Shm is a non-binary computer scientist, designer, and first-generation Filipinx-American PhD student researching Human-Computer Interaction at the University of California, Berkeley. They seek to leverage their creative & technical skillset towards building systems that serve & center real, creative, and human communities, designing socio-technical solutions for equitable empowerment at the intersection of creativity and emerging technology.
PhD in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
Advised by Bjoern Hartmann
Berkeley, CA
B.S. in Computer Science, Fine Art - cum laude
Ewing Township, NJ
Graduate Student Researcher
Utilizing qualitative and quantitative user research skills to investigate the impact of emergent technologies on creative communities, including GenAI, decentralized marketplaces, and content platform design.
Adobe Research Intern, Co-Creation for Audio, Video, & Animation Lab
San Francisco, CA
Conducted a sociotechnical research study into GenAl-driven data scraping practices and their impact on digital art communities, developing design guidelines to support the socioeconomic sustainability of public media infrastructure and promote equitable access to arts and culture. Advised by Joy Kim.
Adobe Research Intern, Computational Artistry Team
San Jose, CA
Developed bPigment - a novel parametric color-mixing model and interface that emulates the behavior of physical pigments and produces unique effects that transcend existing color-blending technology. Advised by Stephen DiVerdi and Jose Echevarria.
Accessible Sign Language Alphabet Recognition
Ewing, NJ
Communities that use visual languages to communicate are underrepresented by translation and language learning tools. Utilized the Python and C++ with the LeapMotion infrared hand-tracking controller to recognize and translate fingerspelling, and founded the ongoing research project team.
Algorithms for Protein Variant Library Design
Ewing Township, NJ
Developed an algorithm for optimizing oligonucleotide chain design to minimize the cost of synthesizing proteins. Implemented a web tool and an online database with results generated by our programs to support a biology research team at Princeton.
ORCiD: 0000-0001-7660-313X
Shm Garanganao Almeda, Joy Kim, Bjoern Hartmann
How can we support artists navigating the online art world in times of disruption? Today's artists distributing art online must manage distribution labor, creative rights infringement, and disruption from emergent technologies. How can we better understand the way technology systems - including generative Al - impact these creative communities at a network level? Through interviews with 25 artists, data scientists, and data artists, we develop an ecosystem framework for understanding the online art world, and identify roles technologists can take to better empower artists against creative threats like non-consensual reuse and genAl-driven displacement.
Shm Garanganao Almeda, J.D. Zamfirescu-Pereira, Kyu Won Kim, Pradeep Mani Rathnam, Bjoern Hartmann
ACM DL: https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642858
How can users of Text-to-Image (TTI) models reliably achieve interesting results? DreamSheets supports design space exploration with diffusion model generation and LLM-powered functions for prompt construction within a flexible spreadsheet interface. By enabling user-defined workflows, DreamSheets provided a design elicitation space for studying co-creation with Al, including the first such longitudinal study with expert generative artists
Shm Garanganao Almeda, Bjoern Hartmann
ACM DL: https://doi.org/10.1145/3563657.3596034
Interviews with 16 creatives utilizing NFTs reveal a vast NFT Art World: cooperative networks developing novel creative practices, interactions, and communities with unique artistic subcultures - illuminates the (perhaps counterintuitive) potential of decentralized technology to empower creator and content dignity with systemic preservation of provenance and usage rights.
Dimitris Papamichail, Madeline Febinger, Shm Almeda, Georgios Papamichail
arXiv preprint: arXiv:2211.13898
We present an algorithm to calculate the minimum number of degenerate codons necessary to specify any given amino acid set, and a dynamic-programming + web app implementation to support a team of biologists working with large combinatorial libraries, helping them partition DNA sequences to minimize the cost of protein synthesis.
Stephen Joseph DiVerdi, Shm (Sarah) Garanganao Almeda, Jose Ignacio Echevarria Vallespi
Techniques for novel parametric color mixing in digital painting applications using Bezier curves in RGB space.
Head Course Instructor, with TA Albert Hodo
Head Course Instructor, with Co-Instructor Sudhu Tewari
Instructor with John DeNero & Jedidiah Tsang
Instructor with John DeNero & Jedidiah Tsang
Head Course Instructor, with Diyah Mettupalli & Timothy Yang
Updated and authored new web-development & design centered curriculum
Head TA, Disability Support Program Coordinator
President (2024 - Present)
Officer, Visit Day Organizer, Lounge Coordinator (2020 - 2024)
Executive Board, Outreach Chair, President
Executive Board, Outreach Chair, Vice President
Head Organizer, Executive Board Member
Through the Transfer-to-Excellence Program at UC Berkeley
Isabel Li (Netflix), Ace Chen (Masters @UCSC)
2022 - 2024
International Women's Day Global Techathon @ UC Berkeley
NanoHubs' Empowering Young Filipino Researchers for an Emerging Technology-Ready Philippines Seminar Series
Accessible Sign Language Recognition with the Leap Motion Controller