People 2019
In CTSP’s 2019 call for proposals, we included a call for a Special Project Fellow to focus research & engagement on one of our two special project themes: Tech Worker Organizing or Bay Area Housing Instability and Homelessness.
Nataliya Nedzhvetskaya
Nataliya is a PhD student at UC Berkeley in the Department of Sociology studying economic sociology, the sociology of knowledge, and labor markets using a mixed methods approach. As a Special Project Fellow studying Tech Worker Organizing, she is interested in understanding how moral language is understood, co-opted, and contested by both worker organizations and corporations involved in current organizing efforts. Prior to starting her graduate studies, she worked in equity research and journalism in New York and Boston.
Ayo Animashaun
Project: Re-imagining Password Management for Low-Technology Proficiency Users
Ayo is a Master’s candidate at the School of Information. He applies both computational and interpretive methodologies in design research. His academic backgrounds in Economics and Human Computer Interaction allow him to approach complex research questions with a diverse skill set and a broad perspective. He will be responsible for planning and executing the team’s generative and evaluative research process.
Yuval Barash
Project: Coordinated Entry System Research and Development for a Continuum of Care in Northern California
Yuval is a user experience researcher, designer, and masters candidate at the UC Berkeley School of Information. As a joint fellow with the Center for Technology, Society & Policy, Yuval focuses on human-centered design and regularly utilizes a broad range of research techniques. Previously, Yuval specialized in mission driven research and analysis. As a consultant, he supported mobile product development, conducted field studies in Southeast Asia, and advised various clients (e.g. nonprofit organizations, foundations, and investors). With this multidisciplinary background, Yuval aims to develop meaningful products and services. Yuval has a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Brandeis University.
Eric Harris Bernstein
Project: Algorithmic Intermediation and Workplace Surveillance – Emerging Threats to the Democracy of Work
Eric is a first year master’s student at UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy. Prior to enrolling at Cal, Eric spent four years as a researcher and program manager working on taxes, antitrust, and labor policy at the Roosevelt Institute—a progressive economic think-tank based in New York City. Eric’s policy interests center on the erosion of work power, as explained by the increasing impact of technology and disaggregation in the workplace. He earned his B.A. Magna Cum Laude from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Varshine Chandrakanthan
Project: Factors affecting Trust among vulnerable populations
Varshine is a Qualitative UX Researcher and a graduate student at UC Berkeley School of Information. She specializes in edTech and currently works with the San Francisco Unified School District as well as YLabs Global, supporting the design of education applications through user research and experience design. Her diverse background as a designer, researcher and product manager give her the ability to look at problems from different perspectives. Her interests include designing tattoos, illustrating for books and meditating.
Michelle Chen
Project: Coordinated Entry System Research and Development for a Continuum of Care in Northern California
Michelle is a second year Master’s in Information Management student at UC Berkeley, focusing on user experience research and design. Her strengths include identifying user needs and values through qualitative research, and translating them into design decisions. She is passionate about socially impactful work in the intersection of emerging technologies and people. She’s previously worked in UX and Quality Assurance at enterprise software companies, collaborating with cross-functional teams to advocate for the users of data intensive products. Michelle received her bachelor’s degree in Cognitive Science at Carleton College.
Rajasi Desai
Project: Factors affecting Trust among vulnerable populations
Rajasi is a UX Researcher. She’s currently a graduate student at UC Berkeley School of Information with a focus of Human Computer Interaction. During the summer of 2018, she worked with OpenArchive and had the opportunity to conduct user research for human rights activists, journalists, researchers, etc. who are at-risk. The insights she gained during this time was the inspiration to for this project that aims to create a media sharing platform by designing for trust. Her interests include to travel and photography.
Yan Fang
Project: Public-Private Data Relationships: Understanding the Everyday Processes
Yan is a Ph.D. student in the Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research focuses on the sociology and politics of data and law. Before her current studies, Yan investigated and litigated consumer protection cases as an attorney for the Federal Trade Commission. She has a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, and an A.B., magna cum laude, from Harvard College. After law school, she clerked for the Honorable Deborah L. Cook of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and to the Honorable Nancy F. Atlas of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
Sarah Fox
Project: Engaging Expert Stakeholders about the Future of Menstrual Biosensing Technology
Sarah is a Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of California, San Diego in the Department of Communication and The Design Lab. Her research focuses on how technological artifacts challenge or propagate social exclusions, by examining existing systems and building alternatives. Her work has earned awards in leading computing venues including ACM CSCW, CHI, and DIS, and has been featured in the Journal of Peer Production and New Media and Society. She holds a Ph.D. in Human Centered Design & Engineering from the University of Washington and has worked in design research at Microsoft Research, Google, and Intel Labs.
Sofia Gutierrez-Dewar
Project: Affect & Facial Recognition in Hiring
Sofia is a first-year graduate student in the Master of Information Management & Systems program, with a focus in human-computer interaction. Prior to pursuing graduate education, Sofia worked in technical operations and user research at Google. She received her B.A. in Cognitive Science, also from UC Berkeley, in 2015.
Mahmoud Hamsho
Project: Coordinated Entry System Research and Development for a Continuum of Care in Northern California
Mahmoud is a Master of Information Management and Systems student at UC Berkeley focusing in Data Science. His research interest include machine learning ethics and cybersecurity. Mahmoud has worked as a Data Scientist Intern at an IOT security startup (Intertrust Technologies). Currently as a researcher for the California Statewide Database, he is conducting user research on redistricting information accessibility and helping design models to lower the barrier to participating in California redistricting. From his experience, Mahmoud plans to be the data science consultant on the team providing insights on biases in the system.
Noura Howell
Project: Engaging Expert Stakeholders about the Future of Menstrual Biosensing Technology
Noura is a PhD candidate at the UC Berkeley School of Information. She studies the emotional side of making meaning with data by designing, building, and deploying tangible interactive data sensors and displays, such as color-changing garments or heart-sonifying benches. What might it be like to experience data with less emphasis on quantification and optimization and more emphasis on affirming our lived embodied experiences? She combines approaches from human computer interaction, design, new media, and science and technology studies, publishing work in venues including ACM CHI, DIS, and CSCW.
Amy Huang
Project: Re-imagining Password Management for Low-Technology Proficiency Users
Amy is a second-year Master’s student at the UC Berkeley School of Information. Prior to graduate school, Amy’s professional experience was in ideating, implementing, and managing financial and accounting SAAS products. She came to the I School to explore her interest in user experience design and is excited about the opportunity to co-lead the team through the design process.
Julia Hubbell
Project: Algorithmic Intermediation and Workplace Surveillance – Emerging Threats to the Democracy of Work
Julia is earning her Masters of Public Policy at the Goldman School, class of 2020. Her previous experience includes campaigns at the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE) and the AFL-CIO, undergraduate worker organizing with Unite Here and USAS, racial justice organizing with SURJ-DC and partner organizations, and 3 years of social work experience with homeless and unemployed populations. Her academic interests include the future of the labor movement, the effects of tech on workplace organizing, and racial equity in housing and jobs.
Rebecca Jablonsky
Project: Engineering Mindfulness: How the Meditation Technology Industry Shapes Mental Wellbeing
Rebecca is a PhD Candidate in Science and Technology Studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Her research explores the relationship between contemporary cultural values, technology practices, and the inner dimensions of mental and emotional life. She holds a Master of Human-Computer Interaction from Carnegie Mellon University and an MA in Psychology from New York University. Prior to entering a doctoral program, Rebecca worked as a professional user experience designer and researcher in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Zoe Kahn
Project: Coordinated Entry System Research and Development for a Continuum of Care in Northern California
Zoe is a PhD student at the UC Berkeley School of Information where she collaborates with data scientists, computer scientists, and designers to understand how technologies impact people and society, with a particular interest in AI and ethics, algorithmic decision making, and responsible innovation. As a qualitative researcher, Zoe ask questions of people and data that surface rich and actionable insights. Zoe brings an interdisciplinary background to her work that blends sociology, technology, law, and policy. She received her B.A. summa cum laude in Sociology from New York University in 2014.
Mehtab Khan
Project: Affect & Facial Recognition in Hiring
Mehtab is a JSD candidate at Berkeley Law. She has worked on a range of privacy and surveillance issues at the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Wikimedia Foundation. Mehtab designed and taught the first course on Internet Law and Policy to be offered at any law school in Pakistan. Her research interests include issues at the intersection of Intellectual Property, Technology and New Media.
Joyce Lee
Project: Affect & Facial Recognition in Hiring
Joyce is a second-year graduate student in the Master of Information Management & Systems program, with a focus on human-computer interaction and new media. Previously, she worked as a user experience strategist, a Peace Corps volunteer, and a writer for publications including Quartz, Designboom, and Colors Magazine. She completed her undergraduate studies in economics and visual studies at the University of Pennsylvania.
Ching-Yi Lin
Project: Re-imagining Password Management for Low-Technology Proficiency Users
Ching-Yi is a second-year Master’s student at the UC Berkeley School of Information with a focus on software engineering and security. Before coming to Berkeley, she helped large enterprises, public sectors, and schools to design cloud solutions and to develop security practices as a technical consultant for three years. She received her bachelor’s degree in Engineering Science and Ocean Engineering from National Taiwan University in 2014 with a focus on Human Computer Interaction. She was also a Design Thinking facilitator trained by Stanford d.school and have coached hundreds of students including undergrads, graduates, EMBA students and enterprise employees. She will lead the architecture design and the development of software prototype in this project.
Sofia Lopez
Sofia is an urban planner and researcher based in San Antonio, Texas. In February 2019 Sofia joined the Action Center on Race and the Economy where she researches housing and development. Sofia sits on the City of San Antonio’s Zoning Commission and Housing Authority Board of Commissioners. She received her Masters of City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2013, and a Bachelor of Arts from Swarthmore College in 2009.
Madelena Ng
Madelena is a third year DrPH student at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, with a designated emphasis in Science and Technology Studies. She has both a BS in Neuroscience and an MPH in Epidemiology from UCLA. Her research focuses on understanding how emerging technologies can be leveraged to address participation challenges in clinical research and on the state of patient/research participant privacy and data rights. Previously, Madelena worked at UCSF as a Protocol Project Manager on the Health eHeart Study and Eureka Mobile Health Research Platform.
Elizabeth Resor
Elizabeth is a second year PhD in the School of Information. Her research interests include the intersection of international development and social media use in East Africa, civic technology and critical cartography. She has a masters in City Planning from MIT where she focused on International Development. Before coming to Berkeley she lived in Nairobi, Kenya for three and a half years where she worked with social media data and crowdsourcing to solve traffic and transport challenges.
Nandita Sampath
Project: Algorithmic Intermediation and Workplace Surveillance – Emerging Threats to the Democracy of Work
Nandita is a first-year master’s of public policy student at the Goldman School and also has an B.S. in EECS and Materials Science from UC Berkeley. She hopes to have a career in intersection of technology and policy, and her interests include but are not limited to: privacy, ad-based revenue models, and autonomous vehicles. She hopes to be involved with drafting equitable policy that keeps up with the lightning speed of technology. Prior to starting the MPP program, she was an electrical engineer at a small augmented-reality startup in the Bay Area.
Franchesca Spektor
Project: Engaging Expert Stakeholders about the Future of Menstrual Biosensing Technology
Franchesca is a design & bioethics student, currently completing a self-directed undergraduate research thesis through the Interdisciplinary Studies Field program at UC Berkeley. Working through a speculative design lens, her work seeks to interrogate the intersections between assistive technology, the transhumanist vision, and the ethos of efficiency, as these construct visions of the “ideal” working body.
Matthew Spring
Project: Algorithmic Intermediation and Workplace Surveillance – Emerging Threats to the Democracy of Work
Matthew is a first year Master of Public Policy student at the UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy also pursuing a Certificate in Applied Data Science. Before graduate school, his professional experience focused on managing and scaling data-driven economic inclusion programs and consumer protection policies in local governments across the country. Matthew is interested in leveraging the advancements in science and technology to spur social and economic mobility for marginalized communities.
Amy Turner
Project: Coordinated Entry System Research and Development for a Continuum of Care in Northern California
Amy is a first year Master’s student at UC Berkeley’s School of Information where she is focusing on user experience research and human-centered design. Amy uses qualitative research methods to understand how technology can be designed to support the values of those using it and those who are affected by it. She has worked with users spanning many industries including nonprofit directors and staff, software support managers, medical staff, and privacy and security experts. She graduated summa sum laude in Psychology from University of Colorado Boulder.
Richmond Wong
Project: Engaging Expert Stakeholders about the Future of Menstrual Biosensing Technology
Richmond is a PhD candidate at the UC Berkeley School of Information. He studies how design methods and approaches can be used to proactively raise privacy and other social values-related concerns in technology design, and to develop technologies in ways that are cognizant of these issues. His current work focuses on how engineers and designers at technology companies approach issues related to privacy and ethics in their work. He uses interdisciplinary approaches from human computer interaction, design, and science & technology studies, publishing work in venues including ACM CSCW, DIS, and CHI.
Jing Wu
Project: Re-imagining Password Management for Low-Technology Proficiency Users
Jing is a master’s student studying user experience design at the UC Berkeley School of Information. She received her bachelor’s degree at UC Berkeley and worked as a program manager at the Berkeley Energy and Climate Institute prior to returning for graduate studies. She will be responsible for co-leading her team’s design process and is excited about using human centered design to improve people’s digital security.
Banner Photo Credit: “UC Berkeley South Hall” by Anand Rajagopal for I School IMSA is licensed under CC BY 2.0