Professional
I was most recently employed at Pitney Bowes as a User Experience Innovator in the Concept Studio. The Concept Studio is a multi-disciplinary team chartered with using customer-centered innovation practices to create new product and service concepts that will enable Pitney Bowes to grow within the mail and document management market and expand into new adjacent businesses. Engagements begin with a strategic question initiated by a line of business, and teams collaborate with the lines of business to discover unmet needs and rich market opportunities and to translate those insights into tangible product and service innovations.
Academic
I received my BS in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of
Technology in May 2005. Although I also specialized in Intelligent Systems and
Data Management Systems, my main love was my Usability specialization. While at
Tech, I participated in user-centered research aimed at improving user experiences
with hand-held devices. After graduation I completed a summer internship at the
Pennsylvania State University (in Computer Supported Cooperative Work), where I
did further user-centered development and gained experience in designing user
studies.
My interest in human minds, behaviors and needs led me to pursue a certificate in
Social and Personality psychology. This, coupled with my interest in development,
accounts for my fervor for optimizing user experiences through user centered design
and development. I then went on to receive my Masters in Human Computer Interaction from Carnegie Mellon.
Personal
My interests are the things which often occupy my free time. These include running, volunteering, dancing, guitar, logic puzzles, cooking, teaching and good music.
But my passions are the true driving forces of my life. I will work to rearrange any other aspect of my life in order to partake in or defend something I am truly passionate about. The environment, my culture, basketball, traveling, communicating and HCI.
My life philosophy can be summarized by one of my favourite song lyrics from singer Brian Littrell:
"Why be alive, if you don't follow your every dream?"
