From spring 2021 through spring 2022, I was a Unit-18 Lecturer for UC Berkeley in the EECS department. A Unit-18 lecturer is what is often called “adjunct”; it’s not on a tenure track, isn’t part of the “Academic Senate”, and it’s represented by a union. Since I don’t have a…

I’ve always been excited by the possibility of online education. Years ago, I was an early engineer at Coursera helping university professors make their courses available in a MOOC form. I then joined Khan Academy to put my own courses online, putting together computer programming courses in JS, HTML/CSS, and…

The sleeping strategy for every baby depends on the combined needs of the baby and the parents. So, let’s start with my sleep needs: I have a very hard time falling asleep; it can take me up to an hour. If I sleep less than a full cycle (~3 hours)…

At this point, I am wary whenever I hear the term “creativity” used in the domain of computer science and computer programming. Since there are so many ways to create in this world, creativity can mean different things to different people. For example, I might look at a HackerRank coding…

I love using computers to re-create real world objects, like coding a simulation of a plant growing or making a 3d animation of a lava lamp. I can rarely capture the beautiful complexity of a non-digital object, but I sure can have a good time trying! So when I come…

I’m writing this as my 6 month old daughter naps, nestled cozily under my typing hands. She’s conked out thanks to an exciting story time and a nourishing nursing session. Before I had a baby, I really had no idea how much time it takes to breastfeed a baby. The…

In my talk at AnxietyTech, I showed many ways we can use tech to fight tech; technological tools that can help us use other technology in a more healthy and less addictive way. Many of the tools that I showed were ones I built myself: tiny Chrome extensions like YouTube…

Using tech to fight tech. — In the fall of 2016, I went on a four-month Buddhist retreat, which helped me learn many things about my mind. When I graduated from the retreat back into the real world, I was happy to re-discover some of my favorite activities, like dancing, playing improv games, and connecting with…

Computer Science isn’t yet a requirement at the K-12 level, but fortunately, there are a growing number of CS classrooms across the US. Many of those CS classes are taught by teachers that are relatively new to CS, like former math or science teachers, so they have a lot to…