Featured Projects

Data Science Examples

The project was completed in order to fulfill the SMU Master of Science in Data Science program’s capstone requirement. Many academic libraries have indicated that improving the experience and creating inclusive environments within libraries is a strategic priority. My team identified the library catalog as a potential place to understand inclusiveness. We used natural language processing and Unitary AI’s Detoxify model to review freeform text in 5.7 million catalog records. We successfully identified non-inclusive language using the Detoxify scoring system.

Using NLP & Machine Learning to Identify Non-Inclusive Language in Library Catalogs

This project began as a project for the SMU MSDS Time Series course. The initial project evaluated building traffic trends and was later expanded upon to include other library engagement metrics. The expanded content was presented at the CTLC virtual conference. The goals of the project were to understand the visitor trends in Fondren Library since the 2016 renovation and library staff marketing efforts and to forecast the possible traffic had the trend continued and the pandemic did not occur. The results indicated that Fondren Library lost 65.7% of the potential traffic in 2020.

Forecasting Lost Futures: Visitor Counts in Fondren Library without the Pandemic

I completed this fun, side-project based on my favorite show, The Office. I utilized Excel and Python to clean the data, specifically using NLTK. I tried out a new data visualization product called Flourish, which has many premade, interactive templates available, and made short work out of the chart.

Words in The Office

Prompt Engineering Examples

I love rubrics. They keep things objective while also providing goalposts to reach for each criterion. As a person with a growth mindset, I prefer to assess with rubrics to provide evidence of growth over time instead of a binary system where you either get the answer right or wrong. I also find that communicating with clients or students using rubrics makes change less abstract. This is a reusable prompt where a consultant can provide their subject needs and a quick rubric is generated.

Assessment Rubrics

When bargain bin shopping at a local outlet mall, my family and I discovered this deck of tarot cards, which happened to bear the misprinted name “Mysterious Tator.” Not knowing how to perform tarot card readings, I began using the parametric knowledge of LLM to translate the cards' meanings. In this prompt, I set up the personas and context, then created space for user input from a form.

Tator Card Readings

User Experience & Strategy Examples

SMU Libraries Strategic Plan, 2019-2024

In February 2019, the SMU Libraries began strategic planning for the newly-centralized SMU Libraries organization. I was a member of the strategic planning team and was responsible for conducting research via interviews, surveys, and focus group exercises, plus developing and leading SMU Libraries staff workshops. Furthermore, I contributed to the content in the strategic plan document and developed all of the presentations.

As Director of Strategic Initiatives, I am responsible for tracking and reporting strategic plan progress. Each year, I work with our Director of Community Engagement and a contracted designer to produce the Year in Review document which gives a brief summary of major strategic plan accomplishments, staff achievements, and a summary of events over the past fiscal year.

SMU Libraries Annual Reports

Finals Week Events

Finals week can be one of the most stressful times in a student’s life, especially for first year students. As a user experience librarian, I planned SMU Libraries events and coordinated with other departments and student groups to set up a series of events which grew over the years. The events were very popular among students and even attracted local media attention on occasion.

From October 2019 until April 2020, SMU enlisted the services of brightspot strategy. I led the SMU Libraries steering committees and teams and coordinated our work with brightspot. The resulting document proposed the strategic directions, building program, and services that will lead to SMU Libraries to become a modern and innovative academic library which supports researchers using newer technologies and SMU’s R1 aspirations.

Fondren Library Feasibility Study

Library & Info Lit Instruction Session Example

As a research librarian, I was assigned to work with the SMU Master of Arts in Design and Innovation (MADI) program. Research librarians partner with faculty in order to learn more about the specific research needs of the discipline and the course. This is an example of the type of instruction session I provided for MADI students along with demonstrations of the resources. The goal of this presentation was to help students understand the different types of research needs for their human-centered design projects and the complementary resources the SMU Libraries had available to support those needs.

SMU Libraries Website Overhaul

In 2020-2021, I led the SMU Libraries Website Redesign team, which was charged with merging six different library websites into a single, streamlined website for all campus libraries. The primary focus of the project was to update the SMU Libraries brand, improve accessibility and design, implement plain language and “Writing for Web” best practices, and showcase SMU’s elite collections and research support services all while prioritizing the user experience.

Marketing and Design Examples

  • Digital Signage

  • Digital Signage

  • Digital Signage

  • Orientation Postcard

  • Print Handout

  • Presentation Slide

    Presentation Slide