About Me

My name is Mikhaila Friske. I graduated from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities with a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science and a minor in German. I am currently pursuing my Ph.D. in Information Science at the University of Colorado - Boulder, working with Laura Devendorf in the Unstable Design Lab.

I briefly considered becoming a software developer after receiving my B.A. in Computer Science, but quickly decided to live out my middle school dream of being in school forever. My current research focus is exploring how data physicalization can tell personal and community experiences and ways textiles can help us innovate new ways of interacting with technology. But the most important thing to know about me is that I am obsessed with Avatar: the Last Airbender.

Publications

Casey Fiesler, Mikhaila Friske, Natalie Garrett, Felix Muzny, Jessie J Smith, and Jason Zietz. 2021. Integrating Ethics into Introductory Programming Classes. In Proceedings of the 52st ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE ’21). (Authors listed alphabetically).

Mikhaila Friske, Jordan Wirfs-Brock, and Laura Devendorf. 2020. Entangling the Roles of Maker and Interpreter in Interpersonal Data Narratives: Explorations in Yarn and Sound. In Proceedings of the 2020 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS ’20). (Best Paper Honorable Mention Award).

Natalie Garrett, Mikhaila Friske, and Casey Fiesler. 2020. Ethics from the Start: Exploring Student Attitudes and Creating Interventions in Intro Programming Classes. In Proceedings of the 51st ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE ’20).

Mikhaila Friske, Shanel Wu, and Laura Devendorf. 2019. AdaCAD: Crafting Software For Smart Textiles Design. In Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '19). (Best Paper Honorable Mention Award).

Experience

Graduate Research Assistant (with Dr. Laura Devendorf)

University of Colorado / Boulder, CO

Developed a CAD tool for design smart woven textiles, AdaCAD. Conducted and analyzed interviews with experts in smart textiles to learn more about their practice.

Graduate Teaching Assistant (INFO 1201)

University of Colorado / Boulder, CO

Teaching assistant for Computational Reasoning I, taught using Python programming language. Led two recitation sections every week, working as a supplement to lectures to help aid the understanding of programming basics.

Student Web Developer

Student Unions & Activities / Minneapolis, MN

Worked on the development of public-facing websites for large-scale university events (Homecoming and Spring Jam), Student Union sites, and organizational sites hosted by Student Unions and Activities.

Software Engineer Intern

Kohl's Corporation / Milwaukee, WI

Collaborated with Merchandising IT team in order to integrate web applications to streamline and boost business processes.

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Portfolio