About Me

Research

I am a PhD student in Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Notre Dame, advised by Dr. Jane Cleland-Huang. My research focuses on advancing software safety through two complementary directions:

1. applying AI to strengthen software practices such as traceability and requirements elicitation
2. refining software engineering methods to support the development of safer AI systems

In addition to my PhD work, I conducted mechanistic interpretability research through the SPAR program under the mentorship of Georg Lange, and am currently participating in ARENA 7.0 in London, continuing to explore questions of AI safety and alignment.

Impact

I'm also passionate about translating research into real-world impact and have had the chance to do so as co-founder of Safa.ai, a startup that emerged from my research lab at Notre Dame. Over two years at Safa, our team was accepted into the Techstars accelerator in LA, awarded a NASA STTR Phase I grant, and ran pilots with nine industry partners. More recently, I interned with the SAINTES team at Microsoft Research, where I worked to improve human oversight of AI agents for software engineering tasks, like differential testing. Together, these experiences have given me a practical perspective on the technical and organizational challenges of building safe and reliable AI systems.

Life

When I'm not working, I like playing pickup soccer, bouldering, and running marathons. I recently completed the Chicago Marathon and qualified for the Berlin Marathon, which I'll be running in September 2026. I also enjoy making art and often paint or draw snippets from my life. I care deeply about supporting the next generation of women in STEM, and through iMentor I've had the opportunity to mentor two high school students in Chicago.