About Me
I'm a recent graduate from Carnegie Mellon University's Masters of Human Computer Interaction program and an alumni of the College of William & Mary, where I graduated with a major in Computer Science and a minor in Music. I've worked on projects ranging from touch screen video feed switchers, to a variety of software development visualizations and tools, to an iPad app for AP biology students, and I'm fascinated by the ways that design decisions can take ordinary technology and turn it into revolutionary solutions.
Motivation
I love to code; building things out of aether and logic that people will be able to use to actually improve their lives at work or play is entrancing. And in every project I've worked on with the role of developer, I've been responsible for an extensive design element. Although projects have always jumped off from some need or vision about what would be useful to build, there's also always been a significant gap between that vision and the final solution. That gap is bridged by design decisions which answer questions ranging from "What visualization is best to present this information?" to "How do you put all these buttons on a 5x7 inch screen?".
I've enjoyed these decisions, both the small ones involving things like how to implement new UI elements while keeping them consistent with those of the system you're developing within as well as the larger ones, like designing new visualizations from scratch. The smaller decisions can be just as important and interesting as the larger ones; all parts of the system must work towards the singule effect of eminent usability. I enjoy the challenges of bridging from vision to practicality, of weighing a series of tradeoffs to pick the optimal solution for a given problem.
As a developer, it's these details between the overarching vision and the final prototype that I've frequently found myself making decisions about and designing, and which I'd enjoy continuing to work with. My interest in this area lead me to CMU's MHCI program, and I'm now looking for a position where I can leverage what I've learned while in this program and also pursue my interest in creating things which help people augment their lives and themselves.