Max Edelmann

I am a UX Researcher with a Masters degree in Human-Centered Design & Engineering at the University of Washington with five years of experience in commercial, academic, and clinical applications of human factors research.

SUMMARY OF QUALIFICATIONS

UX Researcher with five years experience applying human factors research in Human-Computer Interaction and Cognitive Psychology. Led research to re-evaluate AI integration in Expedia, increasing engagement by over 140%. Recognized by high-level stakeholders for crucial insights leading to the features’ success and asked to speak as an AI panelist at two company-wide all-hands meetings. Collaborated with cross-functional teams to guide research direction and uncover valuable generative and evaluative insights.

RELEVANT EXPERIENCE

Senior UX Researcher, Adaptive Research Team - Expedia (via Bluehawk Consulting), Seattle, WA

05/2022 - 12/2023

• Spearheaded 25+ major, independent usability studies, presenting actionable user research insights to VP-level stakeholders and aligning key findings with outlined business requirements.

• Handpicked for an agile horizontal research team supporting each product domain if lacking resources to conduct optimal levels of research, working with diverse stakeholders such as designers, product managers, and engineers.

• Pioneered a base of innovative research examining AI-powered language models in travel planning, laying the groundwork for future product development and increasing engagement with Expedia’s AI integration and daily visitors by over 140%.

• Created five tutorials and presentations to educate colleagues on creative software, enhance video storytelling, create compelling user stories and data visualization, increase overall content quality, and elicit positive stakeholder feedback.

UX Research Generalist, Windows OS Team - Microsoft (via Collabera), Redmond, WA

03/2021 - 05/2022

• Conducted 15+ in-person and remote usability studies during the COVID-19 pandemic, exploring user behavior in pre-release features and prototypes for Windows 11 in areas such as multi-monitor displays, tablet OS, Cortana, and OneDrive cloud storage.

• Operated a usability lab onsite at Microsoft for in-person usability studies and facilitated participant recruitment and coordination, lab setup, equipment maintenance, AV recording, transcription, and archiving data for product research.

• Published five literature reviews on ethical considerations for artificial intelligence in UX, created new AI-focused research repositories, and collaborated with marketing to build user-centered advertisements for the Windows 11 Newsfeed.

Student UX Researcher, HCDE - University of Washington, “Atlas,” Seattle, WA    

09/2020 - 12/2021

• I partnered with a team to collaborate with the non-profit organization Building H to address Mobility-as-a-Service, improve transportation in Seattle, and make public transit more attractive to reduce carbon emissions and reliance on personal vehicles. 

• Used diverse research methods during COVID-19: contextual inquiries, moderated and unmoderated usability studies, participatory co-design, user acceptance testing, and surveying, often adapting these research methods for quarantine.

• Our team won the 2021 Graduate Award for Excellence in Technology in the UW HCDE Graduate Program for our work on “Atlas.”

Freelance UX Researcher - “Parse” Project, Seattle, WA    

09/2019 - 03/2021

• Led research design to ideate and develop an innovative voice assistant for users with speech disorders utilizing iterative participatory co-design, creating five surveys, three contextual inquiries, and moderating five co-design sessions.

• I collaborated with five participants, each with a speech disorder, to co-design five iterations of a voice assistant using Figma and Protopie. These participants led and directed the co-design process.

• Presented three lectures at the University of Washington, focusing on empowering users with collaborative research methods.

UX Research Lead, Usability Studies Team - University of Washington, Seattle, WA

01/2020 - 03/2020

• Partnered with Samsung to perform usability testing and competitive market analysis for their visual voicemail app redesign, which is expected to be released in Q1/2020

• Served as research lead of a four-person team whose duties included recruiting participants, designing the usability study, moderating interviews, data analysis, and data interpretation, and also served as the liaison with client

• Delivered a comprehensive usability study using both quantitative and qualitative measures, including task efficiency, task completion rates, think-aloud protocol, a visual sorting task, and competitive market analysis

UX Research Lead & Prototyping, User-Centered Design Team - University of Washington, Seattle, WA

09/2019 - 12/2019

• Served as research lead in a four-person team dedicated to creating a physical time management system and companion app. Also in charge of app prototyping using Adobe XD, Protopie, and Adobe Illustrator

• Recruited participants, designed screening surveys, moderated user interviews, and analyzed data through SPSS. For prototyping, I created a high-fidelity interactive app interface that was demonstrated in the project presentation.

Senior Researcher, Psychology Department - Purchase College, Purchase, NY

12/2015 - 06/2017

• Collected and synthesized data in IRB-approved research, used analysis software such as SPSS and Matlab, and developed a foundation in quantitative research, statistics, anthropology, and cognitive sciences, running and analyzing 100+ participant sessions.

• Focus on reducing phobic physiological reactions using novel psychodynamic methods involving subliminal imagery, decreasing phobic responses in galvanic skin response measures by over 40% over the baseline response in six months.

SKILLS

Experienced in UX Research Methodologies: Qualitative research specialist, mixed methods research, survey design, questionnaire design, data visualization, card sorting, moderated usability testing, AB testing, affinity mapping, user flow creation, accessibility design, data analysis, participatory co-design, screener creation, thematic analysis, benchmarking, statistics, and video storytelling.

Strong research, creative, and prototyping skills with professional deliverables in: Usertesting.com, Userzoom, Adobe XD, SPSS, Premiere Pro, Tableau, Sketch, InDesign, Invision, Illustrator, Google Forms, Figma, Cubase 11, Qualtrics, Dscout, Miro, SurveyMonkey.

EDUCATION

University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Master of Science, Human-Centered Design and Engineering (HCDE)

Awards: 2021 Graduate Award for Excellence in Technology

Purchase College, Purchase, NY
Bachelor of Arts, Psychology

Awards:  summa cum laude, Gloria Roth Award for Excellence in Science, Nancy Jo Abeles Merit Scholarship, lecturer at SUNY Undergraduate Research Conference 2017, and Purchase College Natural Sciences Symposium 2017.

ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE

Lead Data Analyst, Information Visualization Team, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

01/2020 – 03/2020

• Served as a lead data analyst in a four-person team creating an interactive tool for comparing health care plans

• Cleaned and analyzed a large dataset from the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services and assisted in creating an interactive map using Tableau comparing healthcare plans between states.

Research Assistant, Purchase College, Purchase, NY

12/2011 - 08/2012

• Served in a five-person research team under a research mentor investigating experimental treatment for anxiety disorders, which was later published and further investigated using fMRI

• Ran trials involving both physiological and behavioral measures and assisted in data cleaning and analysis

Teaching Assistant, Research Methods I, Purchase College, Purchase, NY

01/2016 - 06/2016

• Assisted in teaching Research Methods I, a required class for psychology students teaching experimental design, statistical analysis, and research ethics

• Conducted study sessions in-person and remotely through Skype twice a week in addition to normal classes