I am a Ph.D. candidate in Computer Science at the University of California, Irvine. I am working with Professors Pierre Baldi and Suzanne Sandmeyer in the field of Bioinformatics and Cheminformatics. Previously, I received my B.S and M.S. degrees in Informatics from Indiana University.
My research involves development and application of data mining and machine learning techniques to bioinformatics, specifically in the areas of genomics, transcriptional regulatory interactions and networks. I work on multiple interdisciplinary projects with UCI researchers in the fields of molecular, cell, and developmental biology. I have also worked in the field of cheminformatics on the subject of ranking and searching small molecules. I am affiliated with the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Science and UCI Institute for Genomics and Bioinformatics. For more details see my Research Interests, Presentation and Presentations, and Resume.
I received a Biomedical Informatics Training Grant from the National Library of Medicine at the University of California, Irvine from 2006 to 2010. I received a Best Presentation award at NLM Informatics Training Conference, Denver, CO, June 2010 for my work on the MotifMap project. I was also an Informatics Barwise Scholar at Indiana University from 2004 to 2006.
I have many interests outside academics. First and foremost are the martial arts. I started my training in Hap Ki Do at Indiana University in the Fall of 2004 and continued up to the rank of Brown Belt (3rd Kup). In the summer of 2004, I started training in Ji Do Kwan Tae Kwon Do with the IU Tae Kwon Do Club. In April of 2006 I earned the rank of Black Belt (1st Dan). I held the officer position of webmaster during the 2005-2006 school year. I continued training at UCI in 2009 with Grandmaster Tom Vo, 9th Dan, and earned a World Taekwondo Federation certified black belt from Kukkiwon.
I am also avid tennis player, starting from when I was 6 years old, and I continue to play recreationally. I have studied the violin for about 15 years. I look forward to joining a community orchestra and playing more frequently. I also enjoy basketball, hiking, photography, surfing, bodyboarding, soccer, and golf.