As of Autumn 2024, I'm an Assistant Teaching Professor at the iSchool; I completed my PhD advised by the fabulous Amy J. Ko in Spring 2024. My work seeks to create cultural shifts to move computing from a force that magnifies societal oppression to a force for liberation. To accomplish this, I've intersected techniques computer science, sociology, and social work to surface, deconstruct, and challenge dominant cultural norms, translating my own experiences of reconciliation into collective engagements.

Presently, I'm using my pedagogical role to explore how to deepen critical comptuing engagements in students' technical coursework through counternarratives, though, unlike my previous work, my present aim is directly address manifestations of white supremacy. But, we'll see how far I get; it's my first year teaching :)

For my dissertation, I examined cultural norms in two spaces: computing students' career decisions and what expressions of neurodiversity are legitimized within computing spaces. Within published work, I've found that cultural expectations within some CS departments teach students to prioritize career prestige, giving little space or support to pursue other options.

Cultural norms in hand, I've also created pedagogical space to challenge them; I worked with students to co-construct a space where students with established computing identities could present themselves more fully (Chapter 6 of my dissertation). I've also worked to integrate critical pedagogy into computer systems courses, surfacing students understandings of how we got here, instead of solely explaining how computer systems work.

Before I pivoted to computing education, I earned my Master's and Bachelor's in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, and engaged in computer architecture research around manycore compiler solutions, intermittently-powered FPGAs, and multi-threading support for intermittent architectures. I still get excited about technical innovation, I just find engaging with computing culture so much more fascinating.

I identify as white, non-binary, trans, queer, and neurodivergent both to recognize my position and find affinity with others.

Beyond my current work, I'm curious about how to support students in identity work, as well as how to support instructors engaging in deeply vulnerable pedagogical spaces. Norms-wise, I'm also curious about how whiteness (and by extension, computing) teaches individuals to forget their body, the ramifications of a dis-embodied practice (especially among marginalized learners), and how we might invite the body to return into computing's disciplinary space.

Though, there's a whole beautiful world there, with so many gorgeous things beyond computing and some things that are just more interesting than people.

Do please reach out if you'd like to chat.