I am a first year Masters student in the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) program at Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). This interdisciplinary, collaborative program is a cooperative effort of the College of Computing; the School of Psychology; and the School of Literature, Communication, and Culture (LCC). The curriculum enables me to implement and evaluate user centered designs. The designing part in itself is very challenging and involves catering to users with various kinds of disabilities and impairments.

My interest lies in developing educational, developmental and assistive technologies. Currently, I am working with Janet Kolodner in the Hovercraft project which aims at teaching basic concepts of physics to middle school children by making them build things (Learning by Design^TM). The children get to build hovercrafts virtually using our software and learn about forces, friction and properties of air (that it can actually move things!). They then get to build mini-hovercrafts using artifacts provided by us and thus try out the design they had built in the previous stage. The next stage is to document their observations in the online journal (available in the software). They try to provide reasons for why something is happening (like - Why is the hovercraft moving faster on the smooth surface as compared to the rough surface?). At every stage proper scaffolding is provided so that the children learn the concepts right and are able to improve their mental model.

Prior to joining the MS program at Georgia Tech, I was working for more than 3 years in the field of software development specializing in IBM iSeries (AS/400) applications. I also like to keep myself engaged in activities focused on helping the less privileged members of the society. I am a volunteer with Asha for Education (Atlanta Chapter). I was an active volunteer with Child Rights and You and Vidya & Child for over 4 years and also co-founded a Citizens Action Group with them in India.

DESIGN CHALLENGE -    PowerPoint      Prototype

Interactivity@GT concluded on 11^th February, 2008. It was a very successful and entertaining event. The views, feedback and encouragement received from the industry representatives were wonderful. It was a great experience!