About
I'm a technology executive and CTO with 30+ years of engineering experience building scalable platforms in FinTech and other highly regulated industries. Most recently I served as CTO at Figure Technology Solutions, leading 100+ engineers on blockchain-powered lending infrastructure recognized on the Forbes Fintech 50 and Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies. I was named one of the Top 50 Women Leaders in FinTech in 2024.
I hold a Ph.D. in Computer Science & Engineering from UNR and an M.S. in Human-Computer Interaction from Iowa State. I'm an inventor on 25+ patents spanning lending technology, AI, and gaming systems. My career has spanned leadership roles at Figure, Intuit, IGT, PLAYSTUDIOS, and early-stage startups — focused on API-driven architecture, AI/LLM integration, and building high-performance engineering teams.
Teaching college is a lifelong dream. As part-time faculty at UNR, I bring real-world systems thinking into the classroom — making data structures, algorithms, and computational thinking concrete through visualization, active learning, and materials built to meet students where they are.
Current Courses
Course materials, interactive visualizations, and resources.
CS 302 — Data Structures
Arrays, linked lists, stacks, queues, trees, sorting, searching, and algorithmic analysis. Emphasis on understanding through visualization and hands-on practice.
CS 302 — Interactive Visualizations
Step-through animations. Play, pause, or advance one operation at a time.
Arrays
Access, insert, delete, and search. Watch elements shift during insert/delete operations.
Linked Lists
Singly and doubly linked. Insert, delete, search, and reverse with pointer animations.
Stacks
Dual array and linked-list views. Push, pop, peek, and a balanced parentheses checker.
Queues
Circular array with wrap-around and linked-list views. Enqueue, dequeue, and peek.
Recursion
Visual call stack and recursion tree. Factorial, Fibonacci, and binary search step-by-step.
Selection Sort
Find largest → swap to end. Sorted region grows right to left.
Bubble Sort
Adjacent swaps with boolean flag for early termination.
Insertion Sort
Save item, shift right, insert into gap. Shifts, not swaps.
Binary Search Trees
Insert, search, and compare balanced vs degenerate trees. See how shape drives performance.
Max-Heap
Insert, extract max, and build heap. See both tree and array representations simultaneously.
Dictionary (Hash Table)
Add, search, and delete key-value pairs. See hashing, collisions, and four collision resolution strategies.
CS 302 — Code Examples
Well-documented C++ implementations with step-by-step visualizations. Perfect for studying and reference.
Arrays (C++)
Access, insert, delete, search with shift animations. Fixed-capacity array operations.
Linked Lists (C++)
Singly and doubly linked list implementations with insert, delete, search, and reverse.
Stacks (C++)
Array-backed and linked-list-backed implementations with balanced parentheses checker.
Queues (C++)
Circular array queue with wrap-around and linked-list queue. Modular arithmetic explained.
Recursion (C++)
Factorial, Fibonacci (naive and memoized), and recursive binary search with call tracing.
Selection Sort (C++)
Maximum-to-end variant. Comprehensive documentation, examples, and step-by-step visualization.
Bubble Sort (C++)
Adjacent swaps with early termination. Demonstrates O(n) best case with already-sorted data.
Insertion Sort (C++)
Uses shifts, not swaps. Excellent for nearly-sorted data. Shows O(n) best case efficiency.
Max-Heap (C++)
Insert, extract max, and build heap with sift up/down. Includes step-by-step visualizations.
Dictionary (C++)
Hash table with four collision strategies. Add, get, remove, rehashing, and word frequency demo.
All Code Examples
Browse all C++ implementations in the code directory. Includes README with compilation instructions.
CS 302 — Pseudocode
Algorithm pseudocode with step-by-step examples. Perfect for understanding concepts before implementation.
Arrays Pseudocode
Access, insert, delete, search operations with shift examples and complexity analysis.
Linked Lists Pseudocode
Singly and doubly linked operations with ASCII pointer diagrams and step-by-step examples.
Stacks Pseudocode
Array and linked-list implementations. Includes balanced parentheses checking algorithm.
Queues Pseudocode
Circular array with wrap-around examples and linked-list implementations.
Recursion Pseudocode
Factorial, Fibonacci, binary search with ASCII call trees and memoization.
Selection Sort Pseudocode
Maximum-to-end variant. Includes algorithm, step-by-step example, and complexity analysis.
Bubble Sort Pseudocode
With early termination. Shows adjacent pair comparison and bubbling effect with examples.
Insertion Sort Pseudocode
Uses shifts, not swaps. Demonstrates left-to-right growth and efficiency for nearly-sorted data.
Max-Heap Pseudocode
Sift up, sift down, insert, extract max, and build heap. Array-based tree with index arithmetic.
Dictionary Pseudocode
Modular hashing, Horner's rule, add, get, remove, and rehash with step-by-step collision examples.
All Pseudocode
Browse all pseudocode files. Includes README with teaching guidance and notation guide.
Publications
Selected work. Full list on LinkedIn.
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Vibe Coding: A Multivocal Systematic Mapping Study
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From Practice to Process: Formalizing API-First Design Through Method EngineeringDissertation, 2025, ProQuest
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API Integrator: A UI Design and Code Automation Application Supporting API-First Design
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API-First Design: A Survey of the State of Academia and Industry