I’m a first-year PhD student in computer science at UC Berkeley advised by Ben Recht.
Previously, I received my Bachelor’s in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT and my Master’s in human rights studies from Columbia University.
I work on on interdisciplinary applications of computer science, from
astrophysics to history to politics.
My research has been featured in over 100 media outlets and has been
liked and shared tens of thousands of times on social of media.
Email
Curriculum Vitae
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10 ARCHIVE
2013-15
Here are some of my favorite science fair projects from childhood :)
COMPUTATIONAL CARDIOLOGY (2015)
I wrote a simple signal processing algorithm to
process stethoscope sounds and accurately detect the presence and type
of a patient’s heart murmur. The project was inspired by my younger
sister Kate, who was born with a heart condition (a bicuspid aortic
valve) which causes her to have a heart murmur.
Method: The algorithm took the envelope of a pre-recorded heartbeat
and isolated the systolic and diastolic sections by finding the local
maxima of the filtered envelope. I diagnosed the heartbeat by convolving
each section with simple geometric filters that matched profiles of
common murmurs. I tested the algorithm against seventy-one prerecorded
heart sounds from public websites dedicated to ear-training medical
professionals. I identified normal heartbeats with a 100% success rate
and murmurs with a 95% success rate. I categorized both systolic and
diastolic murmurs with 70% accuracy.
This project was a great first look into the basics of signal processing for me.
SEWING SCIENCE (2014)
I loved to sew as a kid, so I decided to test what stitch type made the strongest seam (e.g. a straight stitch, zigzag stitch, sawtooth stitch, etc.) I found that the straight stitch always performed the best, which is consistent with its use in high-stress devices such as parachutes, seatbelts, and automobile airbags! I ended up winning the Broadcom MASTERS national middle school science fair with this project, and I was invited to the White House Science Fair in 2015 to present it. I wrote more about the project here.
Some fun links:
BILLIARD BOTS (2013)
This is still one of my favorites :) I tested out billiards trick shots using a robot.
For the unfamiliar -- there are a few standard ways you can hit the cue ball towards the object balls (e.g. solids/stripes) to sink balls at difficult angles. When you hit the cue ball at an angle with respect to the object
ball, you create what’s called “cut-induced throw” on the object ball, causing the
object ball to travel tangent to the impact line. When you hit the cue
ball with a clockwise or counterclockwise spin (i.e. by hitting
the cue ball off center), you create “spin-induced throw” on the object
ball, and the sliding friction propels the object ball left or
right (for clockwise or counterclockwise spin respectively).
In my
experiment, I attached a cue ball to a robot so I could hit an object
ball with cut, spin, and a combination of both. Using simple
trigonometry, I predicted the object ball’s trajectory in each shot.
The results? I got marginally better at pool.
Small child (me) collecting data on the billiard bot.