Samyukta Ganesan
(940) 765-8687
samyukta.g@umbc.edu
4768 Drayton Grn, Baltimore, Maryland 21227
Portfolio: http://userpages.umbc.edu/~samyu1/
Professional Summary
Over 3 years experience, with 2 years experience as a software engineer working as an ABAP Consultant in
Infosys Technologies Limited and 1 year experience as a social entrepreneur with a start-up NGO, Metamorphosis.
Skills
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Miscellaneous Skills : Prototyping, Documentation, Usability Analysis, UX, Interaction design
Languages/databases : C, C++, Java, J2EE, Visual Basic, ASP.Net, SAP ABAP, MS SQL, MS Access
Web technologies : HTML, XHTML, XML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, AJAX
Tools/Software : MS Office, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Flash, Illustrator, InDesign, MS Visio 2007, Axure
Pro, Google App Inventor, MS Visual Studio, JAWS (Screen Reader)
Operating Systems : Windows based OS, Linux and UNIX, Macintosh
Education
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Masters in Human Centered Computing
University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Maryland, expected Aug 2012 (current GPA: 4.0)
Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Engineering
VES Institute of Technology, Mumbai, India, May 2007
Relevant Courses
Fundamentals of Human Centered Computing, Structured Systems Analysis and Design, Graphic Design for
Interactive Systems, Human Centered Design, UI Prototyping & Development, Human Computer Interaction,
Developing Interfaces for Rehabilitation.
Certification
CITI Social/Behavioral Research Basic Course
Professional Experience
Student Worker (Web Accessibility Engineer) – Office of General Counsel, UMBC – May 2011 to Present
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Maintaining the Office of General Counsel, Human Relations, and Center for Mediation and Conflict
Resolution websites.
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Looking for ways to make these websites accessible to blind and other disabled people.
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Ensuring that the website is ADA compliant.
Information Architect Intern – Consumers Union – May 2011 to Aug 2011
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Did a heuristic evaluation of their website to find usability problems.
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Was part of a team designing an iPad app for Consumer Reports Cars.
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Was an observer in the interviews that were conducted to test the prototype and gather requirements.
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Did an open card sort for the cars website.
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Contributed to the redesigning of the Consumer Report website architecture.
Research Assistant – Department of Information Systems, UMBC – Mar 2011 to May 2011
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Was working with Dr. Lisa Anthony (Research Assistant, Department of Information Systems, UMBC)
researching various methods and techniques that could be used with Microsoft Kinect to aid stroke
patients/older adults in therapy.
Website Designer and Developer – Learning Resources Center, UMBC – Feb 2011 to Mar 2011
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Designing and developing a website using Dreamweaver 8 for the Supplemental Instruction Program of the
Learning Resources Center department at UMBC.
Social Entrepreneur – Metamorphosis – Jul 2009 to Jul 2010 (Mumbai, India)
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Responsible for teaching Computers, English, and Mathematics to high school students and people seeking
jobs that require computer knowledge.
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Since the NGO was a start-up NGO, responsibilities also included creating a curriculum for teaching,
counseling the students, finding strategies to reach the needy people and evaluating how they can be
helped.
Software Engineer – Infosys Technologies Ltd. – Nov 2007 to Jul 2009 (Pune, India)
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Worked on 3 projects during the tenure at Infosys for our client, Novartis OTC.
o Health Check Tool: I was a key developer of this tool. It was used in tracking and controlling the
customer objects in an SAP environment.
o SAP Upgrade: The project was to upgrade the SAP system from 4.6c to ECC 6.0 and to remove all
the Unicode errors in the process.
o SAP US Support: The project was to provide support to the US system of Novartis Client.
Responsibilities included solving the issues raised by the Novartis US on time, interacting with the
client on a regular basis and gaining client confidence and creating reports in ABAP from scratch
as per requirement.
Academic Projects
Independent Study – Ongoing
Developing a game based on calisthenics on Microsoft Kinect for older adults. This will act as a persuasive
technology and help motivating them to do physical activity.
Website Redesign – Mar 2011 to May 2011
For this project, the website for the Learning Resources Center at UMBC was redesigned following the Human
Centered Design approach. The directors and other staff at the Learning Resources Center were interviewed and
later a high level prototype was built using HTML and JavaScript. The prototype was then tested for usability with the
UMBC students.
Literature Survey on ‘Effectiveness of Rehabilitation Games in Stroke Therapy’ – Jan 2011 to Mar 2011
The paper was a literature review on the effective use of Rehabilitation games using Wii, Kinect and other
gesture based systems in stroke therapy.
Websites – Jan 2011 to May 2011
Developed and designed many websites as part of coursework using HTML, CSS and JavaScript. These can be
found at http://userpages.umbc.edu/~samyu1/.
Literature Survey on ‘Therapy and Education Techniques for Children with Autism’ – Oct 2010 to Dec 2010
The paper was a literature review on the therapy and education techniques that are used for children affected
with autism and how they are used effectively to help the children. The paper was concluded with a testable
hypothesis and a research methodology that can be used to extend the research in the field.
Usability Analysis – Oct 2010
Did a usability analysis of an everyday object (AC Controller Interface) as per the usability guidelines and
redesigned it to suit to larger audience and to give users a better use experience.
Fleet management System – Jun 2006 to Mar 2007
The project was a simulation of a fleet management system. The front end was done in ASP.Net and the
backend in MS Access. The project involved using embedded Flash scripts in ASP.Net to show the simulation of fleet
movement.
Social - Leadership Experiences
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Was a key member of the Eco club in Infosys and had worked towards bringing environment friendly
practices within the campus. Worked extensively on Car Pooling and Energy Conservation projects.
Started a social club called ‘Aarambh’ in Pune and was successful in gathering people to work for a social
cause. Conducted monthly activities on behalf of Aarambh which included visits and activities in orphanages
and old age homes.
Have volunteered for Akanksha Foundation, which focuses on giving quality education to slum kids.
Activities
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Spanish Language - Completed Level 1(Basic) Spanish at Instituto Hispania(Mumbai).
First Place - in a technical paper presentation on ‘Face Recognition System’ for CSI, 2006.
Organizer - ‘Crystal Maze’ for the college technical festival PRAXIS, 2004.
Organizer - PR team for the technical festival PRAXIS, 2005.
Participant - College basketball, throw ball and cricket teams.