My Portfolio

Clara Cook

Front End Developer

Hello, I’m Clara Cook, and I am looking for design engineering roles.

I am currently a masters student at the Human Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. I love the intersection between computers, how we use them, and how they can make our lives better. My life is jam-packed with all of the facets of study I love. My passion for all of these subjects ties in around the idea that different people all over the world use different technology. However, the experience of dealing with difficult technology is universal. HCI is a field ever more important in an ever more technological world. I am hoping to work for a company that prioritizes people, that gives people the chance to allow technology to act as a support, rather than providing another layer of hardship and complexity.

I value people more than anything else in my life. I appreciate my family, and I love geeking out with them over Marvel, Harry Potter, and Lord of the Rings. I am an avid jewelry maker, and love showing off the way I fold the metal of earrings. I also love to cook, and am happy to host dinners, just so I get to feed other people.

People are everything.

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My Projects

Try diving into some of my projects: they range from very tech focused to very research and human based. This will show off the interactive process I foster between humans and their technology.

⟵ All Projects
Tech Centered

Bad Seed

Bad Seed is an artificial intelligence based autonomous scheduler used at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) in the National Synchrotron Lightsource II. As with the majority of technology used at BNL, there is no such thing as “optimized enough”. The only thing holding back science is time and resources, so, by working on this project, I hoped to mitigate some of those limitations.

Human-Tech Centered

Bubbles

Do you feel your anxiety bubbling to the surface? Do you tend to catastrophize and think of the worst-case scenario? You are not alone. Try Bubbles, a self-help mobile application that lets you express your emotions freely and supports your mental wellbeing. Bubbles is here as a virtual friend to listen, be a part of your struggles and help you take a step back and put your situation into perspective.

Human Centered

Twother

People are often unaware of the fact that they are surrounded by only one perspective and become stuck in an echo chamber. In this project, we wanted to understand how we might raise awareness about echo chambers among Twitter users and encourage them to break out of them. We developed Twother, a chrome extension that brings users awareness of different echo chamber experiences.

Resume

Clara Cook

CELL 914-330-629

EMAIL claracook99@gmail.com

WEBSITE claracook.com

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/claracook/


EDUCATION

Carnegie Mellon University

Master of Human Computer Interaction

Pittsburgh, PA Aug 2021 – Aug 2022

     3.97GPA

     Software Structure TA


University at Buffalo, SUNY

Bachelors in Computer Science and Cognitive Science

Buffalo, NY Aug 2017 – May 2021

     Summa Cum Laude (3.98 GPA)

     Minors: Spanish and Psychology



EXPERIENCE

Brookhaven National Lab: Technology Engineer Student Assistant (2020 - 2021)

  • Promoted from Artificial Intelligence SULI intern in January 2021
  • Designed and prototyped interface to track sample measurement decision making in a machine learning system, allowing researchers to control hyperparameters in a GUI
  • Performed 17 user tests in 3 iterations of databroker web client, and used React for initial viable product
  • Developed Linux commands for databroker and bluesky software to navigate mongo database streams

Computer Science Department, University at Buffalo: Teaching Assistant (2020 - 2021)

  • CSE220: Systems Programming: directed multiple laboratory sections and office hours on course content, such as memory allocation and threading and tools, such as GDB and Makefiles
  • CSE370: Applied Human Computer Interaction and Design: created tutorials on Figma, React, Accessibility tools, and CSS as well as lead office hours for debugging and designing sessions

Neural Cloud Solutions: UX/UI Software Engineer Intern (2019 - 2020)

  • Prototyped live concert and entertainment sites in web and mobile using Figma, and executed initial frontend implementation in React and React Native to align with current API on legacy applications
  • Optimized website data structures and design by adding a PHP module to access SQL databases

Psycholinguistics Department, University at Buffalo: Research Assistant (2017 - 2019)

  • Worked with doctoral students to synthesize their findings by programming eye tracker device software for retina mapping, analyzing data, and preparing experiments with ePrime and Praat software
  • Enacted video series using ambiguous nouns and verbs in garden path sentences for preliterate children’s cognitive development with child directed speech to investigate the Einstellung effect in non-grammatical settings


PROJECTS

Brookhaven National Laboratory: Gaming the Beamlines

  • Built TensorForce environment for reinforcement learning paradigm to autonomously schedule beamline data, applying human reinforcement schedules to machine learning; improved old system by 10 iterations
  • Published in Machine Learning: Science and Technology for contribution in Python code and research: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2632-2153/abc9fc/pdf

University at Buffalo: Doodle.bob



HONORS

  • Phi Beta Kappa
  • Tau Beta Pi
  • Sigma Delta Pi
  • Grace W. Capen Award
  • Cognitive Science Award

SKILLS and LANGUAGES

  • Programming LanguagesReact, Python, Scala, JavaScript, SQL, SQLite, C, Node.JS, React-Native, PHP
  • Additional SoftwareePrime, Praat, CSS, HTML, TensorForce, Figma, Invision, Adobe Premier
  • Additional SkillsAdvanced Spanish, Intermediate portuguese, Statistics, Molecular Bio Lab Techniques