Ground-up rebuild of Simon Fire. Pulled all of the original Arduino-based flame-effect electronics out of the towers and installed DMX512 receivers on each one, moving the project onto a standard lighting/effects protocol.

Started writing a new button (more detail TODO).

Brought Simon back to life after a decade in storage. Worked through the accumulated hardware decay from sitting after Burning Man — melted cable shielding, failed SD cards, and assorted bit-rot — then took the chance to improve it:

• Replaced and re-shielded damaged cabling; swapped failed SD cards
• Confirmed DMX lighting integration end-to-end (laid the groundwork for the 2026 DMX rebuild)
• Overhauled the sound system on a newer WAV Trigger library — now supports polyphonic playback
• Added a config mode with EEPROM-backed volume control so it can be tuned in the field
• Tuned it to shoot more fire

Deployed at a local fundraiser and at the regional Burn in 2025.

A 50 sq ft interactive fire art installation — four laser-etched capacitive touch towers driving live flame effects and LED animations. Funded by an Honoraria Art Grant from the Burning Man Organization; deployed at Burning Man 2015 and multiple Seattle regional events.

• Designed the patterns used throughout each of the modules in C++ on the Arduino IDE
• Implemented a concurrent LED animation system on a single-core processor — multiple animations can run on any or all strips simultaneously
• Calibrated the MPR121 capacitive touch sensors
• Diagnosed and fixed a hardware bug where the touch sensors were registering voltage drops with no actual touch
• Assisted in writing and reviewing grant applications

Media: drone footage on YouTube · Burning Man 2015 gallery · Critical NW 2015 gallery

Member of the Ignition Northwest grants committee — reviewing and awarding art grants to interactive and large-scale art projects in the Pacific Northwest regional Burning Man community.

Delivered the kickoff speech at the University of Washington’s Women In Informatics (WIFO) hackathon. Talked about Hulu’s core values — how we embraced fun while working hard — and how the team navigated the pandemic transition to remote work.

Covered family care and work-life balance, and the deliberate practices Hulu used to replace the social bonding that disappeared when offices closed: meeting-free days, intentional casual conversations, ramping up competition in product release demos, playing video games together, and cooking classes. Closed on Hulu’s ongoing investment in increasing diversity in hiring.

Volunteer speaker sharing engineering career paths and industry experience with students.

Mentor and interview coach for Ada cohorts — supporting women and gender-expansive adults transitioning into software engineering careers.