As of last fall, I’ve joined the Department of Computer Science (DCS) Ambassadors team.  The DCS Ambassador program is a volunteer program where a team of undergraduate (and some graduate) students help the department out at various events.  In the next month or so, I’ll be helping out at:

• March 20th – University of Toronto Faculty of Arts & Science Open House
• March 27th – A prospective student will be visiting (hunting around for the right university)
• April 4th – ShowCaSe Competition & Open House
• Sometime in May – Gr8 Designs for Gr8 Girls Event 

On top of that, James and I have been working very hard in putting together a presentation for our high school visits.  We will be heading out to high schools to tell them about how great computer science is!  Our goal is to educate high school students about what computer science is about, and what kind of experiences they could get at the University of Toronto.

Yesterday, James and I gave Diane a run-through of our presentation.  We got a few more suggestions from her and some of our peers.  Now, we will start contacting high schools to see if anybody is interested.

James also created a really cool Photosynth of Bahen (our computer science building — our home away from home during the school year).  Check it out, it’s really cool!

I should really get into the habit of blogging about events right after they happen.  But I suppose it’s better late than never. :)

A few weeks ago, I officially accepted the IBM User-Centered Design Specialist offer as my 16-month internship for the Professional Experience Year (PEY) program offered at the University of Toronto.  I spent a lot of time thinking about the position, and I also spoke to a lot people to get some advice as to which offer I should take.  I had a few offers to choose from (luckily): a few IBM positions (1 of which was this UX position; others were generally software development related positions), and other offers from various other companies and organizations.  The two offers that I was mainly deciding between were this UX position at IBM, and a software developer position at Intelliware.

This was a big decision to make, and there were so many aspects to take into consideration.  For example, I was thinking about the position (and whether or not I would like to pursue in that direction upon graduation), travelling (will I have to spend approximately another 3 hours on the TTC every day?), the people I will be working with, the projects that I may potentially work on…etc.  But I finally decided to take the UX position at IBM.

Read the rest of this entry »