Informal and Co-Curricular Experiences

In Fall 2019 at UMBC, I was the Director of Communications for the Student Government Association (SGA). I oversaw 9 coordinators, each specializing in either graphic/web design, social media, or photography. Through this experience, I learned to practice user-centered empathy by listening to the feedback from students on what they would like to see changed on campus. This also gave me perspective on working in a multi-disciplinary team setting where I learned to communicate our design responsibilities to each coordinator and branches of the organization.⁵

From 2019 to present, I attend weekly FIKA group meetings hosted by graduate students in the Human-Centered Computing department (HCC). This meet-up is a space for guest speakers, design professionals in the industry, and research faculty to discuss various topics on Human-Computer Interaction.⁶ It has become a great place for me to ask questions and gain insight in the product design/UX industry. These insights will inform me on what skills I can learn now as an undergraduate to help build a competitive design portfolio and application for employers or graduate programs in the future. I also hope that this place can be an opportunity to network and form relationships with professionals inside and outside of UMBC.

Currently, I am helping conduct research with Dr. Andrea Kleinsmith from the Information Systems department where she is researching the stress response of paramedic students during simulation training. I am assisting graduate students on the design of graphical user interfaces for training systems using web scripting languages like HTML, CSS, Javascript, and PHP. This experience will give me insight into what it is like to perform research should I later perform my own graduate research in the future. Dr. Kleinsmith’s expertise in Human-Computer Interaction will also serve as guidance should I later apply for graduate programs in this field.

This spring 2020, I am working on-campus for UMBC’s COEIT Shared Services Center as a Web Developer. I am responsible for the maintenance of its site through updates in front-end scripting languages. Later during the semester, the SSC plans on implementing new strategies of web interactivity to boost awareness of its resources to students. I will be responsible for implementing these strategies in prototyping tools like Figma and Adobe XD while analyzing student surveys. Through this experience, I will expand my skill set in web development but also the overall user-experience between the sites’ resources and students. This will help me, as an aspiring digital product designer, understand user-experiences first before implementing a final digital product in code.

Finally, I am actively applying to summer 2020 UX/Interaction/Product Design internships at companies like MongoDB, Motorola Solutions, and OnePlus.⁷ Outside of school, I have prepared a portfolio to showcase to employers my design thinking process in hopes of creating an internship opportunity (personal portfolio can be viewed here: https://andrewpark.design/). Having work experience through an internship in this field will let me see what a digital product designer’s role is like full-time and allow me to explore other possible job roles within the digital design industry. I have also already reached out to INDS alumni Luis Queral, who has taken a similar path and is now working full-time as a product designer at The New York Times. Speaking with him has given me invaluable insights on forming a personal actionable plan after graduating from UMBC.