I am a Computer Science PhD Candidate at UC San
Diego. I work in the
Design Lab on research in Human-Computer Interaction, advised by
Scott Klemmer. My research focuses on supporting and improving peoples'
creativity while they work with digital tools by harvesting & recommending existing expert content in-context.
Before joining UCSD, I completed my Honours Bachelor of Science at the
University of Toronto with a Specialist in Math & Computer
Science and a Major in Music.
I love music (playing, singing, listening, writing), photography,
and pretty much anything involving being outdoors.
Interactive Guidance Techniques for Creative Feedback
CritiqueKit: Interactive Guidance Techniques for Improving Creative Feedback
Good feedback is critical to creativity and learning, yet rare. Many people do not know how to actually provide effective feedback. There is increasing demand for quality feedback – and thus feedback givers – in learning and professional settings. The CritiqueKit system presents two interactive techniques – reusable suggestions and adaptive guidance – that improve novice feedback on creative work. Two real-world deployment studies and two controlled experiments with CritiqueKit found that adaptively-presented suggestions improve the quality of feedback from novice reviewers.
WeBuild: Automatic Assembly Task Distribution for Collocated Workers
Physical construction and assembly tasks are often carried out by groups of collocated workers,
and they can be difficult to coordinate. Group members must spend time deciding how to split up
the task, how to assign subtasks to each other, and in what order subtasks should be completed.
WeBuild is a task distribution system that dynamically assigns subtasks to workers in a group,
taking into account factors such as the dependencies between subtasks and the skills of each group
member. Each worker views personalized step-by-step instructions on a mobile phone, while a
dashboard visualizes the entire process.
DiscoverySpace: Suggesting Actions in Complex Software
Complex software offers power for experts, yet overwhelms new users. Novices often do not know how
to execute tasks, what they want to achieve, or even what is possible. To address this, we introduce
the DiscoverySpace interface for executable action suggestions. DiscoverySpace is a prototype extension
panel for Adobe Photoshop that suggests task-level action macros to apply to photographs based on
visual features. DiscoverySpace harvests these one-click actions from the online Photoshop user
community. A between-subjects study indicated that action suggestions may help novices maintain
confidence, accomplish tasks, and discover features. This work demonstrates how interfaces can
leverage user-generated content to help novices navigate complex software.
Framing of a peer review task can significantly impact reviews. In this 3-part study,
subtle feature changes in rubrics, task structure, and artifact representation resulted
in reviews that were significantly different in both the quality and focus of reviewer feedback.
As part of this project, I built a website to host
our first study, where graduate school applicants were invited to submit their application essay and
give feedback to each other using PeerStudio.
As part of the Design Lab's Human-Centered Healthcare Design initiative,
I worked with Nadir Weibel in collaboration with UCSD Radiation Oncology
and conducted observations to understand their current system and explore technological improvements.
Read about the Design Lab's healthcare initiatives here.
Real-time Editing of Material Properties
Real-time Editing of Material Properties (Winter 2015)
The ability to interactively edit materials in a rendered scene is important for graphic artists and designers.
Rather than adjusting the values of parameters for an analytic BRDF (Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function)
model, a more intuitive method would be to paint edits directly on the rendered image and interactively see results.
For my project with Ravi Ramamoorthi, I explored the challenges and
possibilities for building such an intuitive BRDF editing system.
As our project for CSE218 (Advanced Topics in Software Engineering: Ubiquitous Computing),
my group built a system called SpeedyType for people who suffer from locked in syndrome
to type messages using only their eyes. Our system also included a piano keyboard for playing
music using the eyes. See a video of our demo
here.
Primal-dual Coding
Exploring Extensions of Primal-dual Coding (2013-2014)
I worked as a research assistant for Kyros Kutulakos
in the Dynamic Graphics Project lab at the University of Toronto. I studied BRDF acquisition and
visual texture analysis, and extended an existing “primal-dual coding” camera system to isolate
light transport based on the direction and distance of travel.
3D Interactive Piano Keyboard
3D Interactive Piano Keyboard
As our final project for CSC418/2504 - Computer Graphics at the University of Toronto,
David Liu & I built a 3D interactive piano keyboard program.
I was the Teaching Assistant for
CSE 216 - Interaction Design Research, a discussion-based graduate course
that provides an overview of the Human-Computer Interaction
literature and involves conducting an HCI research project. As the TA, I
helped guide students in defining and executing their project plans, helped
students prepare class presentations and moderate discussions, and managed
the course logistics.
CSC148 - Introdution to Computer Science
CSC148 - Introduction to Computer Science (Winters 2012, 2013)
I was the teaching assistant for two semesters of CSC 148 - Introduction to Computer Science.
This class teaches the fundamentals of computer science and programming using
Python as the primary language. As the TA, I supervised lab sessions and helped
students with problems, graded assignments and midterms, held office hours, and
proctored the final exam.
Miscellaneous
Graduate Women in Computing @ UCSD
Graduate Women in Computing
June 3, 2016: Yasmine and I won the CSE department's award for Contributions to Diversity,
and Karyn won the award for Service!
I am the 2017-2018 Treasurer for UCSD's Graduate Women in Computing (GradWIC), and was previously
the President (2015-2017). We are passionate about building a strong community in CSE
and beyond, and fostering a diverse environment. We held many events over
the past year, including social gatherings, industry-sponsored events, panels
and group discussions on current issues in diversity.
I've been a member of several acappella groups. At UCSD I was the assistant music director
for The Beat, and we competed in the 2015
ICCA Quarterfinals.
Before that, at the University of Toronto,
I was the publicity manager and alto section lead for
Onoscatopoeia, the Hart
House Jazz Choir. I was also a member of
TBA - Tunes Beats Awesome, and we competed
in the 2013 and 2014 ICCA Semifinals. I've also been part of a small group called the
Diminished 6ths.
I love arranging music for acappella. Check out some videos of songs I've arranged:
I love taking photos everywhere I go, especially of beautiful nature scenes.
I used to post my photos on Flickr
before I got too busy to keep up with it.
For a taste of my more recent photos you can check out my Instagram.
Music Composition
Music Composition for Silent Films
For my final project in TMU315 - Music for Silent Films at the University of Toronto, I composed
a soundtrack for the 23-minute Buster Keaton silent film, The Goat. You can watch it
here.
Web Design & Development
Website Design & Development
I designed and built my website (the one you're currently on) from scratch.
I am currently the co-website chair for the 2019 ACM Creativity & Cognition conference,
for which I developed the conference website.
I also designed and managed the University of Toronto's FAStanswers website for first-year students (left).
Camp Wabikon
Camp Wabikon, Temagami, Ontario
Camp Wabikon in Temagami, Ontario is my second home. I've spent 16 summers
there in various roles ranging from camper to program director. I've also done a lot of photography and video-making
for Wabikon, including a promotional video about the CIT Leadership Program.