Lex Yu
Last Updated Aug 2022
About Me
Welcome! I am a third year student pursuing a Computer Science (Games) B.S. degree at the University of Southern California.
I am super excited to be attending the O4U Tech and oSTEM conferences in 2022!
I love learning new technologies and building communities! I am passionate about creating queer spaces in STEM--my proudest accomplishments include the work I have done as the president of my school's queer-in-STEM org. I've included more about this in "Involvement" at the bottom of the page.
Relevant coursework: Data Structures (taught in C++), Algorithms, Discrete Math, Linear Algebra, Intermediate Game Development (Unity), Video Game Programming (C++)
Languages
C++
C#
Java
Python
Javascript
HTML/CSS
Other Technologies
Unity
UiPath
Django
Projects
Our First Kiss
I volunteered on a Master's Thesis Games project in 2021. I coded a short two-player game by collaborating with the development team on implementing gameplay features including movement, event triggers, animation, control remapping, and menus. I liked working with the game designer and talking through how to implement the features they wanted. The game was selected to present at the Experimental Gameplay Workshop at the 2022 Game Developers Conference.
pinyinify
I created a chrome extension to display the pinyin pronunciation for highlighted Chinese text on the screen. It uses pure Javascript, HTML, and CSS and I published it on Chrome Web Store. I made this because (like many Chinese diaspora kids) I know a lot of words by sound. But since Chinese characters aren't phonetic, I was struggling with reading. So I created this extension as an aid to help me match the visual character to the phonetic sound.
Bulletin
This is an online "bulletin board" for students and instructors to communicate via posts and comments. This was mostly for me to refresh my memory on Django and database models (SQLite), but the project idea came from Piazza (an online discussion site we use for school), because I wish Piazza was simpler and more straightforward to use. I'm currently taking a UX design class, so after I have some experience using Figma, I might redesign the interface for this project.
Work
Robotics Process Automation Intern - Merck
• Automated payroll report downloads by collaborating with HR clients to develop a robotic process (to save $55k/year.)
• Implemented Japan HR report auto-filing by adapting HR client’s personal code into a robust email bot with error catching (to save $12k/year.)
• Trained 3 interns to use UiPath software by creating a beginners’ quickstart course.
Course Producer (CS 170) - University of Southern California
• Taught discrete math and computer science concepts to students during office hours (6 hours a week).
Robotics Process Automation Intern - Merck
• Optimized HR contract generation workflow across 76 global sites by collaborating with clients to develop a customizable logic tool to mass-generate HR contracts (to save $160k/yr.)
• Deployed a bot to auto-send noncompliance warning emails by prototyping, implementing error catching, and reporting to IT department clients (to save $80k/year.)
• Prototyped an automation to extract Argentina product prices to adjust to inflation (to save $60k/year.)
• Collaborated with internal stakeholders by presenting and demonstrating projects weekly.
Game Development Fellow - Snowbright Studio
• Developed settings, splash screen, and other wrapper screens in Unity/C# and gave feedback on design elements for video game Time Tails.
• Built 3 levels of game and prototyped scoring system to track player scores.
• Nominated for gameHERs “Best Intern” award for marginalized genders in gaming.
Involvement
QuEST (Queers in Engineering, Science, and Technology)
QuEST is my school's org for LGBTQ students in STEM. We have 100+ members, with about 50 active members. I joined as a freshman in 2020, I was elected event programming chair in 2021, and I am now president. QuEST has been so important to my experience as a STEM major and as a queer person in college, and has been my most proud and rewarding activity. Some of the things I've helped with include:
• Conference planning for the Spring 2022 Western Regional oSTEM conference for LGBTQ students from schools across the west coast. I helped plan and host 2 social events for the conference, for about 80+ attendees.
• Facilitating weekly meetings for our org's e-board, including planning an e-board retreat in the fall.
• Organizing and moderating our Discord chat server.
• Planning activities for weekly meetings.
• Applying for funding to take 15 members to the national oSTEM conference in Boston.