Abstract
Jack is a current undergraduate student at Northwestern University passionate about figuring out how people figure things out through understanding how learn from and make sense about data and visuals. He bridges the gap between human cognition and technology to create more intuitive user experiences, data visualizations, and learning environments.
Professional Life
I've spent the past few years building products that help people learn and work more effectively, from developing automated progress reporting tools for educators to training a machine learning model to analyze hospital visit feedback. I love the challenge of making complex data accessible to non-technical audiences and designing experiences and solutions to problems people didn't even know they had.
Currently, I am exploring opportunities across product, research, and data science, but am always open to hearing about new challenges that sit at the intersection of people and technology!
Academic Life
At Northwestern, I'm studying Statistics and Learning Sciences with a certificate in Human-Computer Interaction, spending most of my time in the classroom trying to understand how people learn from and interact with information. I am currently a research assistant with Northwestern's STAR Lab, as well as an undergraduate teaching assistant with the Department of Statistics and Data Science, primarily aiding with introductory statistics classes to get a better idea of how people learn about and interpret statistics for the first time.
In the future, I am interested in pursuing graduate studies across the areas of information science, human-computer interaction, and learning sciences & design. I'm fascinated by questions like: How do design choices in data visualizations affect learning and reasoning? What role does uncertainty play in how people make decisions from predictive models, and how does this change when people are collectively interpreting data and making decisions? How can we effectively and efficiently assess competence in interpreting visualizations and understanding statistics?
Personal Life
While I am always looking for new hobbies to try out and new things to learn, mental health advocacy and community building through design have always been two of my core passions.
As President of Northwestern's Active Minds chapter, I founded Northwestern's Wellness Roundtable to bring together student organizations focused on wellbeing, and have partnered with the Dean of Students Office on policy initiatives that impact all 22,000+ students on campus. This work has shown me how thoughtful community building and policy advocacy can create lasting change in how we approach mental health, both on college campuses and outside of school settings.
Through Design for America, I secure partnerships with Chicago nonprofits and social impact organizations, connecting Northwestern students with real community challenges that need human-centered design solutions. I love fostering design thinking both at Northwestern and in the broader Chicago area, whether that's leading workshops for fellow students or collaborating with local organizations to prototype solutions that address genuine needs.