I am a Ph.D. student in the Technology and Social Behavior program at Northwestern University. The program is a joint degree in Computer Science and Communication. I am co-advised by Liz Gerber and Darren Gergle. I am also a member of the CollaboLab. I graduated in May 2007 with a Masters in Computer Science focusing on Human Computer Interaction from the College of Computing at Georgia Institute of Technology. Before attending Georgia Tech, I received two Bachelors of Science degrees from Spelman College in Computer Science and Mathematics in 2005. Prior to returning for my Ph.D., I was an User Experience Engineer at IBM.

As for my research, I am interested in two main topics that both surround culture and technology. I am interested in the collaboration of people in teams, organizations, and groups. Currently, I am researching how trust is established in cross-cultural teams, specifically in virtual environments.

I am also interested in exploring culture and social interaction of populations, specifically those that face disparities (e.g. health, education), and creating technology that fit within these societies. By acknowledging and allowing social, cultural, and economic contexts to provide technological design implications, many disparities that are faced by these populations can be greatly reduced, or even eliminated. For my Masters project, I focused on how to use mobile technology to improve dietary habits within low-income communities with Rebecca Grinter and Andrea Grimes.

• I am a 2009 Google Anita Borg Scholarship receipent.
  
• I received Honorable Mention for the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.
• I received Honorable Mention for the Ford Foundation Diversity Fellowship.