Currently a Research Manager, after previously holding a Staff Researcher, hybrid IC & manager (ICM) role.

Managing a team of six, and leading UXR for Customer Platform.
Joined the Lyft team in April 2019.

First UX researcher at Chariot, working to build and grow our understanding of the microtransit rider, driver, and operations experience. Created and managed two beta programs, informing data-driven, incremental improvements on our rider (public) and driver (internal) mobile apps.

In addition, I assumed the role of Product Manager in October 2018 to drive the release of our redesigned driver mobile app after several team departures.

Chariot, a division of Ford Smart Mobility, will be ending operations by March 2019.

I joined the team at Ford's Research and Innovation Center in Palo Alto in October 2016 as an Ethnographer. I strive to observe and understand workflows, and look for opportunities to reduce stress or frustration during interactions with technology.

In April of 2018, I transferred to Chariot as the first researcher on the team.

I was a user researcher at Twitter from June 2015 until October 2016. I loved the challenge of making the core Twitter app more simple and delightful for our hundreds of millions of users who rely on Twitter to connect them with the world and provide a voice for those who would otherwise go unheard.

I was a user researcher on VMware’s R&D UX team from January 2012 until May 2015. I enjoyed the challenge of simplifying complex tools that run datacenters for the vast majority of Fortune 500 companies, and leading the effort to build empathy for our customers within a large engineering-focused company.

I was typically tasked with owning the end-to-end research project management; determining what methodology to use, creating a research plan and obtaining sign-off from stakeholders, recruiting participants, conducting the research, analyzing and synthesizing the results, presenting my results and recommendations, and maintaining contact with the team as they iterate.

I led a new initiative within the user experience team at VMware to track product and feature quality over time using usability scorecards, empowering the design team to highlight instances when a product was not ready to ship. In addition, I moderated a monthly focus group with VMware customers that allowed designers to get quick input on their early concepts. During second half of my time at VMware I was given the rewarding opportunity to mentor user experience interns and new hires, and take on a more leadership-focused role on the user research team.

I had the opportunity to join the Experience Design Research (XDR) team at Microsoft during the summer of 2011 as a user experience research intern. I worked with the talented and fearless design team that was responsible for the innovative Windows 8 UI. 

I planned, performed, and reported on multiple user studies, worked with PMs, developers, and designers, and presented research findings to my team while working on Windows 8 and Windows Live products. I learned how to leverage a state-of-the-art usability lab, but also when to step out of the lab and conduct contextual inquiries and diary studies.

I grew my roots in engineering with 3 consecutive summer internships at Intel between 2005 and 2007. First as a validation engineer, conducting post-silicon testing on the original Core Duo processor (the first x86 processor used in Macintosh computers). Next I worked in Intel's Fab 20, wearing a bunny suit on the production line for silicon wafers. And lastly I joined the user-centered design team as an engineer in charge of PCB layout design, bringing the innovate designs of the team to life for trade shows. This third internship motivated my interest in user-centered design and human-computer interaction when I returned to CMU in the fall of 2007.

As a Masters student enrolled in the Human Centered Design and Engineering program at the University of Washington I gained valuable experience working with and leading small teams and going beyond traditional research methods. I was able to explore the strengths and weaknesses of eye tracking devices, surveys, focus groups, and ethnographic methods, while experimenting with hybrid approaches.

Examples of my work include usability testing on Amazon.com's "author page" and ethnographic research and value sensitive design around designing a "wellness" dashboard for residents in independent living facilities.

My pathway to user experience research began while I was a student at CMU. I was able to combine my interest in designing innovative technologies with my interest in designing intuitive and assistive technologies with a double major in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Human-Computer Interaction.

I gained experience as a research assistant with the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Accessible Public Transportation (RERC-APT) as an undergrad and lead several research studies, many of which led to research papers for which I am a co-author. These projects included a crowd-sourced transit information system and a simple programming-by-example interface for non-programmers to gather data.

My capstone project, in which I worked with three other students, involved redesigning the interface of an interactive touchscreen health kiosk that enabled senior citizens to measure and record their own health vitals. I was responsible for the initial user research, requirements generation, and user testing to inform iterative design during the design process.