Educator. Technologist.Community Advocate. Public Servant.

After earning my Ph.D. in Computer Science from Princeton, I spent three years as an Assistant Professor at Iowa State University, teaching undergraduate and graduate students and conducting research in algorithms and optimization for computer and hardware design. That experience began a lifelong interest in how students learn, solve problems, and develop independent thinking.

After moving to Silicon Valley, I spent nearly three decades working at the intersection of software and hardware engineering. At companies including Quickturn, Cadence, and JITX, my work involved compilers, optimization, design automation, and more recently code-based and AI-assisted hardware design.

I continue to work with technology and startup projects, including the use of AI in product development and digital tools. That gives me a current view of how quickly technology is changing—and why education must develop both technical fluency and durable human skills: critical thinking, judgment, creativity, communication, and the ability to keep learning.

When I moved from academia into industry in 1998, I never left teaching behind.

For four years, I enjoyed volunteering at least four hours each week at a parent-participation elementary school. For two years, I took the lead in teaching science, giving me firsthand experience teaching younger students.

I later co-founded and co-taught the weekly Wonderland Explorer Math Circle for middle-school students for more than six years, using puzzles, logic, and open-ended mathematical exploration. I encouraged students to ask “I wonder…” and “What if…?”—to question assumptions, try different approaches, and think more deeply about why something works.

As an EnCorps STEM Teachers Program Fellow, I volunteered in computer science and mathematics classrooms at Cabrillo Middle School, including with students who needed additional help. Through Technology Education and Literacy in Schools (TEALS), I later taught AP Computer Science at Mt. Pleasant High School and Introduction to Computer Science remotely to students in Los Angeles and Michigan.

I also co-founded Young American Policy Advocates, connecting high-school students with community advocates to learn about government, research, advocacy, and public speaking through real local issues.

My community advocacy began in 2014, as a parent concerned about local schools. Families were raising questions about advanced math placement, one-to-one iPad use in middle school, and funding for the annual Yosemite trips. I worked with other parents to gather their concerns, understand the issues, and communicate them more effectively to the school district.

That experience led me to become more involved in other community issues. Through Better Cupertino and other grassroots efforts, I worked with residents on school overcrowding, development, traffic, and neighborhood concerns—organizing forums, studying proposals, gathering signatures, and helping residents participate in local government.

Over time, I realized that I could represent community concerns more effectively from inside local government, which eventually led me to seek elected office. That grassroots beginning still shapes how I serve today: listen to the people affected, understand the details, ask questions, and stay connected to the community after the election is over.

I was elected to the Cupertino Union School District Board in 2016 and to the Cupertino City Council in 2018, where I was reelected in 2022. I served as Mayor in 2025 and am serving as Vice Mayor in 2026. My current City Council term ends in December 2026.

Across nearly a decade of elected service, I have worked on public budgets, labor negotiations, facilities, contracts, government accountability, legislation, land use, and environmental policy. My service has also included legislative and intergovernmental work at the state, regional, and local levels, including League of California Cities policy committees and the Recycling and Waste Reduction Commission of Santa Clara County.

As Mayor, I also worked with community organizations on initiatives that brought residents together, celebrated Cupertino’s diversity, recognized volunteers and young people, and created more opportunities for direct community engagement.

Throughout my life, learning has rarely stopped when a class or degree ended. New jobs required new technologies and ways of thinking. Community advocacy taught me how legislation is developed and how residents can influence government. Entering city government meant learning an entirely new world of land use, budgets, public works, labor, contracts, and municipal operations.

Today, after years of teaching, technology, volunteering, and public service, I am back in the classroom because I still want to learn. Over several quarters at Foothill-De Anza, I have taken classes in civic leadership, business, technology, and film, and I plan to keep exploring areas that interest me, including educational technology and AI—especially how AI can enhance learning.

I am also learning more about the community college system itself, continuing to ask “I wonder…” and “What if…?” about how college education can adapt to the changing needs of students at different stages of life.