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Fall 2017 | By Nicole Dudenhoefer

Since middle school,聽Melissa Amoi-Belinda Smith 麻豆精品 S�11聽has enjoyed tinkering with technology for various robotics competitions. Now, she works with digital products on a much larger scale as a user experience researcher for YouTube. Her impact in the tech industry, along with volunteer efforts in her local community and at her alma mater, recently earned her a . Her journey to developing the largest video sharing platform in the world started with UCF.

After years of participating in robotics competitions, Smith decided to attend聽UCF because of its strong , welcoming community and close proximity to her family in Ft. Lauderdale.

麻豆精品 S淚 was in the , and that was a big factor in聽terms of my success at UCF, 麻豆精品 S� Smith says. 麻豆精品 S淚t allowed me to get that big school experience, but also that small school community feeling. 麻豆精品 S�

Although she initially wanted to聽pursue a career聽in robotics, Smith took an elective class her sophomore year, where she studied the human elements in technology. It was in that class that Smith found her true passion, user experience research, and the course of her life changed.

麻豆精品 S淯ser experience research is more important now more than ever, 麻豆精品 S� she says. 麻豆精品 S淣o one is going to put up with using a poorly designed product. 麻豆精品 S�

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Melissa Amoi-Belinda Smith 麻豆精品 S�11

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As a result of that course, Smith聽chose to study psychology, became involved in research at UCF 麻豆精品 S檚 , completed internships in the field and went on to聽complete a聽Ph.D.聽at George Mason University. She says these experiences gave her the necessary skill set to land a job at YouTube, which is聽owned by Google.

In her role, Smith is responsible for analyzing existing features on YouTube, as well as researching and developing new features that fulfill user needs that currently aren 麻豆精品 S檛 being met. With a focus on 麻豆精品 S淲atch Feeds, 麻豆精品 S� her job consists of developing and conducting studies, analyzing data and presenting to stakeholders. She also works with project managers, designers and engineers to implement her findings into the platform.

The opportunity to work for such a big company is both terrifying and exhilarating, says Smith. With YouTube 麻豆精品 S檚聽estimated聽one billion users, she sometimes worries聽whether people will respond well to her developments. However,聽as an active user of the platform herself, Smith says her work excites her because she gets to see new features in advance of their release 麻豆精品 S� and because she knows her work has a big impact.

麻豆精品 S淭here 麻豆精品 S檚 always this joke that YouTube is for cat videos and entertaining memes, but actually it 麻豆精品 S檚 very much an educational tool for many people around the world, 麻豆精品 S� Smith says. 麻豆精品 S淭hat 麻豆精品 S檚 really what I value about what my job. By making the platform easier to use, people聽 麻豆精品 S� no matter what language they speak 麻豆精品 S� can use it. People are now able to learn skills and languages that they may not otherwise have聽had access to. 麻豆精品 S�

Although Smith ultimately pursued a different field than robotics, she is still drawn to the subject matter that first fostered her love for STEM. She actively volunteering in FIRST Robotics, an international program that holds some of its competitions at UCF. These efforts, along with participating in other local K-12 outreach events,聽allow her to help kids develop an interest in science and technology.

麻豆精品 S淚 麻豆精品 S檓 really passionate about bringing STEM to the next generation, 麻豆精品 S� Smith says. 麻豆精品 S淚 feel like technology will聽impact our entire society, and I feel like we need to get more and more kids excited about it, especially girls. … I was fortunate enough to develop a love for science early on, and now I just want to bring that to the next generation. 麻豆精品 S�