Amrutha Kumaran Email & Phone Number

Chicago, Illinois, United States

Chicago, Illinois, United States

Evanston, Illinois, United States

I worked closely with our clients at every phase of the project cycle to meet their needs and ensure the quality of our deliverables. My responsibilities included writing study protocols and recruiting scripts, managing IRB submissions, preparing testing environments, moderating sessions, analyzing data, and creating human factors engineering presentations and reports. I have 50+ hours of usability testing experience conducting root cause analysis with patients, caregivers, lay users, and healthcare professionals across a range of ages, impairments, and education levels.

Urbana-Champaign, Illinois Area

In the spring term of 2020 I designed a digital, internet of things (IoT) enabled puzzle to advise an undergraduate class learning how to create successful, physical escape room experiences with microcontrollers. I also assisted in the design and presentation of a portable escape room enabled by microcontrollers and driven by STEM concepts at the 2020 Bradley University STEM Conference in Peoria.I co-authored a proposal that won admission to FabLearn 2019, a maker education conference hosted at Columbia University in New York. Our presentation demonstrated how the combined use of 3D printing and Arduino software in light-up displays has the potential to unlock the creative expression of younger, underprivileged makers.As a technology educator I served as a consultant on in-house/client projects with expertise in a variety of fabrication methods such as laser-cutting wood and acrylic, 3D printing, digital embroidery, soft circuits, screen-printing, and Arduino projects. I also created and taught lesson plans at a weekly after-school program at Urbana Neighborhood Connections Center.

Urbana-Champaign Area

I advised patrons and students using graphic software (Inkscape, Silhouette Studio) and 3D-modeling software (FlashPrint, Simplify 3D, Cura) to effectively design and troubleshoot their prototypes. I also provided expertise in stained glass and developed workshops that combined coding, circuit soldering, and glass.

Greater Chicago Area

Plant Medicine: Multi-Species Wellness in a Global City was a featured temporary exhibit of the Contemporary Art Program at the International Museum of Surgical Science. The exhibit was inspired by the website I designed for The Field Museum in Chicago and ongoing research for the Global Wellness in Urban Chicago project, a joint effort of The Field Museum and the University of Illinois in Chicago.

Chicago

I coordinated three museum and University of Chicago (UIC) researchers in writing proposals for the $15,000 UIC Global Health and Well-Being Research Seed Grant and the $11,000 2016 Negaunee Expeditions Fund. The seed grant was the first financial support that the Global Wellness in Urban Chicago project received excluding private donations. I was individually awarded funding and led the hiring process for two recipients of Women in Science Internships. Finally, I developed a curriculum for an Urban Ethnobotany Workshop for 14 undergraduate interns in collaboration with the University of Illinois at Chicago's Latino Cultural Center and Heritage Garden with the purpose of examining the intersection of immigration, activism, and environmentalism in urban centers.

Chicago

I joined a project conducting ethnographic research on immigrant health, wellness, and resilience in the Chicago area by collecting oral histories and herbs that was 5 years underway. As an intern I wrote a new research protocol and interviewed 12 Asian immigrants about their perception of health and medicine to understand the social context of herbs in museum collection. I also wrote and edited over 40 pages of articles, slideshows, and sound bites profiling five herbal stores, eight Chicagoans, and 200 collection objects for a new museum website that I designed titled Global Wellness in Urban Chicago. I developed the sitemaps, wireframes, and part of the front-end Drupal that went into creating the site. The final product showcased the research collected over the past 5 years through soundbites, photographs of stores and herbs in the museum collection, and curated section of interview transcripts.

Hyderabad, India And St. Louis, Mo

I was awarded a $4,000 Summer Undergraduate Research Award to conduct ethnographic research on the impact of in-vitro fertilization on new economic and ethical relationships between doctors and infertile clients in south India. I independently constructed my research protocol for approval by my univeristy's IRB and observed/interviewed staff in three fertility clinics in Hyderabad, India over a period of three months. My final honors thesis consisted of 82 pages and I presented my work at the International Ford Conference, 2nd Annual Global Health and Infectious Disease Conference, and the Fall 2014 and Spring 2015 Undergraduate Research Symposia.

I taught conceptual tools for studying the intersection of power, privilege, and medical knowledge in Asian medical history in a 400 level, 3 credit course titled Culture, Illness, & Healing in Asia. I wrote two exams with the instructor, taught one class lecture, and organized a textbook author's visit.

Master Of Science - Ms, Health Technology

Activities and Societies: Human Factors and Ergonomics Society HT 501 Understanding Users of Health Technology ● Captured the user.

Blue Tech Badge, Research Park Tech Training Program (July-August)

Completed programming exercises and attended a series of workshops on UNIX, SQL, Python, and Git/Github. Led a team in completing.

Certificate, Interactive Design

Bachelor Of Arts (Ba), Anthropology

Activities and Societies: GlobeMed, Lambda Alpha National Anthropology Honor Society