About Me #
Hi, I'm Wai-Yin. I'm a nerd who likes to create things. The things I create are kinda nerdy, hence the name "Nerdy Creativity". Three examples of my nerdy creativity are paper engineering, software development, and science.
I was a packaging/pop-up designer at a company called Structural Graphics. I used paper and glue all day long to turn client concepts into comps that pop up, collapse, spin, flip, slide, and/or transform. Occasionally I got to use geometry and algebra to figure out design problems, which made my inner-nerd all kinds of happy.
Another outlet for my nerdy creativity is programming. I started with static HTML/CSS sites, became the leader of a web team for a Veronica Mars fansite that used a custom-built CMS using PHP and MySQL, and eventually became a software engineer. It's been both fun and exasperating journey.
Third example is science. I got interested in science after graduating from college. I've spent years reading science books aimed at the general public, and attending public events at Griffith Observatory, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, NASA JPL, and state/national parks to foster my interest in science. I also developed websites for community science projects (CALeDNA and DataExplorers.info) and helped researchers clean up fifty years of ocean core drilling data (eODP) as a way to combine my interest in programming and science.
I'm interested in opportunities to combine my interest in coding, science, public outreach, and increasing diversity in STEM.