Catherine Rasgaitis
Catherine Rasgaitis
Machine Learning Engineer ✧ Comp sci @ University of Washington

Hey there! My name is Catherine and I am a Computer Science major at the University of Washington, Seattle. My primary area of interest is artificial intelligence and computational biology. I'm also enthusiastic about neuroscience, space science, and robotics! I previously worked on applied reinforcement learning at NASA JPL, and I'm currently working on some other cool projects at UW's Orsborn Lab, Noble Lab, and Makeability Lab. This summer, I'm looking forward to interning at CSHL (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory).

In my free time, I also enjoy participating in hackathons, making short films, and writing!

Some recent adventures...

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Hanging out in Mission Control as a NASA JPL summer intern!
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Presenting my work, "Using Machine Learning to Forecast Non-Human Primate Motor Performance," at the Allen School Research Showcase
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Leading a Synaptech event, using neural data to paint images and fractal patterns
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Working as a camera operator for a short film at LUX Film Production Club
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An educational trip to Israel to learn about the Middle Eastern political climate
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Representing JPL's dodgeball team at the Summer Aerospace Games


🔽 Download resume

WORK EXPERIENCE


  • October 2022 - present
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    Undergraduate Researcher @ Orsborn Lab

    Code and debug a tablet-based "cursor tracking task/game" for rhesus macaque monkeys. Leverage machine learning techniques to predict subjects' future performance on task and improve the design of training regiments. Analyze additional behavioral and neural data, focusing on motor learning and feedback & feedforward control. Train and supervise subjects to interact with tablet.


  • October 2023 - present
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    Undergraduate Researcher @ Noble Lab

    Build a state-of-the-art model to predict Hi-C contact maps for intrachromosomal (cis) and interchromosomal (trans) loci. Experiment with encoder-decoder architectures and tune hyperparameters. Decrypt and interpret traditionally blackbox models to better understand predictions.


  • October 2023 - present
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    Undergraduate Researcher @ Makeability Lab

    End-to-end project to design a novel VR-based language-learning platform and conduct user studies.


  • June 2023 - August 2023
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    AI Intern @ NASA JPL

    Leveraged deep reinforcement learning methods to automate the scheduling of mission communications on the Deep Space Network. Missions are heavily constrained based on viewperiods, required equipment, antenna availability, "fairness" between competing missions, etc. with many special cases.


  • March 2023 - October 2023
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    Undergraduate Researcher @ Behavioral Ecophysics Lab

    Analyzed high-speed camera trap and GoPro footage of honeyeaters (birds) feeding at flowers, with the goal of determining whether honeyeaters were present in video frames, identifying honeyeater species, and counting the number of flowers probed per each bird's visit. Also worked on artificially augmenting datasets with randomized transformations and external data sources.


  • March 2021 - June 2022
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    Web Designer @ Highline College, Journalism Dept.

    Worked as a student employee to build and maintain a web edition of the Thunderword, the school newspaper. Occassionally wrote for the tech column as a staff reporter for fun!




  • EDUCATION

    University of Washington

    BS in Computer Science | GPA: 3.7 | 2022 - 2025

    Scholarship Awards: WA NASA Space Grant Scholar, Denice Dee Denton Scholarship in Computer Science & Engineering, David Almonte Memorial Scholarship, John & Mary Vukovich Scholarship

    CSE Coursework: CSE 311, 312: Foundations of Computing I, II; CSE 331: Software Design and Implementation; CSE 332: Data Structures and Parallelism; CSE 333: Systems Programming; CSE 351: Hardware/Software Interface; CSE 442: Data Visualization; CSE 446: Machine Learning; CSE 478: Autonomous Robotics; CSE 493: Deep Learning; CSE 599: Machine Learning for Neuroscience

    NEURO Coursework (intending to double major): BIOL 130: Introduction to Neuroscience; BIOL 180, 200, 220: Introductory Biology I, II, III; CHEM 220: Organic Chemistry

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    Synaptech • President

    A neurotechnology & neuroengineering club! I put together weekly meetings, usually centered around a project tutorial I created. We work with lots of hardware, from Arduino kits, electroencephalograms, TENS devices, etc. Sometimes I also host journal-club style meetings, hackathons, or bring in guest speakers!

    Synaptech also runs quarter and year-long projects that anyone can join. I'm leading the Opticars project (controlling Arduino cars with eye movements) and the Looking Glass project (a novel research project about neural and ocular responses to different visual stimuli, to be published in IMPULSE). I'm also a part of the SmartMusic project, where we're working to generate original music compositions from a user's neural feedback!

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    LUX Film Production Club

    A film-making club! In addition to weekly meetings (usually technical in nature), I get the opportunity to join a crew and produce a new short film every quarter! So far, I've been involved in three productions with experience as a director, screenwriter, camera operator, and gaffer. My favorite genre is psychological horror. Here's my film portfolio .

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    SPACE

    SPACE (Scholars Pursuing Academic and Celestial Exploration) is a space science club! Most recipients of the WA NASA Space Grant, including myself, are involved with SPACE. One of my favorite events with SPACE was having a live Q&A with an astronaut on the ISS.

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    Interactive Intelligence

    Interactive Intelligence (or I² for short) takes an approach of building artificial intelligence that mimics the brain as closely as possible. I used to be a part of one of their student-led courses, but now I just drop in for journal club meetings to stay on top of AI news!

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    Computing Community

    Computing Community (or COM² for short) is the largest CSE-related club on campus. I was previously a Little in the COM² Big-Little mentorship program and hope to pay it forward as a Big in the future!

    Highline College

    AS in Computer Science | GPA: 3.9 | 2020 - 2022

    Related Coursework: Calculus I, II, III; Linear Algebra; Physics I, II, III; General Chemistry I; Obj-Orient Prog with Java I, II; Survey of Computing; Web Development; Intro to Python; Animation

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    Computer Science Club

    I attended a few hackathons and helped host Highline's first CS club hackathon with Stadium High School's Girls Who Code Club! I also prepared a workshop on creating art with Java for Highline's Spring Hacks hackathon.

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    Cyber Competition Club

    I competed in the NCAE Cyber Games and learned about white-hat hacking through online training and weekly meetings.

    Stadium High School

    GPA: 3.9 | 2018 - 2022

    Related Coursework: AP Computer Science Principles; Web Design; Graphic Design

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    Girls Who Code Club • Founder & President

    Led weekly meetings and group projects. Examples of projects included games, website building, and AR/VR apps. I also hosted hackathons and coordinated guest speaker events with industry professionals.

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    Math Club • Vice President

    Competed in math competitions and worked on logic/math puzzles during weekly meetings.

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    Key Club • Secretary

    Volunteering club. Helped fundraise for the Thirst Project. Took meeting notes and kept track of students' volunteering hours.

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    National Honor Society

    Volunteering club.


    HACKATHONS



    HACKATHONS


    I'm a super active hacktivist, having participated in upwards of 70 hackathons! I'm also part of Major League Hacking's Top 50 Hackers. You can read more about my MLH bio here.

    Left is me presenting at Hack Club's Assemble hackathon in San Francisco, CA. I hosted a couple workshops (including one on data science), submitted my own project (dealing with ML and Marvel/DC Superheroes), and even had an act for the talent show!


    Browse my hackathon projects...

    Innovision • All In Hackathon • Oct 2023

    Eye tracking app for online students. Predicts attentiveness with 92% accuracy and includes creative visualizations of eye activity. Won Best Use of AI for Education.

    MyMelody • DubHacks • Oct 2023

    Mental health-inspired Spotify Wrapped. Finds songs that represent your state of mind from a json database of Spotify songs. Compares a user's text input to the different lyrics, and ranks them on similarity and emotion-type. Fully functional app with a nice UI!

    FiberONT • Genome Sciences Hackathon • Sep 2023

    Worked with the Stegarchis Lab to improve m6a methylation calling on Oxford Nanopore data. I learned how to work with and interpret long sequences of DNA. At the end of the hackathon, I was invited to work as a researcher in the Genome Sciences department!

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    Music Mood • SWE Hacks • Apr 2023

    Extracted emotions from text, and visualized feelings as images and music. Deployed ML model, visualizer, and music gen program to a web app.

    CorAL (Confused or Actually Learning) • NeuroTEC Hackathon • Feb 2023

    Built a dataset by having a subject wear an EEG device and watch videos in various languages, half of which the subject was fluent in. Then, trained a model to detect the subject's understanding, and connected it to an app. Using Arduino, a light turns on when the subject is confused. Could be used in classrooms, for teachers to check students' understanding based on neural feedback. Won Best in Technological Innovation.

    Pocket Plots • TreeHacks • Feb 2023

    I worked on the Pocket Plots' land recommendation system. Given a dataset of land plots for sale, I generated captions for the plots' images. When a user inputs the desired qualities of their ideal land plot (ex: flat terrain, nearby water, etc.), I rank the captions based on similarity to the user's description. Also added filters for square footage and price. Won Runner-Up for Best Startup by YC.

    Friend Flow • Hack Around the World 2 • Feb 2023

    Offers custom sentiment analysis and language translation services from audio (using TTS) or text input. Also detects dangerous language, like threats, and provides recommended responses in a desired language with pronounciation examples. Won First Overall.

    Learning Equality: Curriculum Recommendations • Kaggle Competition • Mar 2023

    Leveraged ML techniques to automate the process of matching educational content to specific topics in a curriculum. Learned a lot about NLP and the Kaggle competition environment. Placed in top 38%.

    Spruced Up • HackSEA • Oct 2022

    An attempt to make Amazon more eco-friendly, by planting trees after a certain number of purchases. The optimal species of tree and location is selected by a ML model, trained on the trees that already exist in Washington and their locations.

    AQI Don't Wanna Die • DubHacks • Oct 2022

    A few days prior to the hackathon, I lost my voice and got a painful sore throat from extreme air pollution due to smoke from California wildfires. Built AQI Don't Wanna Die, which is a website that lets you know if it's safe to go outside, using ML!

    Superhero Predictor • Assemble by Hack Club • Aug 2022

    Find out if you'd be a superhero or supervillain in the Marvel or DC universe based on your physical characteristics and preferred species (ex: alien, ogre, etc.)! You can also see what superpowers you'd likely have. Model was trained on a Marvel/DC dataset from Kaggle.

    SumNotes • MasseyHacks VIII • May 2022

    SumNotes takes in a video link or a downloaded video (.mp4) and converts it into an audio file, transcribing it into a text format. The text is then summarized and sent to a user's email. Won Best Use of Twilio and 2nd Overall.

    EduFlash • RU Hacks • May 2022

    An education tool to streamline student-teacher communications and gamify learning. Includes an unconventional point system with daily quizzes to track progress. Won "Dream Big and Create More Cheers with AB InBev" award.

    DETOX • Creatica • Apr 2022

    Analyzes comments on YouTube videos and retrieves toxicity levels of the text.

    DyNAmic Labs • ThunderHacks • Mar 2022

    Includes features to match 3-base sequences to corresponding amino acids, a drag-and-drop visualization feature to conceptualize chains, and a DNA-manipulation simulator. Won Best Interdisciplinary Hack.

    Easy as Pie • A Hack A Day • Mar 2022

    Lets you order baked goods via SMS messages, and includes wishlist feature.

    H2OhNo • YPStem & Do Re Mi Hacks • Feb 2022

    Detects and reports contaminated water sources, plots pollution with Google Maps. Won Best Design and Best Use of Google Cloud.

    imontrack • HackNYU • Feb 2022

    Mobile app for runners to make goals and track athletic progress. Video and GIF compilations of their progress can be shared on social media! Also, a hardware extension (NodeMCU) count streaks and reminds users when it's time to run. If a user has not completed a log and the week nears its end, an LED will grow brighter to indicate that they should login!

    DateKit • Don't Go Hacking My Heart • Feb 2022

    Web app that helps plan dates, create date invitations, and log dates with a date diary! Won "Most Heartfelt Hack" award.

    Bridge Bud • StarHacks II • Jan 2022

    Webapp to encourage random acts of kindness. Slowly builds a virtual "bridge" as the user finishes more tasks, such as donating to a local charity or asking someone how their day was.

    In Season • Presto Hacks • Dec 2021

    A Vivaldi inspired app for practice productivity. Includes a posture checker, timer (with changing trees based on "seasons of practice"), virtual piano, and note (pun intended!) taker. Won Best Overall.

    binGIRL • TechTogether Seattle • Dec 2021

    Encouraging underrepresented genders to explore STEM with a bingo-themed webapp! I'm particularly proud of the UI on this one. Won Stereotype Smasher Hack and Best High School Hack. At the time of the hackathon, I was a relatively new driver and this was inspired by my own concerns!

    Safe Travels • Technica • Nov 2021

    Lets drivers report safety hazards, like potholes, and compares reports from other drivers. Also provides a chatbot for drivers who find themselves in an emergency and need advice on next steps. At the time of the hackathon, I was a relatively new driver and this was inspired by my own concerns!

    Space Slide • Girls Hoo Hack Hackathon • Nov 2021

    Horizontally scrolling website which lets you sliiiiide through the universe, looking at different planets and their stats. You can also take a voice-controlled quiz or ask experts for more info! Won "Best Space App Powered by Space Force" award.

    Credit Click • TechTogether New York • Oct 2021

    A Capital One themed clicker game, with different credit cards and saving techniques as boosts. Won Best Financial Hack with Capital One.

    Snaga Pack • PlutoHacks • Oct 2021

    A webapp that makes handling and distributing food donations easier--for both food banks and the community members that rely on them, with a virtual ticket system. Won Best Community Hack.

    Lady Lights • Hack Wizard • Sep 2021

    Website to boost women's confidence. Self-affirmation feature which randomly displays quotes from prominent female leaders. Audio feature to detect "confidence" levels when quotes are read aloud. Also includes an AR library of female leaders.

    Fleshed Out • Ignition Hacks • Aug 2021

    Classifier to distinguish between 7 types of skin cancers. Also includes interactive skin diagram. This hackathon ignited (pun intended) my interest in machine-learning, and it's also where I met my best friend.

    Petal • Sego Lily Hacks • Aug 2021

    A virtual flower that grows or withers depending on your day-to-day activities and how they impact your environment. Won "Best Use of Figma" award.

    Implant Enhanced • Synaptic Hacks • Aug 2021

    An informational site about neural implants. Also detects mood swings, a common side-effect after surgery. This project wasn't very technically impressive IMO, but it was a great way for me to explore neurotech, which I would later work with in a UW research lab. Won "Best Neurotechnology Hack."

    Ghiblist • Hacktoon • Jul 2021

    An interactive list of Studio Ghibli characters, with sorting functionality. Mostly proud of the UI for this one!

    Decisive Decisions • Atlas Hacks II • Jul 2021

    My team had trouble deciding what project to build, so we made a project about making decisions! Web app to compile lists of ideas and vote on them, with support for saving info from different accounts. Won "Top 10 Project" award.

    Spanish Adventures • Hydrangea Hacks • Jun 2021

    I've been taking Spanish classes since first grade, and thought I should build a project to commemorate all my Spanish Adventures! Web app includes a "spreadsheet" of icons representing different Spanish speaking countries. Hovering over each icon will display information on the topic in Spanish, where advanced students can practice their Spanish reading fluency while learning about said country. Includes in-app quizzes and flashcards.

    Ocean Perils • AcademiesHack 2 • May 2021

    Marine-life inspired choose-your-own adventure game. Won "Three Best Overall Hack" award.

    Hourglass • hths.hacks() • May 2021

    Smart scheduler app. The user simply inputs their relevant data about their work, sleep, free time, mealtime, and hobbies. Then, Hourglass generates a calendar based on the user's schedule. Won "Honorable Mention" award.

    Dinos-AR • Sonoma Hacks • Apr 2021

    A dinosaur library, with 3D models you can view in augumented reality. Won "Best Project Using AR/VR Powered by echoAR" award.

    Second Opinion • Merge • Mar 2021

    This was a hack and policy-a-thon, so I also had to write an essay along with developing the project! Our project involved a fake news detector and a voice chat tool to combat the psychological effects of fake news.

    Carbon Garden • SheCanSTEM • Mar 2021

    Basically, a fancy carbon footprint calculator with emojis. Won "Best Web App with Qoom" award.

    MovieMates • AngelHacks 2.0 • Feb 2021

    A movie matchmaker that connects people on Twitter based on shared genres. Simply input your favorite movies, and let MovieMates work its magic!

    HazardsAI • FHS.hacks() • Feb 2021

    Predicts information about hurricanes, blizzards, and earthquakes from both image or tabular data. Won 3rd Overall.

    Cupid Verse • SGWC Valentine's Day Hacks • Feb 2021

    Valentine's day themed poem generator. Won "Best UI/UX" award.

    SunnyBot • Mental Health Hacks • May 2021

    Discord Bot with knowledge on various afflictions, like depression or anxiety. Also provides tools and appropriate responses for Discord users struggling with suicide. This was my first time building a Discord bot! I'd later go on to build more complex bots with games and other features for my friends to use.

    Junior Houdini • AbracadabraHacks • May 2021

    An interactive catalogue of different beginner-friendly magic tricks.

    Pet Pal • Silly Hacks • Sep 2021

    A dating app - but for pets! This was a really fun hackathon.

    Femella • HackViolet • Jan 2021

    A virtual wardrobe, where you can upload pictures of your clothing. Femella lets you input information, like the weather, and picks out an outfit for you!

    Daily Bread • KuriusHacks: Christmas Edition • Dec 2020

    Find food banks near you, and sort through banks you are actually eligible for (ex: do they require proof of ID?).

    Career Guru • NextStep • Nov 2020

    CareerGuru connects students with professional mentors to help them learn more about their potential fields. Includes forum and chat features! Won 2nd Overall.

    NeuroBoost • Tech Takes On Mental Health Hackathon • Nov 2020

    An app and website to help people with Alzheimer's boost their memory! Includes a memory game and a "memory center," where patients can view the faces of people they know and heartfelt stories about them. This project raised money for Mental Health America.

    Iceberg Escapades • KuriusHacks • Aug 2020

    An interactive website and game to promote awareness among younger generations about the Canadian Polar Bear Habitat.

    GoodLife • Z Hacks • Sep 2020

    Make an account and find organizations to donate to that align with causes you care about.

    Health Warrior • Hack or Treat? • Oct 2020

    Input your symptoms and get ML-backed predictions on your diagnosis! Also view your symptom-input history and find nearby medical care.

    Lexian • MakeSPP • Oct 2020

    Informational site about dyslexia. Site is designed for better readability for dyslexic visitors. Won 3rd Overall.

    Fitogether • Aye Aye Hackers • Sep 2020

    A virtual fitness web app for people to work out together, set fitness goals, and easily track each other's progress.

    Money Goals • Aye Aye Hackers • Sep 2020

    A web service to help people spend money responsibly. Includes a digital checkbook, positive reinforcement challenges, and a list of debts owed to the user as well as the user's debts to others. (Also yes, I worked on two projects for this hackathon -- it is not a typo!)

    Let's Get this Bread! • Bon Hacketit • Sep 2020

    Input ingredients and health preferences, and get a recipe! Won "Best Domain Name from Domain.com." I got a cool backpack with this award, and I used it for a couple years!

    Textbook Trouble • First Day Back Hacks • Sep 2020

    Welcome the new school year with an exciting, fast-paced game. How many textbooks can you catch?

    HeartMart • Hack-a-Solution • Sep 2020

    A shopping service website that helps customers view if a store is open at a specific time, has the products they are looking for, and offers a planning space for shopping routes to ensure efficiency.

    Timevity • Steel City Hacks • Aug 2020

    A website that online school students can use to help remind themselves to exercise and take a break when they are stuck in front of the computer for prolonged periods of time.

    Covid Connections • Helloo Hacks • Aug 2020

    A website to help promote COVID-19 guidelines and educate the public about rising case numbers and how people can protect themselves. Includes an updated map of COVID cases and COVID simulator. Won " Best Healthcare Hack", my first hackathon win!

    HealthBot • N Hacks • Aug 2020

    Virtual health assistant. Features include a Symptom Checker, Medication Alarm, and an Emergency Contact System.

    Turtle Troopers • HackDefy • Aug 2020

    An informational website about different sea turtle species. I worked on this project, HealthBot, and Covid Connections simultaneously.

    School Tools • Taro Hacks • Aug 2020

    A website to provide and connect students with online learning resources, fun activities, and organizational tools while they stay at home in the COVID-19 pandemic. This was my first ever hackathon and will always have a special place in my heart!

    HACKATHONS



    PERSONAL PROJECTS

    1. 🚧 Opticars

      Mini Arduino cars controlled by eye movements - including saccades to set directions and blinks to control stop/go actions.

    2. 🚧 SmartMusic

      This Synaptech group project aims to generate original music compositions based on neural feedback. First, a user trains their own ML model by listening to music they like and dislike, while wearing an EEG. As they start listening to more music, we can use their neural data and the features of the piece they are listening to, to iteratively improve the music, so that we eventually only output music that the listener enjoys.

    3. ✅ Painting with Brainwaves

      I made this Synaptech project on my own to host at UW's "Dawg Daze" events and the "Engineering Launch" event. It is an app that translates your brainwaves into emotions, and then into pictures -- like a waterfall surrounded by birds or a castle on fire! Alternatively, for a less "random" and more rule-based result, I can turn your brainwave activity into fractal patterns with changing colors. I made a nice & intuitive UI for the app too!

    4. ✅ Music and Mental Health (MxMH)

      This was my first solo long-term machine-learning project! The goal was to analyze the correlation (if any) between music taste and mental health. First, I created a survey to gather data (700+ instances) and deployed a website to advertise the project and boost the number of survey responses. Then, I published an exploratory data analysis notebook with my conclusions. I published a second notebook with some ML experiments, aiming to predict depression, anxiety, OCD, and insomnia scores from music habits. Finally, I deployed the top-performing model to the web, which included visualizations comparing its predictions of a new individual to the 700 data points I previously collected.



    FILM PORTFOLIO

    Here are some of the short films that I've worked on! My favorite genre is horror, more psychological than gore though.

    Use Case

    Drama • Au 2022

    Camera Operator

    Although she seems happy to help her friends, Taylor is crumbling under her belief that her friendships are merely transactional relationships.

    Paranoia

    Psychological Horror • Wi 2023

    Director, Screenwriter

    A woman becomes increasingly convinced that she is being followed, but her therapist dismisses her claims, concealing his own stalkerish habits.

    From the Depths of Space

    Horror, Supernatural • Sp 2023

    Gaffer

    When a young woman is invited to a dinner party by old friends, she must navigate a night of manipulation and evil secrets to save herself.

    Green Trace

    Sci-Fi, Thriller • Au 2023

    Assistant Camera

    Unable to sleep, Alice decides to go for a nighttime walk. Fearing she is completely alone in the world, she encounters something extraterrestrial.

    Coming Soon

    Sp 2024

    Coming Soon

    Sp 2024



    BLOG


    In addition to writing code or writing screenplays, I write for my own Medium blog. Lately, I've been self-publishing but I've also worked with publications like ILLUMINATION, The UX Collective's Bootcamp, Everyday Science, Newtonian Curiosity, etc.!

    I'm also a 2x "Top Writer" on Medium for the "Space" and "Innovation" topics.

    I also enjoy writing for the quarterly Smore magazine, which is a STEM magazine for kids! I mostly write on astronomy topics.

    Browse my recent articles...



    CONTACT

    Definitely feel free to contact me! I'm always looking to collaborate on hackathons, films, or other projects.


    made with 💚 by catherine

    253 993 9270 • catraz@live.com