about me 

 
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Hi! I’m Christy- an engineer & designer from Houston, Texas.

I’m currently a graduate student at Northwestern University’s Engineering Design Innovation program. In May of 2018, I graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and a certificate in digital arts & media.

I’m really interested in how design thinking can be integrated with engineering design to impact the way people interact with products that directly affect the way they live.

Although I’m currently located in Evanston, IL & originally from Houston, TX, I’m open to relocation. Please contact me at cjz10817@gmail.com or 832-851-5265.

 

EDUCATION

 

Master of Science, Engineering Design Innovation, December 2019

Northwestern University

Bachelor of Science, Mechanical Engineering, May 2018

The University of Texas at Austin | GPA: 3.91

Certificate: Digital Arts & Media, Bridging Disciplines Program

Valedictorian, Stratford High School, May 2014 | GPA: 6.5/6.5

 

EXPERIENCE & PROJECTS

 

Products Research Fellow, Procter & Gamble Ventures- Zevo, Summer 2019

  • Led the project to develop packaging concepts for a delivery device for Zevo, a non-toxic bug control brand, from a human-centered perspective with a lean innovation process

  • Conducted research with 12 consumers in 3 rounds of iterative prototyping and in-context testing

  • Delivered a final concept that addresses consumer pain points & tensions, differentiates Zevo in the category & communicated the value of design to the team

Co-founder, Okakopi/Maya Menstrual Cup, March 2019 - Current

  • Used human-centered design to develop a patent-pending menstrual cup for women new to using cups

  • Conducted research with over 300 women and prototyped 16 cups to develop a proof-of-concept

  • 1st place at the PDMA White Space Design Challenge, Semi-finalist at VentureCat 2019 & 3rd place in Design Management Institute: Design Value Awards

Student, P&G, Fall 2018 & Winter 2019

  • Used human-centered design to develop a razor product and packaging solution for Gillette Venus that addresses a missing need of current consumers (fall)

  • Worked in an interdisciplinary team with marketing communications and business students on developing an innovative external period product for Always (winter)

  • Interviewed users and conducted several iterations of prototyping and testing, developing a wide range of prototypes (over 20 for each project)

Design Consultant, Litterbox Storage, Winter 2019

  • Worked in a student team to help Litterbox Storage, a start up that helps Northwestern students store items over the summer, manage risks as they scale

Student, IBM Design, Fall 2017

  • Worked in a multidisciplinary team of students on the Teacher Advisor with Watson Team

  • Used design thinking to find opportunities to improve lesson planning for K5 math teachers

Undergraduate Research, ReNeu Robotics Laboratory, June - September 2017

  • Designed a finger exoskeleton to measure stiffness of the index finger in two degrees of freedom using SolidWorks 

  • Machined parts on the lathe and mill for the prototype and final exoskeleton

  • Wrote and submitted a research paper for the ICRA 2018 Conference

Temperature-Controlled Microscope Stage - Senior Design Project, BIBIE Lab, Spring 2018

  • Worked in a team of engineers to design an inexpensive stage that can be heated to 100 ºC with steady state fluctuations of under ± 0.1 ºC and a thermal drift rate of under 60 nm/min

  • Designed, built, and tested a working prototype operable on an atomic force microscope 

Evacuation Supply Product Design Independent Study Project, Fall 2017

  • Researched existing post-immediate emergency, evacuation based products 

  • Used human-centered design to conduct interviews with people who were affected by evacuations due to natural disasters 

  • Developed and designed digital and physical prototypes using additional interviews to iterate

Editor-in-Chief, UT Cactus Yearbook, 2015-2016

  • Designed, produced, and marketed the 2016 yearbook, representative of 50,000+ students

  • Lead a 15 member editorial staff and 50 member department staffs

  • Provided monthly student activity reports for Texas Student Media board meetings 

 

SKILLS

 

Software

  • SolidWorks & Autodesk Fusion 360

  • Microsoft Word, PowerPoint & Excel

  • Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator & Premiere

  • Python, Matlab & LabVIEW

Machine Shop

  • Lathe, Mill, and Saws

  • 3D printing

  • Laser cutter

Languages

  • English & Mandarin Chinese

 
 
 
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When I’m not in the design studio, I’m usually in the dance studio! I started dancing at J&H Dance School in Houston where I trained in traditional and folkloric Chinese dance. After graduating from the Beijing Dance Academy’s Oversea’s Training program in 2013, I started exploring contemporary and lyrical styles and began teaching masterclasses and solos at J&H and, in 2017, at April Rain Dance School in Austin. I co-founded the Austin Chinese Dance Company at The University of Texas at Austin in 2014 where I taught and choreographed for 4 years. In 2017, I was the first ambassador of the Sino US Performing Arts Organization’s C Dream Program, a summer intensive aimed at connecting the Chinese American youth with their Chinese heritage through art. To me, dance is about bringing together athleticism, creativity, and intent to tell a story through movement.