What type of work do you do for Gastrograph?

I am responsible for the look and feel of everything Gastrograph. From the Android app to our whitepapers, I work to ensure the formatting is visually pleasing and, most importantly, usable.

We have a relatively small team size, so I work alongside every single team within Gastrograph. Emily, who is our designer, and I work together to create beautiful and easy ways to use Gastrograph.

Let's say we come up with an idea to improve the way a metric is displayed on the Producer Panel. We do some sketching and bring it to the data team to make sure they agree with our design decisions. Then I either begin coding it myself or find somebody with more experience in that particular technology. Basically, I oversee the visual side of Gastrograph.

What sparked your interest in working in that field?

I started as a user of systems like the ones I design for Gastrograph. Overly complex interfaces always frustrated me, so I developed an interest in general design early in life.

Actually, household items have always interested me more than web interfaces. Objects like rakes, doorknobs, and vegetable peelers are really just interfaces - they are things you interact with to achieve a goal. I would use these tools as a child and notice their design flaws, driving me to sketch new designs.

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What type of work do you do for Gastrograph?

Data science and business development.

What sparked your interest in working in that field?

I started by focusing on the development of the Gastrograph system when it was still a research project at The Tea Institute at Penn State. I wanted to find a way to really measure what people were tasting and how the flavors of ageing tea changed over time.

Now I work mostly on business development, sales, and our data science back-end. I still ship code to production every day. Recently, our data science team has grown from one person (just me) to Arturo, a few of our developers, and two interns - so I've been spending a lot of time training them in our current techniques and the techniques we will implement in the future.

Why did you choose AFS?

I didn't. AFS chose me.

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