Hey, that's me!

I'm an engineer by training, passionate about using data to answer questions that matter. I currently work as a Data Scientist at Intel. I have a Ph.D. in Molecular Engineering from the University of Chicago, where I was one of 20 students to take a leap of faith, so to speak, to be the first engineers at the U of C and help shape the future of the degree program. I have a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Washington in Seattle, with a minor in chemistry; there were too many exciting options there so I was a few classes away from minors in math, music and anthropology as well. I grew up in a small town in the Bay Area that offered close friendships and safe streets, but was hit early by wanderlust; new vistas, cultures and global friendships are things I continue to seek.

I love to learn, if you didn't catch that from my plethora of college classes. To me, the best part of getting a Ph.D. was learning how to learn, how to ask the right questions and dig for answers when they aren't handed to you on the silver platter of a homework assignment with an answer key. It was a platform to learn so much more than I originally signed up for. My research group was wonderfully unique in that it was comprised of a bunch of scientists with different backgrounds - chemistry, physics, engineering, computer science - all studying completely different types of problems - from energy storage and solar cells to ions in water to quantum computing - but using the same computational toolset. I learned something new every time I had a conversation in my group.

I'm a lot of things, in addition to a scientist, engineer or data scientist. I would consider myself an artist (if there's a way to make something instead of buy it, I always will - lately I've been using all my spare time painting in watercolor), a musician (I was in marching band for 8 years, and have played in everything from orchestras to jazz ensembles), a writer (I've published short fiction in online magazines and print anthologies, and originally wanted to be a scientist to write more accurate sci fi), a teacher (I've taught music, physics, and engineering to a variety of age groups, and I'm current an adjunct professor at RIT teaching data viz), a cosplayer (at least, I was for many years), and a gamer. While it may not be possible to pursue all my passions simultaneously, I'll always be all of these things. Feel free to reach out to me to discuss any of the above, or something entirely different (take your pick of contact method, below).