Pallavi Damera

Education

Masters in Human Centered Design & Engineering, University of Washington, Oct 2008 - June 2010

Post Graduate Diploma in Software and User Interface Design, 2005 - 07, National Institute of Design, India

Bachelors in Information & Communication Technology, 2001 - 05, Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information & Communication Technology, India

EXPERIENCE

Research Assistant, UW - Human Centered Design & Engineering, Sept 08 - Dec 09

Expert Intelligence Analysis: Research to understand how an expert analyst uses open source intelligence collection systems. We did a case study using verbal protocol analysis and grounded theory approach and found the cognitive processes involved. I contributed to all aspects of this research.

UX Research Intern, Yahoo! Bangalore, India, Jan 07 - Jul 07

Vertical Search: A study on search behaviors of Indian users doing shopping, travel and job search. I independently carried the entire research, designed and conducted in situ think-aloud studies and semi-structured interviews. Created personas and lo-fi prototypes as design recommendations.

Usability Testing, openusability.org

KMyMoney: An open source finance management tool for which we (in a group of 2) designed, conducted lab usability tests and presented the findings.

ACADEMIC PROJECTS

GreenBean: A mobile application that helps people make green and smart shopping decisions. We prototyped and evaluated using different techniques while following iterative design process.

SwitchBack: Part of a design research group involved in information and interface design of a new document model that allows selective reading. I created paper prototypes, did preliminary tests and sample content.

iPad as AAC device: Did 4 casestudies, observed users with varying motor and speech impairments use iPad and AAC apps. (Worked in a group of 2)

MISCELLANEOUS

Kriz, S., Damera, P., & Porter, J.R. (2010). A Place for Fictional Robots in HRI Research? An Empirical Analysis of Science Fiction Films. HRI and Arts workshop.

Accepted: Kriz, S., Ferro, T., Damera, P., & Porter, J. Fictional Robots as a Data Source in HRI Research: Exploring the Link between Science Fiction and Interactional Expectations, Proceedings of the 2010 IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication to be held in Viareggio, Italy, September 12-15

Received Award of Excellence from the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering, University of Washington and was recognized as an exemplary student in the HCDE community, for demonstrating special strength in innovation.

Microsoft Firenze 2010: Part of university wide winning team. One of the top 20 finalists out of 150 participants from 5 universities (NYU, CMU, UMich, Cornell & UW).