A Little Bit of History
Who I Am Behind the Academic Work (And How I Got There)
I absolutely love the work that I am invovled in as a graduate student of the information sciences, but it might be helpful to know more about what led me to this major, and what I like to do outside of that realm. Starting with general hobbies, I am a lover of the outdoors, and often go exploring the abundance of natural areas in Ithaca. During the summer, after the hectic surge of finals from spring semester, I like to take a week to plan a road trip and then head out to discover new places and people! Two years ago, I decided to stay in Canada to explore Niagara Falls and the local peach festival. Last year, I hiked through some areas of the Adirondacks and walked down the bobsled track that was once used for the Olympics. During these journeys I have met beatboxing champions, fellow Cornellians, aspring game designers, and others of all ages doing the same thing I was.
When I am back at home, I like stay active by exploring everything this vibrant town has to offer. I also am an avid horseback rider, MMORPG player (currently co-leading raids through World of Warcraft, and starting the Elder Scrolls Online as well as Final Fantasy), artist, and a reader of Norse mythology and high fantasy. Though my undergraduate friends have left the area, I still keep in touch and meet with my new acquaintances as often as possible. Finally, my latest endeavor is mastering the acoustic guitar without professional lessons. The start was a bit rocky, but for such a late introduction to musical instruments I believe slow and steady could win the race.
Energy and excitement in one's social life can be important, but I think I am fortunate to be able to use all of my passions for my more academic ones as well. When switching majors as an undergraduate, I did thorough research into what I could pursue instead. Ultimately, however, I found that what I enjoyed in my free time helped me to make the final decision to explore game design, user experience, and other information science-related topics. From the start, I used my skills with composition and art to help create assets and characters for an educational video game that would soon be launched in test classrooms. I took more classes to widen my skillset and polish the ones I had from that point on, using my creativity and experiences to add to the designs and projects for research and class throughout the semesters. For example, I took my experience with MMORPG's to determine a plausible theory for determinants of player interactions. I am also using my UX experience to determine the direction of a product for a business client, and have used my knowledge of different games' demographics and markets to help design a mobile game that intends to help its users learn about nutrition. By the end of my last semester as a graduate student this spring, I will leave Cornell with at least work on 4 video games, 4 research projects, a theoretical paper, startup experience, and a technical toy prototype using Photon and 3D printers. I hope that with my current and future work, I can continue to apply my research and design skills to fields of work that I am so enthusiastic about. To see the results of combining my interests and work, I encourage you to click one of the links below, or to email me with further questions. To return to the home page, click the dinosaur up top!