🌇

hi, i'm spencer

  • Spencer sits to the right of his friend Annie on Columbia's campus. Low Library can be seen in the background, and they both sit on the grass. They are holding large orange + yellow inflatable lions, and are laughing while in motion. Spencer is gearing up to bonk Annie with the lion again.
  • A photo of Spencer in front of Columbia University's Low Library. He is smiling, wearing a white collared shirt underneath a black sweater. On top of this he wears an unzipped light blue graduation gown. In the background you can see trees and the top of Riverside Church.
  • A photo of Spencer wearing a red jacket with patches on the shoulders and pockets. He is pulling his hair back with his right hand and smiling at the camera while looking out of frame. He is standing in front of a brick wall that has been painted blue with white lineart.
  • Spencer is standing on the left, and his friend Cindy is standing on the right. Spencer is wearing a grey sweater with a yellow letter S knitted into the front and cindy is wearing a dark purple scarf over her dark grey jacket. They are both smiling and standing in front of a Christmas tree in Bryant Park, NYC.
  • Spencer as a young child wearing a purple Barney costume. He is leaning up against the wall, with one hand on his face and one foot bent behind him. He is wearing clunky white shoes fit for his little feet.
  • Spencer is wearing a black sweater and is looking over his right shoulder with his chin resting on his shoulder. He is looking to his right and his mouth is in a slight smile. He is sitting on Low Library steps on Columbia's campus, which can be seen in the background.
  • Spencer is smiling at the camera and is seated to the right of his friend Evelyn, who is holding a big Levain Bakery cookie in between them. They are in a library and are both excited to eat said cookie.
  • Spencer is kneeling on a set of steps outside of the Union Theological Seminary/Knox hall. He sits in front of a large wooden door, and a large bare tree is in the right side of the picture. He looks quite small in comparison.
  • Spencer is sitting in a green fold-up chair in a white sweatshirt and beige pants. He is wearing his glasses and hugging his knees to his chest, grinning his teeth in a playful fear.
  • Spencer stands to the left of Jess. They are both laughing. Spencer wears a maroon, blue, and white sweater and beige pants. Jess wears a black sweater and brown pants. They stand in front of a red door with a wreath on the front.
  • A baby photo of Spencer sitting to the right of a white puppy playing with a caterpillar toy. Spencer has his head thrown back and is grinning slightly, sitting crosslegged in shorts and a grey shirt that reads baseball across the front.
  • Spencer is in a phone booth with orange lighting from the top. A pizza restaurant is seen in the background. He wears a white buttom-up shirt with parrots on it and a dark grey zip-up coat. He is holding the payphone to his right ear, smiling.
  • Spencer is lying on his stomach in the grass with his head resting on his left fist. He is smiling, wearing a bright yellow shirt and a dark blue baseball hat. His friend Jess is to the right, gesturing towards a freshly-built raised garden bed in between them with her hands. A bunch of small plants can be seen in the dark brown garden soil. A white fence sits behind the garden.
  • A photo of young Spencer to the right of his older brother, Griffin. They stand in front of a green door with a fake flower wreath at the top of the frame. Griffin wears a blue shirt that says ATHLETICS - HILFIGER on it, and spencer wears a red Nike tank top. Griffin wears an orange baseball hat and Spencer wears a red one.
  • Spencer and Nicole are standing on a bench, and West Harlem can be seen in the background through some trees. Spencer stands behind Nicole, wearing a black sweater, blue jeans, and his backpack. He is making a silly face and holding his blue Nalgene up with his left hand. An orange tag can be seen hanging from his backpack. Nicole is smiling and wearing a brown jacket over a red-orange shirt.
  • Spencer stands on top of a large rock in a clearing that overlooks Van Cortlandt park. He is wearing running leggings, a grey tshirt, and a blue long sleeve underneath. His arms are raised above his head, and he is squinting aned smiling at the camera.
  • Spencer takes a selfie on his phone. He is seated outside, wearing a blue shirt and round glasses and is leaning against a railing. His jaw on the lower left (his lower right) is very swollen, as he has just gotten his widom teeth removed.
  • A photo taken from above. Spencer is being held by his friend Ethan from behind. They are on a boat, and Spencer is wearing a life vest and a grean shirt. He is blocking his eyes from the sun with his hand, and Ethan is grasping his own hands around Spencer's chest. Ethan is smiling with his eyes closed, wearing a purple long-sleeve shirt.
  • Spencer is leaning over pink flowers with a wide grin on his face. He is wearing a yellow button-up over a green tee shirt, along with a beige Nike cap.
  • Spencer is riding on the back of his friend Silas. Silas is wearing an orange jacket, and Spencer is wearing a yellow, green, and orange fluffy sweatshirt. They are both looking downwards and smiling, anticipating the fall that is soon to come.
  • Spencer is tilting his head to the left, so it is sidways in the photo. In front of his stern, serious-looking face is his parent's dog, Casey. Casey is a yorkie that has a similarly-serious looking expression.
  • Spencer is standing between the branches of an apple tree, holding a big red apple in his hands. He is wearing a black sweater and smiling widely, with apple trees and fall foliage in the far background.
  • Spencer takes a selfie while lying back in a green hammock. He wears a brown sweater and looks very comfy.
  • Spencer is smiling to the right of his friend Dena. There are seated in an Indian restaurant in NYC that have rainbow lights hanging from the ceiling very close to eye level. It is both overwhelming and beautiful. Dena wears a patterned shirt and Spencer wears a green sweatshirt and a beige Nike hat.
  • Spencer is sitting on a patch of turf grass indoors. He sits crosslegged on a folding chair, with jeans and a grey parka on. He is wearing red, yellow, and green knitted mittens and a black facemask over a disposable one. He is imitating a viral photo of Senator Bernie Sanders in a similar pose.
  • Spencer looks down at his phone and takes a selfie. On the left you can see his right hand gripping the top of a suitcase handle. He wears an orange quarter-zip sweatshirt and is wearing his brown and blue Patagonia backpack. He is double-masking with a blue disposable and a blue reusable Columbia facemask. He is
  • Spencer is squatting over and picking up a snowball a foot in diameter. He is wearing brown boots, jeans, and a grey North Face faux fur parka. He stands in the snow in the southeast lawn on Columbia's campus, whose dorm buildings can be seen in the background. He wears a blue facemask with a Columbia logo, but is smiling underneath.
  • A close-up shot of Spencer with one VERY large strawberry in his mouth. The berry is so large that he cannot close his mouth, and his eyes are squinted close from the stretching of his face. There are trees and bushes in the far background, but they are blurred. Spencer wears a yellow and green pullover on top of a yellow button-up, and his blue and pink beaded necklace can be seen at the bottom of the frame.
  • Spencer is wearing a red shirt and looking over his right shoulder at the camera. He is waving with his right hand, which is also holding an apple. He is in the middle of biting the apple, and sitting to his left, partially obscured, is his friend Hans. They are both sitting on a ledge on Low Library on Columbia University's campus, which can be seen in the background.
  • Four people are sitting on a blue blanket in the grass, looking up at the camera smiling. Spencer is in the upper right, leaning on his left fist and wearing a yellow fluffy pullover. Silas is in the lower left, wearing circular glasses and adjusting them with his right hand. Kallee is in the center on the bottom, and is wearing a light blue Columbia sweatshirt. Sally is on the right, wearing a blue and white sweater and tilting her head into frame.
  • Spencer looks down at his phone with a neutral expression. He is wearing a black sweater over a white dress shirt. Butler library can be seen in the far background, with a white tent on the central walk in between the south lawns. Spencer wears a watch and a corded bracelet on his left hand, which is holding his phone.
  • Spencer is sitting on the ledge in front of Alma Mater, the central statue on Columbia University's campus. In the background, Low Library can be seen with long blue banners in between each of its columns. Spencer is sitting to the left of Alma, with his blue gown, dress pants, brown leather shoes, a white shirt, and a blue and red floral tie on. He is smiling and holding his hands in between his legs.
  • Spencer is standing underneath a banner that hangs over Columbia's college walk on West 116th street in NYC. It reads COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY - CONGRATULATIONS TO THE CLASS OF 2021. Spencer stands underneath it with oen leg raised and both hands in the air. He is wearing his blue graduation gown, a grey sweater, and jeans.
  • Spencer is standing in between his friends Dena (left) and Alexis (right). They are standing in front of Low Library with the camera sitting on the ground. All three are wearing baby blue Columbia graduation gowns. Spencer is bent over with his hands on his knees, Alexis is tanding in a blue dress with her left arm raised, and Dena is slightly bent over with her right arm out to her side. Dena wears a black dress and black heels underneath her gown, Spencer wears a black sweater underneath his, and Alexis wears a short blue dress.
  • Three people re sitting on a wooden ledge, behind them is a large garden with orange, red, and yellow bloomign tulips. On the left sits a boy in a grey tshirt with a red, yellow, and black Jurassic Park logo in the center. He is also wearing jeans, rectangular eyeglasses, and a black reusable facemask. His name is Mark. In the center sits Johanna, she is wearing a navy blue tshirt, black leggings, rectangular eyeglasses, and a navy reusable facemask. Her shirt says Varisty Reading on the front, with an owl in the center. On the right sits Spencer, wearing a green shirt that says plant on it, with two sets of hands holding a plant. He is wearing a blue facemask and has a red jacket tied around his wasit. In the background there is a green sign with white lettering that says West Side Community Garden.
  • Spencer is looking down at his phone and there is a gloomy grey sky above his head. He is wearing a red baseball hat that says SCHROON LAKE, NY on the top, along with a blue mask with a partially-obscured Columbia logo. He holds 4 Tony's Chocolonely chocolate bars to his head as if they are a phone.
  • Spencer is taking a mirror selfie in a large, concave mirror. He is wearing a light grey quarter-zip and his friends Alexis and Nicole can be seen in the background walking away from him, partially annoyed. There is an overpass to the left and gardeners way in the background on the right, cleaning up the park.
  • Spencer is taking a mirror selfie with a peace sign held above his head. His grey phone case is shown, and he is wearing a dark grey sweater and a darker grey wool coat. His backpack is on, the window in the background lights up the room, and there is a short bed with a wool blanket over the top of it in the back left of the photo.

thanks for stopping by ☺️
here's a bit about me:

I graduated in April of 2021 from Columbia Univeristy's engineering school, where I received my B.S. in Computer Science and Sociology.

Since then, I've worked as a ballperson at the U.S. Open for 4 years running, traveled the U.S. by train, and savored time, laughs, and sweets shared with family and friends. I currently work at The Change Climate Project on the engineering team, building up infrastructure for companies to reliably measure, offset, and reduce their emissions with less fuss and more support.

If you have a project that helps to make this 🌎 a safer, greener, and more equitable place: that sounds right up my alley, please drop me a line!

A green rectangle has the Columbia Ecoreps logo in the center. When hovered over, a gif plays. The gif shows a panning shot over a large room filled with belongings for sale. It is the Green Sale, held annually during move in to help students find low-cost pre-loved dorm room supplies, decorations, and textbooks. A green rectangle has the Columbia Ecoreps logo in the center. When hovered over, a gif plays. The gif shows a panning shot over a large room filled with belongings for sale. It is the Green Sale, held annually during move in to help students find low-cost pre-loved dorm room supplies, decorations, and textbooks.
EcoReps Greensale + Recycling Committee

EcoReps saves over 100,000 pounds of waste from going to the landfill every year! Stacking fridges is hard, but made easier with friends 💚

A CAD mockup of a four-legged spherical robot. When hovering your mouse over this image, a GIF plays of Spencer holding one leg of this robot as it moves through a crawling walk cycle. A CAD mockup of a four-legged spherical robot. When hovering your mouse over this image, a GIF plays of Spencer holding one leg of this robot as it moves through a crawling walk cycle.
Quadruped Robot

A 4-legged robot I designed, built, iterated upon, and endlessly troubleshot in Hod Lipson's robotics studio.

A blue image with the Columbia Daily Spectator logo is shown. When hovered over, a gif plays where a mouse hovers over an interactive data vizualization with paired histograms. The graph shows the top five majors in Columbia College and Columbia Engineering. A blue image with the Columbia Daily Spectator logo is shown. When hovered over, a gif plays where a mouse hovers over an interactive data vizualization with paired histograms. The graph shows the top five majors in Columbia College and Columbia Engineering.
Columbia Daily Spectator

In college, I worked with Columbia Daily Spectator in bringing creative data viz and illustration to both print and our website.

A gif of the interaction with a multi-line chart that depicts the number of Spotify streams for each song encoded in one line. The lines are color-coded as dark blue when the song is trending on TikTok, light blue when the song is not trending on TikTok, and orange when the song has never trended on TikTok. There is the ability to scroll left and right through time, hover over a date in the span of time, and zoom in to see more detail. A gif of the interaction with a multi-line chart that depicts the number of Spotify streams for each song encoded in one line. The lines are color-coded as dark blue when the song is trending on TikTok, light blue when the song is not trending on TikTok, and orange when the song has never trended on TikTok. There is the ability to scroll left and right through time, hover over a date in the span of time, and zoom in to see more detail.
TikTok on the Spot

An interactive depicting the link between Spotify streams and TikTok audio popularity.

A gif of the interaction with a parallel coordinate diagram. Each column represents one metric of data for each state, and the column can be rearranged by clicking and dragging on the column title. This redistributes the parallel coordinate chart accordingly. Hovering over a line (state) reveals a tooltip with that state's selected demographic and COVID-19 information. A gif of the interaction with a parallel coordinate diagram. Each column represents one metric of data for each state, and the column can be rearranged by clicking and dragging on the column title. This redistributes the parallel coordinate chart accordingly. Hovering over a line (state) reveals a tooltip with that state's selected demographic and COVID-19 information.
COVID-19 + State-Level Demographics Dashboard

A dashboard to explore potential links between various state demographics + COVID-19 data.

A gif of the interaction with a schedling page. On the first page, circular progress arcs can be seen on the left depicting the user's progress through their major. Then, on the right, an interactive checklist depicts which requirement(s) are needed to satisfy different track requirements for the student. On the page to the right, a weekly planner is shown on the right and a shortlist of classes can be filtered and searched on the left. A gif of the interaction with a schedling page. On the first page, circular progress arcs can be seen on the left depicting the user's progress through their major. Then, on the right, an interactive checklist depicts which requirement(s) are needed to satisfy different track requirements for the student. On the page to the right, a weekly planner is shown on the right and a shortlist of classes can be filtered and searched on the left.
UI/UX Design User Study

A final project where Sam Ross, Nadia Jurkovich, Vishnu Nair, and myself conducted user studies, designed, and iterated on an idea for a new course scheduling interface.

A gif of a flip dot display flipping individual disks between black and white. A gif of a flip dot display flipping individual disks between black and white.
Flip Dot Display

A fun use of secondhand AlfaZeta flip dot boards, a Raspberry Pi, and a simple flask app.

A picture of a COVID-19 facemask with strips of LEDs along the front. The picture is animated to show how the mask lights up and each of the individual LEDs can display its own color. The mask writes out the letters C E S, and below the mask is a blue rectangle with a joystick on the left and two square buttons on the right. This controller has a switch near the bottom edge and wires poking out of the bottom. A picture of a COVID-19 facemask with strips of LEDs along the front. The picture is animated to show how the mask lights up and each of the individual LEDs can display its own color. The mask writes out the letters C E S, and below the mask is a blue rectangle with a joystick on the left and two square buttons on the right. This controller has a switch near the bottom edge and wires poking out of the bottom.
LED Facemask

A fun billboard mask project that uses some LEDs, a spare reusable face mask, and pandemic free time.

A Poland flag is partially obscured by the color blue, except in the center where the outline of the Twitter logo bird is seen. Hovering over this image plays a gif where the frame zooms into different red-white boundaries in a random image of a kitchen. A Poland flag is partially obscured by the color blue, except in the center where the outline of the Twitter logo bird is seen. Hovering over this image plays a gif where the frame zooms into different red-white boundaries in a random image of a kitchen.
Polanding Twitter Bot

When me and my friend Nadia used Tensorflow Object Detection and the Tweepy Twitter API to make a memebot.

Made with Hexo.js in NYC.

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