Student Spotlight: Connor Lockman

1. What brought you to the Shapiro Design Lab?

The collaborative nature and intent on completing projects that solve real problems drew me to the Shapiro Design Lab.  I believe that there is also an overarching theme of using the Design Lab as a way to apply what you are learning in the classroom towards making positive change.



2. What are you most excited to work on? If you've continued working at SDL, what is a project you're proud of?

I’m super excited to be working on some machine learning tasks related to the zooniverse platform.  Specifically, I get to help implement a program that will automatically identify animals featured in pictures from large datasets.



3. How do you work towards an idea? What is your process?

I’m a huge proponent of independently reflecting on an idea and then working towards it with a team.  I think that being able to unravel an idea on your own is great because you can do it at your own pace and explore it in very specific ways that are interesting to you.  Couple that exercise with actively working towards the idea with a team and you are rewarded with different perspectives and a collaborative approach that typically results in pragmaticism.



4. What are your current interests (hobby, something cool you've learned on the web, a podcast, etc.), both related and unrelated to design?

I’m on a bit of a running kick right now, likely inspired by marathon season. If you’re lucky, you might see me in an exhausted trudge down the streets of Ann Arbor paying the price for thinking I am fitter than I actually am.