I am a Ph.D. student in the Human Centered Computing program at the Georgia Institute of Technology. My advisor is Dr. Rebecca Grinter and I am a part of the Work2Play lab. I received a B.S. in Computer Science from Northeastern University in April, 2005.

My research lies within the field of Human-Computer Interaction, and I am specifically interested in exploring how technologies can be designed to fit within specific sociocultural contexts. For example, I am interested in how technology can be used to empower urban, low-income communities. To this end, my research involves studying aspects of human life in an effort to create technology that resonates with the existing sociocultural landscape.

• CHI 2008 Best Paper Nomination: For our paper, Celebratory Technology: New Directions for Food Research in HCI.
• Microsoft Research Graduate Fellowship: In February 2008, I was awared an MSR Fellowship in recognition of my 'contribution to technology in the area of social impact'.
• Yahoo! Key Technical Challenge Grant: In January 2008, I was awarded this grant for my research on designing technologies that support individuals in eating healthfully based on an understanding of the social and cultural influences on food practices.
• CHI 2008: We had a paper and a note accepted to CHI 2008:
  • "Celebratory Technology: New Directions for Food Research in HCI"
  • "Life Scheduling to Support Multiple Social Roles"
• Pervasive Computing Magazine: Our IEEE Pervasive Computing article was recently published (October-December 2007 issue):
  • "Physical, Social, and Experiential Knowledge of Privacy and Security in a Pervasive Computing Environment"
• Summer 2007 Internship: At Microsoft Research, Cambridge, UK with Richard Harper.
• Persuasive Technology 2007: I presented a paper at Persuasive in April 2007.
• Anita Borg Scholarship: I am a 2007 Google Anita Borg Scholar.