sami iyengar
profile
Interdisciplinary engineer and UX practitioner, with experience spanning UX design, research, product strategy, technical documentation, and full-stack software development. Currently pursuing my M.S. in Human-Computer Interaction and User Experience, and previously graduated from the University of Michigan with a B.S. in Computer Science and a B.S. in Cognitive Science. I work at the intersection of design, research, and engineering to build thoughtful, scalable, and accessible user-centered systems.
skills
• UX, Research, & Product: UI/UX design, Figma, Adobe Creative Suite, wireframing, prototyping, usability testing, user interviews, information architecture, interaction design, user-centered design, user research, UX research, competitive analysis, product thinking, design critiques, design documentation
• Engineering & Technical Systems: HTML/CSS, JavaScript, Python, Java, C++, Go, SQL, API development, OpenAPI, server- and client-side programming, full-stack fundamentals
• Data & Analysis: R, RStudio, data analysis and visualization, data-informed decision-making, database management
• Documentation & Collaboration: technical writing, design and architecture documentation, requirements documentation, cross-functional collaboration, quality assurance
• Supplementary: website development, digital art
education
Drexel University - College of Computing & Informatics | Philadelphia, PA
Master of Science in Human-Computer Interaction & User Experience | 2024 - 2026
• Relevant Coursework: Human-Computer Interaction, Human–AI Interaction, UX Research Methods, Prototyping the User Experience, Designing with Data, Accessible and Inclusive Design, Social and Collaborative Computing, Information and Social Justice, Foundations of Data and Information, Introduction to Data Analytics​​​
University of Michigan - College of Literature, Science, and the Arts | Ann Arbor, MI
Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, Bachelor of Science in Cognitive Science | 2019 - 2023
projects
Academic Projects
• Designed and built an Instagram-inspired social platform with server-side HTML templates and dynamic client-side pages, combining effective interaction design, information architecture, and full-stack implementation to support core user actions such as liking, commenting, and registration, and elevate engagement and ease of use
• Created interactive browser-based experiences utilizing JavaScript, HTML, and CSS, including a pixel asteroids game and an LLM-based generative music interface, translating interaction concepts and integrating front-end technologies to deliver visually detailed, interactive, and engaging user-facing systems
• Programmed and documented an n-gram probability model using Taylor Swift's discography, generating new songs and other creative outputs, with an emphasis on crafting an engaging user interface for interacting with generated content​
Police Misconduct: Creating an Official Database
• Engineered a system to monitor and aggregate incidents of police misconduct across digital media platforms, compiling results into a centralized database and interactive web interface
• Integrated SQL, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to build a usable, accessible platform, conducting ongoing user research and synthesizing feedback to inform usability, accessibility, and information clarity improvements
projects
Product Intern at Verif-y | June 2025 - December 2025
• Led UX research and competitive analysis to support the design of secure, user-centered identity verification and liveness features across Verif-y’s web and mobile platforms
• Contributed to product and onboarding strategy, translating research findings into design and technical recommendations
• Collaborated closely with product, design, and engineering teams to support enterprise clients, including Western Union​
User Interface/User Experience Design Intern at MarketMakerCRE | January 2025 - September 2025
• Identified usability issues and interaction breakdowns across a developing B2B platform
• Designed, iterated on, and initiated targeted UX/UI solutions to support secure, real-time decision-making in commercial real estate workflows
Software Engineer II at Akamai Technologies | July 2023 - March 2024
• Deployed and maintained applications within a Kubernetes Service Mesh using Linode and Consul infrastructure, optimizing server clusters, communication between services, and overall responsiveness, and supporting a scalable and reliable platform infrastructure
• Authored OpenAPI specifications and produced client code for an orchestration API service, advancing job management capabilities, enabling seamless client–server integration, and improving the internal developer experience
• Worked cross-functionally to align system behavior with user and product needs
Software Engineering Intern at Splunk | Summer 2022 | San Jose, CA
• Developed a CI/CD pipeline schedule manager for GitLab, automating test run creation, deletion, and updates, and boosting developer productivity by reducing manual intervention
• Facilitated user feedback sessions and synthesized insights with a 10-member team to gather requirements and inform architectural decisions during various stages of design and implementation
• Authored a comprehensive design document, aligning project goals and functionalities with user interface and experience, to ensure a clear understanding among stakeholders throughout the development process
• Implemented an algorithm to interpret schedule data from YAML files, significantly enhancing schedule management by promoting systematic adjustments and preventing conflicts, thereby increasing workflow efficiency and minimizing downtime
Technical Program Manager Intern at Akamai Technologies | Summer 2021 | Cambridge, MA
• Constructed an intuitive, user-focused, and interactive dashboard using JavaScript and D3 to visualize security data, improving insights and enabling performance benchmarking
• Designed an auto-update algorithm to incorporate new and existing data, demonstrating long-term system impact on overall security and data integrity
• Streamlined dashboard capabilities by conducting routine IP scans and assessing data output across 3 different machines, increasing data visibility and accuracy
additional
• Media Manager & UX Designer for CHISL Design Consulting Club
• Digital Designer for Consider Magazine
• Technology & Social Media Committee Chair for Alpha Kappa Psi Professional Business Fraternity
• Feature Writer for SHEI Magazine
• Women in Leadership Conference Committee Member for the Society of Women Engineers
• Black belt in Taekwondo