professional ellie

my career journey thus far

• ZAGARAN: TECHNICAL WRITER

  I'm currently working at Zagaran, an (awesome) Boston-based software consulting company. I write technical proposals for government contracts.

• STARTUP BOSTON: NEWSLETTER AND ORG VOLUNTEER

  I'm volunteered at Startup Boston. I did two things:

  • Writing the weekly newsletter to over 22,000 (!!) recipients.
  • Helping with some fun AI-enabled PHP apps.

  Check out a cool "Meet The Team" spotlight I did here!

• REVERSING HOPELESSNESS: AUDIO TECH AND CONTENT VOLUNTEER

  I'm also volunteering part-time for a nonprofit called Reversing Hopelessness. I own the tech operations (recording, audio tech, etc) and co-host a podcast series where we discuss large topics related to mental health. I am also writing a book about mental health. Stay tuned for that.

• KEURIG DR PEPPER: CDI RESEARCH CO-OP

  This was a co-op with Keurig Dr Pepper's product design team in Chicago. I did UI/UX focused stuff with our brewers (not super involved in the Dr Pepper part).

  I performed tests on existing brewer models, analyzed/compiled data to understand user journeys, and recommended design improvements for new, upcoming brewers.

  I also led / observed consumer testing focus groups on new products, new designs, and general sentiments about smart tech and AI, compiling data and findings into reports and recommendations.

  One project I worked on was developing a UI database of all exisitng Keurig brewers. This was a cross-team project where I performed a sweep of our existing brewer models, categorized them, and collaborated with our design, research, and engineering teams to refine the resource.

• TULIP INTERFACES: TULIP EXPERIENCE CENTER CO-OP

  My second co-op was at Tulip Interfaces as an engineering co-op. I did a little bit of everything and got really comfortable with the Tulip ecosystem.

  I also helped develop, set-up, and support the creation of demos for our various tech conferences, such as the Pop Up Factory I set up for Autodesk and Formlabs's Digital Factory.

  

  This job had a lot of misc. solutions engineering and a tech stack that changed with the weather. I played with FIDO2/Microsoft Azure for a project with our tech partners at Nymi. I built out some widgets for Kolver in d3 and chart.js. I maintained uptime for the TEC, which involved all sorts of things: Node RED, computer vision, Quantum RTLS 2.0, robotics, lasers, etc.

  To see an example of a project I worked on, check out this demo I built to showcase Tulip's functionality with the Onshape API.

• FUNDAMENTALS OF NETWORKS: TEACHING ASSISTANT

  I was a course assistant for EECE2540, Fundamentals of Networks, under Prof. Stefano Basagni and Prof. Elena Mor. This course provides an overview of modern communication networks. I was grading, answering questions, providing guidance for problem sets and the final Python assignment.

• SERES THERAPEUTICS: FEV AND AUTOMATION CO-OP

  My first co-op was at Seres Therapeutics as a validation and automation engineer. This was extended to a part-time position so I ended up working there for a year.

  On the FEV (facilities, engineering, validation) team, I performed document validation and facilities maintenance in a GxP facility. This involved cleanroom inspections, equipment documentation, and database management.

  During my part-time work, I joined the automation team for the Hanwell EMS systems project. This project focused on advancing and improving the EMS systems in our three R&D and manufacturing facilities. Since I was there for phase 1 of a three-year project, I mainly helped lay the groundwork for the integration planned in later phases. This work included:

  • Evaluating current sensors and designing UIs for lighting, HVAC, and security systems.
  • Standardizing communication protocols for wired sensors.
  • Exploring and identifying opportunities for new control methods in our existing hardware, focusing on trend monitoring.

• HIGH SCHOOL JOBS...

  Here are jobs I worked during high school. This is to help you understand that I was forged, in part, by teenage food service work. I worked at:

  • An art studio
  • A smoothie shop
  • A pasta shop
  • A family's home (babysitting)