Portfolio of Selected Research and Employment

Current Research Briefs

Amazon Proxemics Manager and Researcher

I have been tasked with developing and conducting behavioral studies and analyses of Amazon Associates operating in an Amazon Fulfilment Center.  This research is primarily focused on associate wellbeing and adherence to social distancing and health practices, as well as adherence to CDC and state policies and guidelines involving COVID-19.  I use multiple qualitative methods and proprietary programs unique to Amazon to generate metrics and behavioral data of a population of roughly 4,500 people.  This data contributes to the development of safety strategies and protocols and over a two-month period since beginning my research I am able to show a 10%+ improvement in adherence metrics and have established a means to gauge associate wellbeing that has had pronounced effects on associate retention and development.  My efforts have also helped the Fulfilment Center maintain a COVID infection rate that is significantly lower than the state or county’s case rates.  A recent process change proposal base on my work is expected to save over 3.3m over the next three years.

Researcher with The Kohima Institute

I am presently involved in developing an international interdisciplinary research effort to better understand how cultural and ethnic groups respond to natural disasters, such as the global pandemic of COVID-19, and how public health messaging and instruction is being received, understood, and implemented by diverse peoples and households whose issues are often under-represented in governmental studies and projections.  This research will also examine how cultural and ethnic groups organize themselves in the wake of disasters and share diverse health practices, perspectives, and information locally and through social media.  The goal of this research is to affect cultural awareness of health issues and response to natural disasters, improve upon government and public health messaging, and improve preparedness for all involved parties in the event of future disasters.

Operations/UX/CX Work

Google Express, Site Operations Coordinator II

As a Site Operations Coordinator between 2017 and 2019, I was responsible for maintaining the daily business operations of Google Express sites and their purpose of creating an online shopping experience using retail and remote vendor locations.  I was also responsible for directly managing a team of three to seven people and I remotely coordinated with other site managers.  During my contract I:

·      Collected and analyzed metric data using excel and Google’s suite of online tools and proprietary interfaces

·      Ran long and short cycle data collection initiatives of operations and processes of site operators where I conducted RTY and DPMO analyses using a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods

·      Interviewed and observed site operators and provided ethnographic examples of observed behaviors and operator experiences, provided supporting literature when requested

·      Reported volume and performance-based findings to local, regional, and national sales management with suggestions for operational or procedural improvements drawn from lean methodologies

·      Field tested and reported on Google’s shopping app as part of baseline/benchmarking responses

·      Maintained client relationships

In order to accomplish these tasks, I actively developed and refined a key set of questions that I could speak with operators about their jobs.  These questions helped me gauge overall operator morale and knowledge of their specific roles and of their understanding of the project as a whole.  Specific questions pertaining to their responsibilities that I was then able to compare with data collected through the RTY analyses and their DPMO metrics.  Other lines of questioning were developed to obtain operator perceptions of the Google shopping app and their overall experiences using the app.  This further provided insight into the mapping and ease of use of the app that was then conveyed to Google managers and developers.

Key Project Outcomes:

·      Improved local site operations with measurable increases in operator performance and volume output

·      Regional and National operation and procedural improvements concerning site setup, maintenance, and operator experience were introduced from my input

GOiMarketing Project & Design Manager, Insight/UX Researcher

GOiMarketing provided web-based services and solutions for a variety of industries with a primary focus on the real estate industry in Southern California.  Additionally, consulting services were provided for other web-based service companies and industries such as microchip manufacturing and heavy industrial corporations.  My role was that of Project and Design Manager and as an Insight and UX researcher between 2007 and 2009.  Projects generally operated on short cycles of a week to two months.  In-house research tended to involve longer research periods.  I was responsible for:

·      Working on over 50 projects of varying sizes with clients in diverse industries with unique needs driving sales and bringing in new clients through referrals

·      Working with product developers in-house and remotely to improve overall product designs, functions, and accessibility

·      Helping refine internal workflows through the enterprise system and APIs being used with the databases and Windows environments, referenced available human-computer interaction (HCI) studies

·      Collecting metrics and providing actionable UX insight into customer and user needs during the agile-based product development cycles.  This was accomplished through benchmarking products and services, retrospective benchmarking and analyses, customer feedback (NPS) and surveys using Survey Monkey and Qualtrics, inferential statistical and qualitative analyses, observations, click mapping and log reviews, deep ethnographic based interviews, and structured and semi-structured interviews

·      Developing journey maps and card sorting exercises to optimize user experiences

·      Working with developers and end-users to conduct remote usability and A/B testing for website-based products and mobile apps

·      Wireframing custom site designs and developing visual designs for web and associated media

·      Working with SEO engineers to determine optimum layouts for best search engine positioning

·      Assessing client market positions against market dynamics and competitors, as well as conducting social and traditional media-vehicle assessments, and site and service content analyses

·      Maintaining project budgets, communications, and reporting between management and clients/stakeholders

In this role, I consistently developed research strategies consisting primarily of interview and survey-based questions.  These questions sought to establish and continuously benchmark end-user perceptions of the real estate market in Southern California and to identify the wants and needs of potential buyers and sellers.  This approach relied heavily on exploring human-computer interaction and technological lifestyle integration.  In addition to qualitative approaches, I used descriptive and inferential statistics to establish the demographics of potential users across various financial categories, education levels, prior experience with real estate, their experiences with realtors, their use of online search tools and apps, prioritizing what was perceived to be the most convenient and effective means for finding properties and agents, and establishing the successes, flaws, and failures of our existing designs and those of our competitors.  For real estate clients and non-real estate clients, I continually analyzed their position within the market and their web presence and performance.  I was then able to closely work with in-house and remote developers and SEO teams to provide the highest level of placement and competitive services for our clients through custom site wireframing and visual design and drive sales. 

Key Employment Outcomes:

·      The efficiency of project development and output was increased dramatically going from 3 projects to 12 a month

·      Marked satisfaction in services provided and significant increases in client site traffic

·      Increased company revenue, evident through the increase in overall project volume

·      Increased consultation services by developing a UX/CX Insight-driven approach to client solutions

Partech, Inc Supervisor, Project Manager 

Partech is a manufacturer and service provider of point of sale (POS) equipment.  As a supervisor, I was responsible for managing an office of 45+ technical support staff and for performing small projects.  I also developed a CX-based approach to services.  I relied on qualitative and quantitative approaches to understand staffing issues and performance as well as to assess customer satisfaction (NPS) with service level agreements.  To meet the demands of managerial, operational, and project tasks I used:

·      Six Sigma and Lean methodologies and cost analyses

·      Observations and employee interviews

·      Qualitative content analyses of technical support materials and online resources and knowledge bases

·      Benchmarking of services and assessing service level KPIs, analyses of recent performance metrics, and content analysis of prior service and employee performance reviews

·      Analyzing regression analyses of call volume cycles relative to multiple variables

·      Collection of detailed customer feedback data and numeric based survey responses

Key Employment Outcomes:

·      Significant savings of over $300,000 a year in operational costs through training and staff budget analysis

·      Refined the overall quality of customer service provided by technicians and I was able to show clear improvement in overall customer satisfaction through client retention and maintenance of sales revenues

·      Increased employee retention and employee job satisfaction through training and a revision of employee evaluation standards

Mission-Based and Scholarly Research

PhD Work, Edinburgh: Entangled Lives: Reproduction and Continuity in a Denver Hmong Community

Primary Researcher 2012-2016

Within the Denver Hmong community, the moral foundations of spiritual practices and a pronounced emphasis on continuity have continued to uphold the idea of family as a central tenant to being Hmong.  In doing so, this has further emphasized various degrees of entanglement and mutual reliance within and between families and individuals. As a result, significant pressure has been placed on younger Hmong to strengthen the networks of family, extended family, and community by reproducing and forming families of their own.  The production and reproduction of family has in turn drawn into focus generational tensions concerning ideas of family, education, gender, expectations of behavior, and approaches to medicine, health, and healing.  In consideration of these points, this thesis examines how people within the Denver Hmong community negotiate, maintain, and contest the intersection of these matters while constructing and maintaining the central tenets of Hmong life and a Hmong continuity through the reciprocal reproductive qualities of the social, the spiritual and symbolic, and the biological.

·      As a primary researcher my field research took place in Denver, CO between 2012 and 2014 among the Denver Hmong community with a focus on religious practices, medical traditions, pluralism and medical anthropological issues involving Western biomedicine, fertility and the reproduction and continuity of Hmong life.

·      This was ethnographic-based fieldwork and data was collected using multiple interviewing methodologies, oral history collection, surveys, discussion groups, physical artifact and medicinal specimen collection, examination of traditional medicine production and usage, multi-site ethnographic participant observation, and multi-generational scenario-based exercises.  Data was also collected through archival research, policy reviews, literature reviews, and from online support groups and social media that pertained to key research issues.

·      Data was analyzed using multiple qualitative methods with the primary means being content analysis of transcriptions and field notes, patterns of personal and shared experiences, and patterned key terms and themes compared and contrasted to robust ethnographic sources and theoretical frameworks.  Descriptive statistics were also used for the purpose of identifying key settlement locations, generational community activities, and base perspectives and characteristics of the community. 

·      All research was conducted with informed consent and approved through an IRB.

·      Over 400 detailed interviews were conducted with members of the community and others involved with the communities including Christian and shamanic religious leaders, physicians and clinic workers, heads of households, and community organizers.

·      My findings were presented at several conferences and as my dissertation.

Marketing, Fertility, and the Clinic

Primary Researcher 2014-2017

This research has explored the role of marketing in the clinic through the lenses of transnational fertility treatment, technology, medicine, health, ethnicity, identity, gender, feminist issues, ethics, policy and bio-politics, and economics.  The work has focused on a fertility clinic in Denver, CO that maintains a reciprocal relationship with a hospital in Shanghai, PRC that facilitates the introductions of Chinese clients, generally ethnically Han, seeking fertility treatments beyond what is available in China.  While many seek IVF for medical reasons, it is also common for some couples to attempt to circumvent the One-Child policies of China through IVF by introducing twin embryos during the process.  The clinic has used different marketing vehicles to attract Asian egg donors in the Denver area and its advertisements are presented in different languages, such as English, Chinese, and Vietnamese, and can often be found in numerous Asian-specific magazines and newsletters available at cultural centers and Asian markets.  The findings of this research have been presented at conferences and discussed and analyzed at numerous academic workshops.

Temporality, Well-Being, and Personhood Among the Dai in Hubei, China

Primary Researcher funded 2009-2010

As a visiting scholar and funded by the Chinese Educational Council I conducted ethnographic research in Wuhan, Hubei with Dai metal workers and Han Chinese informants.  My research was concerned with culturally derived understandings of time relative to economic activities and concepts of personhood, well-being, and identity.  This research also included an examination of health perspectives and time involving Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and recovery from common ailments among different ethnic groups.  Over 150 people were interviewed and observations were carried out daily in the city of Wuhan and in Shanghai during the Chinese New Year celebrations.  My findings have been presented at two conferences and are a contributing subject to a manuscript concerning the nature of culture and perceptions of time.

Objects, Ontologies, and Potentiality

Primary Researcher funded 2017, 2018

This research is concerned with what can be termed as traditional Hmong ontologies and engagement with the world, particularly that of the human and non-human.  Given the traditional Hmong understanding of human engagement with spirits this research has sought to understand the potentiality of spirits inhabiting objects and the decision making processes of people needed to negotiate or manipulate their environment for the purpose of addressing traditional and Western medical issues, maintaining a healthy state of being, or for addressing issues of soul loss. 

·      Research was conducted in Denver, CO, and in Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN from 2013 to 2016.

·      This research involved archival research, literature reviews, interviews, and observations with over 80 traditional and Christian Hmong.  Those interviewed included religious leaders and Hmong practitioners in the general Hmong population and the perspectives of multiple generations were represented in the findings.

·      Collected data was assessed using content and pattern analyses and available descriptive statistics of the Hmong communities in major research sites were used to further frame research findings.

·      All research was conducted with informed consent.

·      Findings were presented at two conferences, an interdisciplinary workshop, and have been the source for two articles currently under peer review.

Exhibit Interactions, Emergent Learning, and Museum Studies

Primary Ethnographic Researcher, Inter-Disciplinary Team funded 2016

In conjunction with a mathematician and researcher of museum studies, this research has sought to explore the means by which people engage with museum exhibits and observable learning outcomes.  In particular, this research focused on Hmong student’s engagement with a Hmong shamanic altar and the display of embodied knowledge in the students’ explanation of the altar to non-Hmong attendees.  This research was carried out through multi-site ethnographic studies including observations and interviews with museum staff, Hmong contributors, students, non-Hmong attendees, and project funding institutions.  Data drawn from interviews and observations were assessed using analyses of content and observable patterns and framed relative to applicable literature and archival materials.  Findings were presented at one conference, a joint article was constructed and is under review (2019), and a book proposal is currently being developed.

Space, Place, and Building Re-Use in Edinburgh, UK

Primary Researcher 2011-2012

This research examined engagement with green spaces in Old Towne Edinburgh and the reuse of buildings.  This project was carried out by conducting interviews, observations of people using green spaces, and GIS analysis of Grey Friar’s Kirkyard (cemetery), the Meadows public park area, and storefronts converted from church buildings.  Data was collected intermittently over one year across four seasons of foot traffic.  Results from the survey were used to identify key times for recreational activity in the kirkyard and how this activity correlated with peoples’ access to green spaces during breaks and mealtimes throughout the day.  Additionally, the collected information offered insight into the spatial relationships promoted by Scottish society and distinctly Scottish philosophical perspectives on access and use of lands derived from the Scottish Enlightenment.  The findings also speak to the changing nature of religious life and the rising secularism in UK society.

Carnegie Mellon Project: Teachers for a New Era

Research Assistant, Inter-Disciplinary Team funded 2009

This was an interdisciplinary project involving the efforts of scholars and researchers from the departments of Education, English, and Social Science designed to assess the pedagogical structure and impact of a teacher training program at California State University, Northridge in 2009.  This was a multi-year study that was intended to improve upon the learning experience of those wanting to become teachers and to further increase the effectiveness of the teaching program and the overall quality of new teachers entering public schools after graduation.  As a research assistant, I carried out interviews, observations, surveys, conducted literature reviews, research write-ups, attended research meetings with department heads, and contributed to the following year’s funding proposal.

Contemporary Japanese Transnationals in Los Angeles

Primary Researcher funded 2006-2009

With a notable increase in the number of Japanese transnationals in the US in the late 1990s and early 2000s and the absence of relevant data concerning contemporary Japanese transnationals, this research was conducted to address the motivations behind contemporary Japanese migration and how issues concerning the migration experience, feminism, neoliberalism, gender, and community operate within the transnational sphere of Japanese transnationals.  Ethnographic, archival, and literary research was carried out in Los Angeles with the assistance of the Japanese American Museum.  Findings were presented at numerous conferences and as my master’s thesis.

Select Presentations

·      June of 2018, Hmong Craft: Animism, Potentiality, and Geometry, Paper, RAI Annual/British Museum, London, UK

·      January of 2018, KFI Workshop Presentation, Hmong Embroidery and Ontology, Aberdeen, UK

·      November of 2016, Hmong Health and Healing, Paper and Roundtable Discussant, AAA Minneapolis, MN

·      November of 2015, Hmong Temporality, Paper, AAA Denver, CO

·      June of 2014, Hmong Health and the Hermeneutics of Efficacy, Panel Organization and Paper Presentation, ASA Decennial Conference Edinburgh, UK

·      October of 2013, Health, Religion, and Personhood, Paper, RAI Post Graduate Conference Aberdeen, UK

·      April of 2013, The Clinic, Hmong Shamanism, and Healing, Paper, Association of Asian American Studies Seattle, WA

·      April of 2009, Hmong Shamanism, Paper, American Folklore Society Annual Meeting Los Angeles, CA

·      May of 2009, Foucault and the Docile Body, Paper, CSU Northridge’s Anthropology Expo Los Angeles, CA

·      February of 2009, Japanese Transnationals in Los Angeles, Paper and Presentation, CSU Northridge’s 13th Annual Student Works Symposium Los Angeles, CA

Affiliations

·      2019-Present, Metropolitan State University, Denver, CO

·      2019-Present, Colorado University, Boulder, CO

·      2012-Present, the Kohima Institute, Kohima, Nagaland India

·      2011-Present, University of Edinburgh, Scotland