus visit. As an undergraduate, he explored a range of interests before settling on political science at the Maxwell School. It wasn’t until his senior year, however, that a class called Star Trek in the Information Age shifted his trajectory.
“I really connected with the professor, who convinced me to apply for grad school at the iSchool about two days before graduation,” Greenblatt recalled. “I just walked in there and talked my way into the graduate program.” Even though he wasn’t sure how he would use his future degree in information management, he felt right at home in the program and with the professors he grew close with. “It was one of the best decisions I ever made,” he said.
While in graduate school, Greenblatt began blending his interests in politics and technology. As a senior, he had gotten involved in Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, where he gravitated toward digital and technical roles. A meeting at campaign headquarters, where staff were designing a new digital platform to help volunteers find opportunities in their own communities, led to a pivotal moment. Greenblatt was brought in as a subject matter expert—and something clicked. “That was the first time I had been exposed to software design and the whole process,” he said. “That’s when I realized, this is what I want to do for a career.” It was the beginning of his path into UX design.
Back on campus, Greenblatt enrolled in the only user-based design course available at the time, along with just a handful of other students. “I fell even deeper in love with UX design and made it my focus in graduate school, even though there weren’t any formal classes on it,” he said. Greenblatt charted his own path through independent research and a master’s thesis on the subject.
Then came an unexpected call. Someone in Silicon Valley had read his master’s thesis and wanted to know if he would consider an internship. Greenblatt quickly moved his classes online and relocated to California.
That opportunity with Tavant Technologies turned into a full-time job designing custom software for clients across industries, from warranty management systems to agricultural dashboards for farmers. “What made me more successful was taking bits and pieces of unrelated industries and seeing how they connect,” Greenblatt said.
After six years, ready for a new challenge, he transitioned into the biotech sector. Today, he serves as the dedicated designer for an entire product line, focusing on laboratory management software for Agilent Technologies
He also applies that same UX mindset outside of work. In 2017, Greenblatt and several Syracuse alumni friends launched Out of the Box Models after noticing that niche subjects often lacked model kits. As 3D printing became more accessible, they began creating custom designs based on customer ideas and later offering them as products.
The venture remains a side project alongside Greenblatt’s full-time work. “It’s a fun escape,” he said. And, in many ways, a return to where it all began.