UX Research Intern for Responsible AI, Microsoft | May 2021 - Aug 2021

 AI, Ethics, and Effects in Engineering and Research 

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• Uncovered a range of responsible AI practices, interviewing 15+ industry-wide AI practitioners and experts to create Microsoft’s first responsible AI maturity model framework for product teams. 

• Initiated and led revamp of reliability and safety principles used by all Microsoft AI product teams for evaluating their model’s impact. 

• Key contributing member of the AI reliability and safety education committee to promote trustworthy AI product innovation. 

• Coached an AI engineering team about the value of generative research in user safety, data collection, analysis, and prioritizing findings directly impacting the products engineering roadmap. 

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UX Research Intern, IBM Research Almaden | July 2019 - Sep 2019 

Explainable Artificial Intelligence + Natural Language Processing

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• Crafted an interview study with 30 stakeholders including AI/ML researchers, developers, project managers, designers and business leaders to illuminate different personas of explanation consumers, factors and mechanisms that foster transparency and user comprehension of an AI product and its decision. Defined a collaborative annotation process with team members to review XAI+ NLP literature, co-creating a new taxonomy and ultimately spawning a new research program.

• Defined a collaborative annotation process with team members to review XAI+ NLP literature, co-creating a new taxonomy and ultimately spawning a new research program. 

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UX Researcher, Teaching and Learning with Technology, Penn State ​| Sep 2019 - current

Data Empowered Learning

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• Spearheading end-to-end UX research for an AI-based learning tool for college students using surveys, interviews and usability testing. 

• Collaborating with lead engineer, project manager, instructional designer, on concept testing, prototyping and designing a data-driven learning analytics tool for reflective teaching with university faculty. 

• Informing student data privacy and policy discussion at Penn State by sharing research insights gathered from user interviews. 

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Graduate Research Assistant, Penn State | Aug 2018 - May 2019 

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• Led field research and participatory design research project for developing an open data platform about water quality to increase visibility and improve access for data literacy.

• Led interview study for understanding good deed practices, preferences and beliefs of undergraduate students.

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Big Data Social Science Fellow - Social Data Analytics, Penn State | Sep 2017- May 2018

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• Quantitative data analysis for multiple social impact projects including (i) identifying communication patterns between citizens and local governments (ii) detecting emotional contagion via tweets 

• Drove persona and user needs research to design a a geo-visual analytics tool for NYC city planners to explore noise complaints data. 

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Researcher, University of Minnesota | Oct 2014 - Oct 2015

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• Led design and analysis of Minnesota statewide survey project for 4-H First Year Member Satisfaction.

• Designed monitoring & evaluation plan for Minnesota 4-H volunteers

• Implemented roll-out plan for 4-H Enrollment Data Interface to facilitate data-driven decision making.

• Launched a pilot project for youth engagement in the Youth Program Quality Assessment (YPQA) process.

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Evaluation Intern, American Evaluation Association | Sep 2013 – May 2014

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• One of four nationally selected interns for ‘American Evaluation Association’ (AEA) Graduate Education Diversity Internship (GEDI) program.

• Initiated evaluation capacity building efforts through intentional program design.

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Evaluation Consultant, Institute for Global Studies, University of Minnesota | Jan 2013- Jun 2013

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• Impact assessment of University of Minnesota federally funded courses and programs using faculty interviews, student pre/post/follow-up surveys and student achievement data

• Grant proposal writing incorporating GPRA performance measures.

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Evaluation and Analysis Consultant , The Brandlab | June 2012 - August 2012

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• Developed program logic model, developed and analyzed pre/post surveys for students, group interview protocols, surveys for teachers, classroom observation rubric and analysis tools.

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Research Assistant, University of Minnesota | Sept. 2012- Dec 2012

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• Conducted extensive literature review of methodological and theoretical frameworks for exploring the effectiveness of state policies that tie teacher accountability to student performance.

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Member of Technical Staff, Starent Networks (now Cisco Systems Inc.) | Jul 2008 – Aug 2010

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• Implemented the ‘Mobile Billing Sub-system’ in C programming language - a critical revenue-generating component in all customer deployments.

• Responsible for design and implementation of a module facilitating seamless migration from 3G to 4G telecom networks and vice-versa.

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