UW - Catalium

What I Have Learned in This 15-Month Intensive Master of Science in Technology Innovation Program at University of Washington GIX

Why I Write This?

December 14th, 2018 was my last day on enrollment at the University of Washington’s Global Innovation eXchange Institute (GIX). I graduated from there with a Master of Science in Technology Innovation degree.

There have been some requests from grad school applicants asking me for first-hand information on the study experience at GIX. To make the information accessible for more people, I am writing this post to share my observation and reflections on the journey.

Who Am I?

To better understand my perspective, you need to know more about my background. Before coming to GIX, I had spent five years in the industry—two years at a Beijing-based startup as Product Manager and experience designer, three years as a User Experience Designer at consultancies. I have a B.Eng. in Industrial Design degree. I learned how to code in Python and develop web layout with HTML/CSS by myself before coming to GIX. To know more about me, please check my LinkedIn.

Things You Need to Know

There are two tracks at GIX so far, MSTI and Dual-Degree. Dual-Degree has components from both UW (MSTI) and Tsinghua University (MEDSIT). Dual-Degree students share the MSTI track with MSTI-only students; in addition, they need to spend half a year at Tsinghua in Beijing for further study and research. Although the MSTI part is shared, Dual-Degree students need to do some research work even while on the MSTI track. So the experience of the Dual-Degree student could be slightly different from MSTI-only students. I was an MSTI-only student, so what I share here solely applies to the MSTI-only track.

Please be advised that what I write here are subjective, other cohort students might agree or disagree with my comments. I encourage you to reach out to past graduates who have a similar background with you for feedback which would align with your track. The program is evolving, we the first cohorts have given significant feedbacks to GIX for iterations. For instance, the sequence of the course for Cohort 2 is different from ours. It is a living program, everything is going better and better.

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Project Diversita: When Machine Learning Meets User Experience

In this two-quarter grad school project, I explored how to unleash the power of Machine Learning to fulfill requirements that were tricky for the previous generation of technologies, with the consideration of Human-Centered Design and Engineering.

Background

Project Diversita was a Microsoft sponsored “Launch Project” at the University of Washington GIX in 2018 under the AI for Earth initiative. It aimed to empower biodiversity research by utilizing Machine Learning (ML) on Edge technology. The ML model had been trained by Microsoft Research based on the iNaturalist dataset.

I received training in Machine Learning and sensors, however for this project my role was mainly on product design. The challenge was to explore the potential market space and find a niche that fits our technology backbone best.

Time Span

Jun. 27, 2018–Dec. 07, 2018

About the Team

A ten-people team consists of UW GIX students (Phelps Xia, Hal Zhang, Ben Keller, and I) and Microsoft researchers (Dan Morris, Lucas Joppa)/engineers (Wee-Hyong Tok, Siyu Yang, Erika Menezes, Xiaoyong Zhu)

Role in the Project

Product Designer (UX, ID), Product Manager, User Researcher

General Objectives

Study the market to identify a niche camera trap scenario to disrupt with Microsoft’s ability in AI.
Ideate concepts that are desirable for the customers, viable for the business and feasible for engineering.
Develop working prototypes to prove the concept.

Keywords

Machine Learning, Edge Computing, Raspberry Pi, IoT, computer vision

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Niu Listed on Nasdaq

Niu Technologies listed on Nasdaq — Image credit: Niu Technologies

EDT 9:30am today in New York City, former colleagues of my previous company—Niu Technologies—started the IPO at Nasdaq.

This is another milestone my fellows have achieved. As once a part of the team for a long ride, I do know how hard they have worked to make it happen. Congratulations to all Niu fellows and early investors.

Some friends have asked if I regret to give up my stakes at Niu to come to study in the US. My answer was, “a thirst for knowledge is the desire among all desires.”

Recently, I started job searching. I’m especially good at cold-starting a new product. I can do a full set of product creation works—from business strategy analysis, product positioning, user research, ideation, concept design to detailed product experience design (both SW & HW), product development management and product launch with marketing fellows. Thanks to the education I received at the University of Washington, I have also touched the US IP and corporate laws. I’m an ideal candidate for a product designer or product manager for a new product line. Please feel free to leave me a message if you are interested to have a talk.

dynaTac: A Device Improves Fishing Performance

Background

dynaTac is a novel consumer-facing technology which improves fishing performance. It was developed as the Hardware/Software Lab-II course project at the University of Washington, instructed by Gabe Cohn and Sidhant Gupta from Microsoft Research. A team of three students worked for ten weeks to develop this device.

General Objectives

Scope a real-world problem that could be solved/improved with sensing technology within ten weeks.
Study the case and experiment solutions to solve the problem.
Develop iterations to implement the solution and study from this experience.

Time Span

Mar. 28, 2018 – Jun. 04, 2018

People in the Project

Ryan Wu, Maksim Surguy, Tyson Chen

Role in the Project

Product/Project Manager, Mechanic Engineer

Keywords

Sensor, microcontroller, Arduino, fishing, lab
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My 2017 — The Road of Transformation

This blog was originally written by Ryan Wu in Chinese on Dec 28, 2017: https://catalium.net/my_2017-cn/

In August 2017, I resigned from my post in Beijing as a product manager. Later, I came to the States to pursue the master degree. It was a solid year, it deserves a good summary. I’m writing the rewind at my apartment in Bellevue, WA. “Once recall the days in my secondary school time in China, then look at our living experience here in the US, it seems to be another lifetime,” said my friend who works at Microsoft HQ in Redmond.

The summary for 2016 was not written due to some reasons, but as the last two years were highly twisted and critical for me, I’ll cover 2016 in this 2017 summary.
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