ABOUT ME
I was a mathlete in middle school--a true nerd from my earliest days. That time spent on problem sets and competitions taught me problem-solving with a method and toolkit. Where there were multiple ways to get to the answer, the goal was to find the most efficient path.
I went on to get an education in the liberal arts, where I added skills in communication, expression, and creativity. For years I balanced my interest in the sciences and arts, working as a psychology textbook editor.
Then I stumbled on UX. Where those math problems were abstract, with limited practical applications, and where scholarly books had limited audiences, real-world digital design touches potential billions of people. UX at its finest is a science and an art, and further, a way to connect people with ideas. Now, I utilize my passion for constant learning, improving, and connecting to help make peoples’ experiences more intuitive and joyful.
Pronouns: she/her/hers
ABOUT MY RESEARCH
I'm a mixed-methods UX researcher and strategist with a background in human-computer interaction and psychology. I've been in the UX practitioner space three years but also bring four years of experience in academic psychology and research methods pedagogy. I’ve leveraged a wide range of research methodologies to understand users across behavioral and attitudinal planes, using those insights to drive product innovation in partnership with stakeholders. My career has afforded me the opportunity to work as a solo or small-team UX practitioner, often in leadership and strategy roles, as well as within larger and more specialized UX teams, often as a staff researcher working independently on end-to-end studies from planning through delivery. Throughout, I've worked on a variety of b2b and b2c products both software and hardware, across all stages of development and digital platforms, with a particular focus on big, cutting-edge solutions to wicked problems. I have a special place in my heart for data-driven and AI products, having recently worked on an e2e cloud machine learning platform-as-a-service and an AI-backed touchless biometric payment system.
But that brief elevator pitch doesn’t really tell you about the heart of my work. To me, research is about not only tackling the known unknowns surrounding the things we make, but plumbing the depths for unknown unknowns. It’s about hearing beyond what users say and do, through their subtle confusions and momentary pauses, into their motivations and underlying needs. It’s about watching in the wings like a backstage crew member at feature launches, being proud of having done my part in ensuring a smooth experience. Research is the pursuit of learning on my part crossed with the commitment to helping others through my work. It is essential to business, and to humanity.
RESUME
Experience
UX Researcher II (contract)
Facebook, Reality Labs, Seattle
Spring 2021—Current
User-centered human factors and anthropomorphic mixed-methods research, remote and in-lab, for confidential novel hardware AR form factors in early development; stakeholder relationship-building and research delivery/discussions; vendor researcher management; secondary data analysis and desk research
UX Researcher (contract)
Microsoft, greater Seattle
Summer 2019—Spring 2021
Generative problem-finding and evaluative problem-solving research partnering with dozens of product teams for a leading cloud-based AI machine learning platform across all lifecycle stages; study presentations and publications; UX advocacy and stakeholder education/coaching; honing internal team UXR processes
Lead UX Research Consultant (capstone)
University of California, Irvine and Technolutions, remote
Spring 2020—fall 2020
Research strategy and implementation leading a 5-person team for a customized university admissions portal and underlying vendor technology; planning short- and long-term roadmap of changes for developer team
Data Collection Researcher II (contract)
Amazon, Seattle
Spring 2019—Summer 2019
UX recruiting and participant management, large-volume data analysis and reporting, mobile lab operations and logistics, communications strategy, user research and targeting, and usability and heuristic consulting for an innovative confidential deep learning project iterating on a hardware-software prototype design
UX Consultant (freelance)
Seattle and NYC
Spring 2018—fall 2019
Collaborated with various clients on anything from design thinking education to usability testing scenarios
UX Researcher
A+E Networks, NYC
Summer 2018—Winter 2018
Founded qualitative and quantitative UX research practices for 2 video streaming apps using suite of new tools; established usability lab and testing protocol; added or redesigned features of 2 apps across 5 platforms; designed 2 entire apps for 1 new platform; codified team UX process; presented demos to stakeholders
Co-founder and UX Lead
LocalVote, NYC
Spring 2018—fall 2018
All things strategy and UX for a seed-stage startup to increase voter turnout in local elections through an app that curates events and news; led user research and synthesis, rapidly prototyped hi-fi design, led usability testing, iterated on design and managed developer handoff; facilitated user growth and funding initiatives
UX Researcher/Designer
Young Audiences New York, NYC
Spring 2018
Designed responsive web and mobile site for digital media students, teachers, and mentors to upload artwork of varying formats, view and share portfolios, conduct online critiques, browse and socially share work, log in and control privacy; specialized in UX research and usability testing; 3 iterations, hi-fi prototype, handover
Managing Editor (graduate psychology, research methods, and statistics textbooks)
Routledge Psychology (Taylor & Francis), NYC
Summer 2016—Spring 2018
Editorial Assistant (psychology, research methods, and statistics academic books)
Routledge Psychology (Taylor & Francis), NYC
Fall 2014—Summer 2016
Education
Master of Human-Computer Interaction and Design
University of California, Irvine
Donald Bren School of Information & Computer Science, Department of Informatics (low-residency program)
Focus in user research and usability
Class of 2020
User Experience Research and Design Specialization Certificate
University of Michigan (via Coursera)
Spring 2019—summer 2019
Human-Computer Interaction for User Experience Design Certificate
Massachusetts Institute of Technology CSAIL (Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory)
Fall 2018
Visual Design Certificate
General Assembly NYC
Summer 2018
User Experience Design Immersive Certificate
General Assembly NYC
Spring 2018
Data Analytics Certificate
General Assembly NYC
Fall 2017
Post-Graduate Research Fellowship
École Normale Supérieure de Lyon
Fall 2011–Summer 2012
Bachelor of Arts
Kalamazoo College
Double major; graduated cum laude; Dean’s List; merit scholarships; senior thesis honors
Class of 2010
Skills
UX research: Interviewing, ethnographic study, contextual inquiry, focus groups, diary studies, email surveys, intercept surveys, card sorting, eye tracking, comparative/competitive analysis, heuristic evaluation, cognitive walkthroughs, concept testing, usability testing, benchmarking, A/B testing, tree testing, click testing, participatory design, RITE, Tenets & traps, product reaction cards, System Usability Scale, HEART framework, analyzing customer feedback, data analysis, data visualization; planning, recruiting, moderating, communicating, documenting, teaching UXR
UX process: affinity mapping, feature prioritization, user archetypes, personas, segmenting, user journey maps, task/user flows, sitemaps, wireframing, prototyping; hypothesis-driven framework, jobs to be done, Moneyball, business model canvas, scrum, agile, lean, sprint planning, project planning, iterative UX, responsive web
UX tools: UserTesting, UserZoom, Optimal Workshop, Qualtrics, Mural, Miro, Respondent; Figma, Sketch, InVision, Adobe Creative Suite, Marvel, Zeplin
Technical Skills: advanced Excel, VBA, SQL, Tableau, HTML, CSS, Google Analytics
Languages: advanced French (CEFR C1–2 certified), intermediate Chinese, beginning German
Activities
Wikipedian, Wikipedia (copyediting, fact-checking, article flagging, translation)
Dragon boat racing
Vipassana meditation
Writing and blogging
Awards
Best Prototype, UX Mini Hackathon for Boostmyschool
Social Impact Award, Startup Weekend