Portfolio
2019 - Present
Skills
Current Projects
Duke University Phoenix Project
The Duke University Phoenix Project is a new tech internship program – designed entirely by a small group of students in the Duke Applied Machine Learning Group – for over 200 Duke students who have lost their jobs and internships. The program is designed to limit the upheaval caused by the pandemic by connecting talented, driven students to impactful software- or data science- related projects across several industries, so they can continue to develop their technical expertise and professional relationships throughout this summer.
As a member of the planning committee, I am directly involved in the launch and execution of the program. Recently, I have been working to source/organize mentors and technical project assistants, acquire additional funding through grants and company sponsorships, and initiate new partnerships with other universities. As a project manager, I manage 4 teams developing healthcare-related software and machine learning products. My typical day involves overseeing project leads, communicating between teams and clients, setting weekly deliverables to keep teams on track, resolving conflicts between team members, and ensuring teams have the necessary resources to complete their projects.
Google Software Product Sprint
This summer I’ll be participating in Google’s Software Product Sprint, an 11 week invite-only virtual program that provides college students with practical experience in collaborative, project-based web-development. During the first few weeks I focused on developing my front-end web development skills. I already had some experience working with HTML and CSS, so my biggest challenge was learning and implementing Javascript code to make my website more interactive. After becoming more comfortable with javascript and building the client side of my website, I shifted my focus toward increasing the functionality of my website. My latest challenge has been adding a comment section to the site. Beyond simply adding an HTML form element, I’ve been working on the back-end, server-side code to allow for user authentication and the storage and retrieval of comments using Google Cloud Datastore (a NoSQL database) and Java servlets. Developing the backend has been much more challenging for me since the APIs introduce several moving parts, but overall it’s been an eye-opening learning experience. I wouldn’t say I’m an expert at all (or any) of the APIs yet, but I do feel much more comfortable creating a plan for building a product and locating the resources I need to execute that plan.
Previous Projects
Improving the Minimum Viable Product - Gravitate
This spring I took on some product management work for Gravitate (YC20), a social networking app that brings a new perspective into the field of online and offline matchmaking by prioritizing match compatibility and facilitating in-person meetups. I spent about half of the spring performing a competitive market analysis and the other half developing a product requirements documents. One of my first steps was really understanding the problem the company was trying to solve. This allowed me to delve deeper into the current market landscape and pinpoint gaps, trends, and big players. A key part of my research was identifying the competitive advantages and weaknesses of our competitors to determine how similar products could threaten or enhance our own. These conclusions guided my product requirements document where I proposed three new features and a launch plan to bolster Gravitate’s standing in the market and distance themselves from competitors.
Powering an Engineering Design Space
Over the course of the fall semester, I worked with a team of 5 engineers in partnership with Duke University (Durham, NC) and Makerere University (Kampala, Uganda) to develop a functional design and maker space within a shipping container. As a low cost alternative to traditional engineering labs, shipping containers actually serve as creative and effective design spaces. Though this particular project was a prototype for future explorations and designs, our goal was to develop a power system that could generate at least 5000W and allow the design space to be placed in virtually any low- or middle- income country. Since it was an entirely new endeavor, our team had a lot of agency in the direction we took with our solution. Most of the fall involved proofs of concept and explorations of unorthodox means of generating power at a low cost with easily accessible materials.
Personally, I focused on measuring the feasibility of common methods of generating power against our design criteria, finalizing the components and design of our proposed power source, and documenting the project from start to end. This project was a huge learning stretch for me because I had little experience with physics beforehand; however, I was able to lean on my teammates for support and utilize my more extensive math knowledge to keep up with the pace of the project. Ultimately, I assumed responsibilities that better fit my strong suits, but I made a point of doing some of my own research to ensure that I could contribute to even our most technical discussions.
Research
How Do the Demographics of Schools Affect Racial/Ethnic Intergroup Attitudes?
Abstract: Despite extensive research on the interactions between White and Black students, currently, limited research explores the interactions between students of other races. This study aims to expand the base of knowledge regarding the intergroup contact theory and in-group favoritism by exploring the interactions amongst students from a broader variety of backgrounds. In an effort to discover the implications of exposure to racial/ethnic diversity in schools, several studies have been synthesized and applied to develop a proposal for further research. Given the impact a person’s environment can have on their worldview, it is important to examine how that perception can be altered. This study will investigate and analyze the experiences of high school students from varying racial/ethnic backgrounds through a series of surveys and interviews to determine the effects of school diversity on intergroup attitudes. By comparing these students’ experiences and attitudes, this study will determine the extent to which the racial/ethnic heterogeneity of a school impacts racial intergroup attitudes. With increased exposure to racial/ethnic diversity and overall positive intergroup interactions/experiences, I expect to see more positive racial/ethnic intergroup attitudes than in those will less exposure to racial/ethnic diversity and fewer positive intergroup interactions/experiences.
Evaluating the Effectiveness of Teachers' Lesson Plans Based on A Framework for K-12 Education
Abstract: The Georgia Standards of Excellence (GSE) introduced an innovative form of science education referred to as three-dimensional learning; 3D learning blends scientific and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts, and disciplinary core ideas into cohesive science curricula (Three Dimensional Learning, n.d.). However, due to the standards’ recent introduction, teachers in the Cobb County School District had received limited feedback for their respective lessons. As such, this study evaluated the effectiveness of lesson plans in integrating the aspects of three-dimensional learning as prescribed by the Framework and the Science GSE. To evaluate the lesson plans, this study utilized the EQuIP Rubric. Each category of the rubric was scored numerically on a scale from one to three, and comments were provided on areas needing improvement. The scores from each section were analyzed using measures of central tendency to determine in which areas of three-dimensional learning teachers tended to struggle. Category I: 3D Design scored a 1.1 on average, Category II: Instructional Supports scored 0.89 on average, and Category III: Monitoring Student Progress scored 0.56 on average. The most commonly missed aspect of three-dimensional learning was crosscutting concepts. The results of this study will be used to aid and guide professional development days and provide teachers with targeted feedback on the areas that they need to focus on for their lesson plans.
Leadership & Campus Involvement
Business Team - Duke Applied Machine Learning
Duke Applied Machine Learning is a group focused on building, implementing, and deploying end-to-end machine learning models to solve research and business problems. We collaborate with small businesses to identify and solve challenges they face by developing software and data science driven solutions. Since DAML is a relatively new organization, I’ve been working with the founder to develop a mission statement and a long term business strategy. Though our current work leans more toward consulting, over the past few months I’ve been interviewing business owners and conducting market research as we migrate towards a more product-focused model. Besides visionary work, I’m also involved in managing our product teams and redesigning some of our essential operations, such as client acquisitions and the member onboarding process.
Social Chair & Alumni Relations Chair - Catalyst Tech Society
Catalyst Tech Society is Duke’s premier social, pre-professional organization for tech enthusiasts. This past spring I served as social chair which means that I organized and hosted the typical game nights or Saturday night parties, but, more notably, I managed to weave my own personal agenda into the role as I fulfilled my typical responsibilities. My primary focus during the semester was increasing member engagement, especially amongst the more marginalized groups, as a first step in decreasing instances of exclusion and discrimination within our organization. Though the pandemic interrupted in-person interactions the latter half of the semester, I was able to conduct a decent amount of research on member engagement patterns and general sentiments before everyone parted ways, and I strategized ways to reach more of our community and better ourselves as an organization. Now I serve as alumni relations chair where my goal is to foster relationships among our members beyond Duke. Two of my new initiatives for the upcoming semester are to develop an Alumni Newsletter and form alumni associations in major metropolitan areas.
Design Engineer - Duke Motorsports
Duke Motorsports is a club of about 25 engineers working together to build a formula-style race car from scratch that meets all the rules and regulations of the Formula SAE Racing League. I work on the Controls Subteam where my responsibilities revolve around maintaining the brake and throttle systems. This year I designed throttle pedal and our cable routing setup, but the majority of my work involves validating our design decisions through data collection and analysis. As much as I love questioning and scrutinizing every aspect of our car from random zip ties to the ergonomics of our pedals, my favorite part of my job is getting to step away from my laptop and problem solve with my hands. Even though working directly on the car is somewhat unrelated to a lot of my coursework, I find that my post-garage homework sessions are often more productive and creative than usual.