Peter Asaro posits that those who utilize technology and can evaluate its usefulness should be empowered to convey their insights to its designers, researchers, and engineers. In alignment with this perspective, I work to provide access to children and young adults, particularly from low-income and underrepresented groups, with opportunities to deepen their understanding of systems they interact with and position them as insightful contributors to the design process. Towards this goal, I have conducted weekly sessions since September 2022 for underrepresented students in partnership with the ITLP at CU. We use micro:bits to teach introductory programming and foster creativity through tinkering activities. I also collaborate with other researchers in the Creative Communities Group to intersect creativity and computation for young individuals. We design youth-centric activities to combine computational skills with art, broadening the typical audience for computational thinking. These opportunities allow me to actively engage with potential end users of my research outside of the formal research setting while empowering youth with the skills to convey their insights, problem solve, and collaborate. Currently, I am co-designing AI literacy activities using micro:bits and Yahboom robots, which has been a lot of fun!
I am the current graduate student representative for the CSGSA DEIA committee and help critically examine and address equity issues within our department. I also serve as a mentor for Ph.D. applications and provide detailed feedback. I have also served as a reviewer for WACV, ECCV, and CVPR.