Described by most as quirky, analytical and animated, she tends to push the concept of "thinking outside the box" past the walls of its box, tries to make complex obscure concepts accessible via clear exhaustive explanations, and does it all with a passion that borders on giddiness. Anastassia is currently pursuing an MHCI degree at CMU, planning to graduate in December ’06. She graduated summa cum laude from the Honors College at Adelphi University in Garden City, NY. There, she worked as an Instructional Technologist providing the support faculty members required to effectively integrate various technologies into their teaching and research methods. Seeing how much difficulty some highly educated people have with technology, she shudders at the thought of the struggles that average users face. Committed to fixing problems rather than just complaining about them, Anastassia is looking to become an integral part of dynamic interdisciplinary team dedicated to designing user-centered interaction experiences.