Hi there!
I am a 1st year Ph.D. student at the University of Washington Allen School in the Human-Centered Robotics Lab, working with Prof. Maya Cakmak and Prof. Max Kleiman-Weiner.
I am interested in investigating human cognition and applying that understanding of human behavior to create more effective and inclusive assistive technologies. I previously worked as a backend software engineer at HubSpot, applying Generative AI research to create innovative interactions and products. I am passionate about engaging with local non-profits through UX design volunteer work, and I also have experience consulting and leading teams in both academia and industry. I love learning, staying active, and giving back to my community in whatever way possible.
This page is just a sample of highlights. For more detail, feel free to check out my curriculum vitae here and/or contact me!
Research
My research background is primarily in human computer interaction and how artificial intelligence can model human behavior and decision making. In my career, I aim to combine these interests to investigate how we can center diverse human needs while developing algorithms/building systems to improve people's well-being. I intend to approach this work from diverse perspectives–I believe that this research requires not only creating new technologies, but also inquiring how they interact with and impact different populations, both during the creation process and upon deployment.
Human-Centered Robotics Lab, advised by Dr. Maya Cakmak Graduate Researcher
Working on human-robot interaction and computational cognitive science research with Dr. Maya Cakmak and Dr. Max Kleiman-Weiner. I believe that through building a better understanding of human cognition, we can design more effective and inclusive interactions between assistive agents and people.
Computation, Motivation, and Control Lab, advised by Dr. Paul Schrater Undergraduate RA – Signaling and Inferring Social Preferences in a Dynamic Multi-Agent Environment, Sep 2020–May 2021
Developed framework that represents and infers team formation via social preferences in a multi-agent environment. Implemented a generative model in a game testbed that infers each agents' social preferences via signaling. Presented at the SPUDM 2021 Conference and the 2021 California Cognitive Science Conference.
Undergraduate RA – Inverse Multi-Agent Planning in League of Legends, Sep 2019–June 2020
Collaborated on representing agent beliefs in complex team settings with cognitive neuroscientists. Analyzed features and prepared data for time series analysis of large scale game dataset using Python and Minnesota Supercomputing Institute. Transformed relational database into graph database (Neo4j) for easier agent-centric analysis.
Grouplens Research, advised by Dr. Lana Yarosh Undergraduate HCI RA – Prototyping Social Robots, Sep 2018–May 2019
Programmed a shape shifting table to research multimodal interfaces within education and virtual environments. Designed a process to control the interactive table’s shape through 3D modeling in Blender.
Undergraduate HCI RA – Participatory Design to Support Recovery from Substance Abuse Disorders, Oct 2017–May 2018
Designed and conducted participatory design interviews with participants in sober homes. Qualitatively analyzed interview transcripts through open coding in order to gain insight on the users’ wants and needs.
Industry
I've worked in many different positions in industry, including software engineering, artificial intelligence research, consulting, and UX design. I am looking to combine my engineering skills with my research background in my career. If you have any positions available in this intersection, please contact me! I would be happy to talk with you.
HubSpot Senior Software Engineer I, Nov 2022–Aug 2024
Worked in the HubSpot AI Group and was a founding member of HubSpot's AI Innovation Lab team. I ideated and applied advances generative AI to create prototypes that could help small businesses grow, such as AI sales agents and multimodal collaborative interactions.
HubSpot Backend Software Engineer, July 2021–Nov 2022
Worked on the HubSpot CMS Hub's Video product, which powers over 50,000 customers' content. Built a real time video update processing system, migrated hundreds of thousands of videos off the legacy system, and backfilled over 1.5 billion video analytics events. Mentored a summer software engineering intern. Led the rollout for multiple product feature releases.
Smart Information Flow Technologies (SIFT) Artificial Intelligence Research Co-op, Aug 2020–Jan 2021
Researched novel NLP and Planning techniques in collaboration with several different DARPA programs. Examples include utilizing BERT and Word2vec word embeddings to analyze bias in large-scale datasets of online discourse in social media, conducting linguistic affect analysis, prototyping automated stance detection of text.
HubSpot Software Engineering Intern, May 2020–Aug 2020
Audited and refactored an event-driven data ingestion pipeline to reduce lag and simplify its ingestion pathways for the platform logging team. Implemented frontend components to alert users of incomplete interactive query results.
Accenture Consulting Analyst Summer Intern, June 2019–Aug 2019
Developed and presented training materials for a $50 million change management project at a Fortune 500 company.
Digital Arts, Sciences + Humanities (DASH) Program at University of Minnesota Research assistant, Jan 2018–May 2019
Consulted over 15 different faculty on their research and community projects, managing project timelines, designing user experiences, and creating digital websites–an example project I worked on is ASAPbio's Preprint Server Directory.
Service
My first job ever was as a math tutor at Mathnasium, and I spent the better part of my gap year in South Korea tutoring English to North Korean refugees. These experiences formed my passion for teaching and giving back to the community. I aim to help break barriers in tech, as well as use my UX design and technical skills for pro bono projects throughout my career. Here are a few things I've done/I'm doing in this space that I'd love to highlight:
Milton Academy Instructor, Sep 2022–June 2024
Taught and collaborated with the other teachers to create the curriculum for the AI 2 class at Milton Academy in Massachussetts.
G{Code} Mentor, Nov 2022–present
Technical mentoring for underrepresented women/nonbinary folks who aim to start a career in tech.
Design U (University of Minnesota) Digital Designer, Digital Division Director, Co-President, Sep 2017–May 2020
Delivered pro bono digital designs and branding strategies for nonprofit organizations. Interviewed, formed, and managed the scoping and schedules of seven different teams and clients. Oversaw the member-side operations of a 50 person nonprofit design consultancy and 10 member executive board.
Education
University of Washington Sep 2024–Present
Ph.D. Student in Computer Science.
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Sep 2017–May 2021
B.S. in Computer Science & Psychology minor.