Education
M.S. – Human-Computer Interaction
In Progress, Graduation Date 06/12
DePaul University – Chicago, IL
3.8/4.0 GPA
Graduated cum laude 12/07
Southern Illinois University – Carbondale, IL
3.5/4.0 GPA, 3.9/4.0 Major GPA
Internship Experience
06/10 to Present – UEGroup, Inc. – San Jose, CA
User Research Intern
At UEGroup, I have helped execute a variety of user experience projects. I conducted research for high profile clients such as Samsung, Kodak, and IBM. Below is a sampling of these projects.
Selected Projects
Dental website - Remote usability study
Lead User Researcher
- Planned and executed a 10-person remote usability study to assess the usability of a new website for a national dental chain
- My findings contributed significantly to improving the final design of the website
Travel start-up - Ethnographic research
Lead User Researcher
- Designed and conducted a 6-household ethnographic research study to determine how potential users are planning trips and organizing trip information
- Managed a research assistant
- The client was able to gain understanding of potential users and added new, desirable features as a result of this research
Camera usability - Traditional, in-lab usability study
User Researcher
- Moderated approx. 50 in-lab usability tests to compare the usability of camera prototypes to major competitors
- Performed statistical analysis of quantitative data (completion rates, time on task, satisfaction ratings), which included testing for statistical significance
Printer control panels - Focus groups
User Researcher
- Created a moderator's guide based on client's previous international focus groups
- Moderated half of the 90-minute focus group sessions
- Made actionable recommendations to help the client meet the needs of current and potential users
Next-generation medical interface - Ethnographic research and remote usability tests
User Researcher/User Experience Designer
- Worked as part of a team to create a prototype for a medical interface that will be released in 2015
- Observed doctors and nurses interacting with patients and interviewed them to learn about their needs
- Created wireframes for an interactive prototype with Adobe Illustrator and Expression Blend
- Moderated remote sessions to test the usability of the prototype as part of an iterative user-centered design process
Awards
2011 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Scholarship Recipient
DePaul University awarded me a full scholarship to attend the 2011 Grace Hopper Celebration
Technical Skills
Prototyping Tools:
- OmniGraffle (2 years of experience)
- Axure (2 years)
- Visio (2 years)
- Expression Blend (1 year)
Adobe Creative Suite:
- Photoshop (8 years)
- Illustrator (4 years)
- Flash (3 years)
- Dreamweaver (1 year)
- Fireworks (1 year)
Web Technologies:
- Experience building multiple websites in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript