Maya
Okafor
maya
.
okafor
@
berkeley
.
edu
· (415) 555-0187
1422
Shattuck
Avenue
,
Berkeley
,
CA
94709
Program
:
M
.
S
.
in
Human
-
Computer
Interaction
,
Carnegie
Mellon
University
Date
:
October
14, 2025
My
interest
in
human
-
computer
interaction
crystallized
during
my
junior
year
at
the
University
of
California
,
Berkeley
,
while
I
was
volunteering
at
the
Disabled
Students
'
Program
.
I
spent
afternoons
transcribing
lectures
and
formatting
course
materials
for
screen
-
reader
compatibility
,
and
I
began
to
notice
a
persistent
pattern
:
the
tools
designed
to
bridge
access
gaps
were
frequently
creating
new
friction
.
A
PDF
marked
as
“
accessible
”
would
trap
a
student
in
a
labyrinth
of
unlabeled
headings
;
a
learning
management
interface
updated
for
“
improved
usability
”
had
suddenly
become
unreachable
via
keyboard
navigation
.
These
were
not
engineering
failures
in
a
conventional
sense
—
the
code
compiled
,
the
features
shipped
—
but
design
failures
that
only
revealed
themselves
under
the
pressure
of
real
-
world
use
.
I
realized
that
I
wanted
to
be
someone
who
anticipates
those
pressures
before
they
reach
the
user
,
and
the
M
.
S
.
in
Human
-
Computer
Interaction
at
Carnegie
Mellon
University
is
the
precise
environment
in
which
I
can
cultivate
that
expertise
.
As
an
undergraduate
majoring
in
Cognitive
Science
with
a
minor
in
Computer
Science
,
I
built
a
foundation
at
the
intersection
of
perception
,
decision
-
making
,
and
system
design
.
Courses
such
as
Perception
and
Cognition
and
Introduction
to
User
Experience
introduced
me
to
the
formal
study
of
mental
models
and
affordances
,
while
Data
Structures
and
Algorithms
ensured
that
I
could
translate
conceptual
insights
into
working
prototypes
.
My
senior
thesis
,
supervised
by
Dr
.
Sarah
Lennox
in
the
Department
of
Psychology
,
investigated
how
older
adults
allocate
auditory
spatial
attention
in
multi
-
speaker
environments
.
Over
fourteen
months
,
I
collected
and
analyzed
gaze
-
tracking
data
from
twenty
-
seven
participants
,
presented
our
findings
at
the
Western
Undergraduate
Research
Conference
,
and
co
-
authored
a
paper
currently
under
review
at
Applied
Cognitive
Psychology
.
That
experience
taught
me
that
rigorous
experimental
methods
and
empathy
for
participants
are
not
opposing
forces
;
when
balanced
correctly
,
they
produce
insights
that
are
both
statistically
valid
and
genuinely
useful
.
After
graduating
in
May
2023,
I
joined
AnthroTech
Labs
in
San
Francisco
as
a
Research
Associate
,
where
I
worked
on
a
federally
funded
project
exploring
tactile
feedback
systems
for
smartphone
navigation
among
users
with
low
vision
.
My
role
was
situated
at
the
center
of
a
cross
-
functional
team
of
hardware
engineers
,
accessibility
consultants
,
and
ethnographers
.
I
co
-
designed
a
prototype
haptic
glove
that
delivered
directional
cues
through
localized
vibration
patterns
,
then
led
a
four
-
week
pilot
study
with
twelve
participants
in
partnership
with
the
Lighthouse
for
the
Blind
.
Our
results
demonstrated
a
34
percent
reduction
in
wayfinding
errors
compared
with
voice
-
only
navigation
,
and
the
project
has
since
been
awarded
a
follow
-
on
grant
from
the
National
Science
Foundation
.
Beyond
the
technical
skills
I
acquired
—
rapid
prototyping
in
Arduino
,
conducting
structured
interviews
,
and
cleaning
complex
sensor
data
—
the
role
clarified
my
commitment
to
participatory
design
.
I
learned
that
accessibility
is
not
a
checklist
to
be
validated
after
launch
but
a
research
question
that
should
shape
a
product
from
its
earliest
sketches
.
Carnegie
Mellon
’
s
HCI
program
stands
out
because
it
refuses
to
treat
technology
and
social
context
as
separate
domains
.
I
am
particularly
eager
to
work
with
Professor
Elena
Voss
,
whose
recent
publications
on
multimodal
interaction
for
aging
populations
align
closely
with
my
goal
of
designing
systems
that
adapt
to
sensory
diversity
across
the
lifespan
.
The
opportunity
to
contribute
to
the
Human
-
Computer
Interaction
Institute
’
s
open
-
source
assistive
technology
initiatives
,
while
drawing
on
the
resources
of
the
Software
Engineering
Institute
,
offers
the
exact
1 / 2
combination
of
theoretical
depth
and
practical
impact
that
I
am
seeking
.
Additionally
,
the
program
’
s
emphasis
on
interdisciplinary
studios
will
allow
me
to
collaborate
with
designers
,
policy
researchers
,
and
engineers
in
a
way
that
mirrors
the
team
structures
I
have
already
found
most
productive
.
My
long
-
term
objective
is
to
lead
a
research
group
that
bridges
academic
HCI
and
public
-
sector
implementation
,
ensuring
that
advances
in
sensing
,
artificial
intelligence
,
and
interface
design
reach
the
communities
who
need
them
most
before
market
forces
alone
would
deliver
them
.
Carnegie
Mellon
’
s
legacy
of
translating
laboratory
research
into
deployed
systems
—
from
the
Wearable
Motherboard
to
foundational
work
on
CAPTCHA
accessibility
—
convinces
me
that
this
is
the
right
place
to
develop
that
vision
.
I
am
prepared
to
contribute
actively
to
the
department
’
s
intellectual
community
,
to
support
my
peers
,
and
to
approach
every
project
with
the
same
diligence
and
curiosity
that
have
guided
my
work
to
date
.
Thank
you
for
considering
my
application
.
Sincerely
,
Maya
Okafor
2 / 2