Featured Ai2er: Jenna James
December 4, 2023
What put you on the path to your current role?
My career path is not a linear one. If I were to identify the catalyst for my UX (User Experience) design career and current role it would be witnessing my mother's lifelong health struggles, and helping her find and use assistive technology which helped maintain her autonomy. I soon realized how technology could help people and positively impact their lives but I wasn't quite sure how to make it my career.
After undergrad (where I studied photography, multimedia, and art history), I worked many jobs, from jazz club waitress to mid-century furniture store manager to video producer. I decided I wanted to make a career change to be more creatively hands-on. I saw design as advocacy and I wanted to make an impact. I decided to learn more about user experience design in my free time and attended the School of Visual Concepts (SVC) in South Lake Union. There I learned from UX professionals and familiarized myself with user research, design approaches, techniques, and industry trends. I decided to continue my education and apply to the Human Center Design and Engineering (HCDE) master's program at the University of Washington. Once in grad school, I was part of a couple of DRGs (Directed Research Groups) that focused on social robots and another exploring virtual reality as a modality for stress relief.
Upon graduation, I applied and was accepted for a graduate internship at Vulcan Inc. I was tasked with a project assisting the organization's machine learning team working with marine mammal researchers on applying ML techniques to help automate health metrics for southern resident killer whales. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be able to help scientists in this way and be able to make an impact. Fast forward a couple of years and now at Ai2 I have the pleasure of helping apply AI to support wildland fire management, forest health, and communities to understand and quantify their wildfire risk.
What’s the most surprising or interesting thing that has happened with your work at Ai2 recently?
The projects that we get to work on still blow my mind. My team recently launched an early version of our Fuels Data app that helps wildlands practitioners with collecting surface fuel measurements. With wildfires becoming an increasing threat, I feel so fortunate that I get to help support those working in this space.
How does working at a non-profit differ from your previous work?
We are so fortunate at Ai2 and it's been an amazing experience working here and has been completely different and unique in comparison to other companies I've worked for. We are so privileged to be a funded non-profit and be able to tackle impact projects that would otherwise go unsupported because they don't generate a financial profit. It comes with its own unique challenges, like being able to measure impact. But I've been able to work on amazing projects with inspiring people.
What are you looking forward to with your work in the coming months?
Some of my teammates and I just completed a weeklong course on Anticipating Wildland Fire Behavior, which helps us understand the needs of wildland practitioners and other ways we can support them. As well as, continuing to improve the Fuels Data app to collect as much data as possible to help train our algorithm. Seeing this come to fruition and helping augment the surface fuels collection progress would feel amazing.
What is your favorite thing about working at Ai2?
The people here are amazing and I love our high-impact mission. I feel so lucky to be part of the Wildlands team working on truly impactful projects in the wildfire space.
What do you consider the most underrated activity or place in Seattle?
Walking in Kubota Gardens after the first snow of the year.
What new hobbies or activities have you tried lately?
Baking has been my new favorite hobby. This past summer I started making savory tarts. I also love traveling and have had the fortune of traveling to Mexico City earlier this year.
