PNNL

Matthew is a UX Researcher who recently graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in Human Centered Design and Engineering. He has a high-level mission to better understand how we can tailor and cater technology to suit the needs of humans in their daily lives. His motivation lies in uncovering the attitudinal and behavioral patterns of design that influence what people say and act upon to enable a deeper understanding of differing preferences and mental models, driving human-centered innovation in technology.

During his (short yet rich) career, Matthew has gained experience and knowledge in a multitude of domains, applying an empathetic human-centered methodology to his work. He was previously a user research assistant for KidsTeam UW, studying the social and emotional needs of children and how to better create child-focused technology with them, worked for OmniSynkAI, a B2C startup aimed towards centralizing business operations for small-to-medium business owners, and collaborated with Seattle's Children Hospital to evaluate and redesign their mobile application for patient caretakers and families. 

As a Research Computing UX intern at PNNL, he worked on a variety of projects, building tools to serve and support staff throughout the lab. He employs a user-centric mindset in each of his project teams, ensuring project requirements are relevant and align with user needs. His pragmatic user research approach translates user insights into concrete outcomes, while balancing project team constraints and resources. By identifying user needs early on and inviting stakeholders to the design process, Matthew reduces risk and ensures shared understanding, streamlining project timelines and increasing adoption of new tools to a staff's daily workflow.

Now transitioning into a Post-Bachelor's Research Associate, he is currently leading an HPC initiative project, collaborating with external organizations to improve the overall accessibility towards adopting HPC systems for lab researchers worldwide, with concrete deliverables set to be showcased at PEARC 2026 for over 1600+ organizations.

Matthew hopes to continue honing his overall research skills, both qualitative and quantitative, and is interested in learning more about applying statistical rigor and data analysis within his work to better optimize the various internal tools used by PNNL staff.

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