Avid Explorer
I like to hike around and my uncle Steve lives very close by in Oregon. When he travels up we are always sure to go on a hike.
T1D
This is a generated representation of the insulin molecule in 3D.
MIDI the Cat
MIDI is the unofficial 3rd roommate and undeniable member of the team. He gives high-5's to only a select few people, and I'm proud to say I'm one of them.
Intro
This website is a portal to who I am as a person and is a constantly changing reflection of what I feel is important to discuss with the world, no matter who it may be with.
I was born in Plainview, Minnesota which is as anticlimactic as it sounds. The first few years of my childhood were spent there with my mom, dad, and sister who is 18 months younger than me.
Around the age of four or five we moved to a town an hour south of Minneapolis called Rochester, Minnesota. Similar to other Midwestern cities, Rochester is not very busy and has a peacefulness to it that can't be matched (at least in my own opinion). When I was eleven years old my family moved to Chicago which was much busier and a lot bigger Rochester.
Growing up until I was 18 in Chicago remains a deeply important time for me because I learned a lot about who I am as a person and what it means to explore. I still maintain contact with a few lifelong friends I first met there and hope to continue learning through my new experiences in Seattle.
After a brief year at Washington State University, I decided to take some time to explore the world and attended Rainbow Gathering. Attending a giant hippie fest in the mountains of Northwest Utah gave me the pleasure of feeling closer to the world around me than the city. Chicago may be one of the most diverse places on Earth, but there are other places that have their own unique cultures which I wanted to know more about, so I explored. Traveling by any means available including cars, outfitted school buses, boat, and train my friends and I traveled up and down the West Coast as functionally broke travelers.
Ian in Seattle
In 2014, after having spent some time to figure out what I wanted to do with my life, I moved to Seattle in hopes to attend the University of Washington. It was my plan to get into the UW main campus and begin studying as a computer scientist, but that didn't happen right away. Simultaneously, my application was rejected and I moved into a tiny, 220 square foot apartment without a job or much in the way of savings.
In need of a plan, I quickly found a part-time job at a Subway franchise nearby and started to work on finding out how to get into the University. Shortly after getting a job, I started working towards an Associates degree at Seattle Central in applied programming where I began to narrow my interests in computer science.
During the next two years from 2014 to 2016 I worked full-time at The Cheesecake Factory downtown Seattle, lived in Capitol Hill, and attended school part-time. I was 19 and can definitely say I will not forget my time spent watching tight rope walking at Cal Anderson park, the Uber traffic jams outside the bars on weekends, and seeing a city so unique that it sometimes seemed fantastical compared to anywhere else I'd been.
Shortly before completing the final requirements for my degree, at 21 years old I was confronted with life head on after being hospitalized in a diabetic coma. What I didn't know was for 40 days my pancreas had been shutting down and I had been slowly dying. Midway through my last quarter at Seattle Central I was learning about what it means to live with an auto-immune disorder. Being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes after childhood is extremely rare, less than 1/1,000,000, but it happens and the experience that has evolved from it is not one I take for granted. It's also hard to write about, so this is about as much information regarding the incident as will be on my website.
Finishing the quarter proved to be a challenge as well. Again, I was denied application to the University at all three locations but was not ready to give up. Especially after having just beat death. On my third attempt I was accepted by the Bothell campus as a pre-major student and could start the next chapter in my academic career.
Present Life
After being accepted to UW Bothell I began pursuing the Computer Science & Software Engineering degree. It has been during this time that I've discovered my passion and the want to create better designed devices for people. As a diabetic, I have to live with electronic devices that I keep on me at all times and if the design is unusable the consequences can be fatal. Because the risks of poor design are so high for me and others like me, I feel a passion to take any opportunity for improving not only design - but lives as well.
Why Design?
From an early age, anything that could be constructed using blocks or parts were the only things that interested me. This extended into using items that fit as pieces to be used in larger constructions of objects, like box forts and pillow forts or using furniture as props for lego and train sets. One of my habits was to build each new set with the conventional instructions, then destroy the work so I could mix in the pieces with the rest of my collection and later construct sets that sometimes occupied an entire room. This tendency to do things one way and then find another way to achieve the same result is a skill I hope to bring to design and improve while doing so.
In addition, as a diabetic there are advanced medical devices that I use which all have to be designed for function and usability for a wide range of users. My experience with these devices so far has been enlightening and I've found through experience that the way a system or interface is designed can be very impactful. A device that can deliver insulin with previously unavailable accuracy and intelligence was my latest experience with these advanced devices. Although the clinical benefits were present my well-being drastically decreased because of the design of the device. Constant alarms, a user manual 300 pages thick, and the impracticality of carrying it on my side 24/7 gave me example of the need for good design.
off terrain
Since moving to Seattle I've loved being able to have mountains nearby.
on the field
As a diabetic it's important to maintain a healthy workout regiment.
roommate / dj / scientist
Marco is a PhD candidate and in his spare time DJ's around Seattle.
puzzles
I hope to complete my 2,000 piece puzzles some day.
