CV

Joanna Tsang

(she/her or they/them)

Preferred email: j.m.f.tsang@cantab.net

Research engineer working in full stack and taking a holistic and interdisciplinary approach to problems, especially data management and user experience. Background in applied mathematics and physics; and a working knowledge of audio and acoustics, computer science and machine learning. Enjoys learning and teaching and mentorship. Looking for projects that apply these skills to interesting and meaningful social and economic causes.

Experience

2015–current: Supervisor (Teaching Assistant) @ various Cambridge colleges. I provide teaching support for several courses, most recently in Quantum Mechanics and Fluid Dynamics. I am also involved in outreach and admissions activities such as Open Days and the She Talks Science STEP summer school.

Keywords: mathematics, physics, mentorship, teaching, time management.
2022–25: Senior Software Engineer @ Meta Reality Labs Research Audio. Following the acquisition of Audio Analytic by Meta RL Research, I continued to develop platforms for data management and recording. I eventually led a team of 3–5 developers to build up our lab spaces, working closely with audio engineers, embedded engineers, audiologists and data scientists, to build a system that supported not only audio but also cameras and other sensors. As a part of the "Better Engineering" initiative I also promoted modern, maintainable and scalable software practices beyond my own team, including at internal symposia. I left for personal reasons and to grow my teaching, volunteering and open-source portfolios.

Keywords: Python, numpy, pandas, FastAPI, JavaScript, React, Node.js, data engineering, graph databases, NoSQL, mentorship, project management.
2019–22: Data Engineer, then Senior Data Engineer @ Audio Analytic. Built web, desktop and shell apps for data analysis and annotation. Also responsible for curating our dataset of 14 million audio samples, and designing and implementing data protection and retention policies. The company, including the dataset, was eventually acquired by Meta.

Keywords: Python, Django, Java, Spring Boot, Postgres, data management, AWS, GDPR, data modelling, user experience.
2015–19: Research student @ DAMTP, University of Cambridge.

Keywords: mathematics, physics, research, teaching, C++, MatLab.

Volunteering, societies, etc.

2022–current: Codebar Cambridge organizer and coach. As one of the organizers, I am responsible for organising workshops in Cambridge, including publicity and fundraising and seeking sponsorships.

Keywords: fundraising, leadership, mentorship.
2018–2024: Director of Queens' Graduate and Chamber Choirs Organised and coordinated several large projects, usually fundraising for local homelessness charities.

Keywords: leadership, project management.

Skills

General: Teaching. Scientific writing.
Maths and Physics: Audio and acoustics. Continuum mechanics. Dynamical systems. Numerical methods and scientific computing. Statistics and data science.
Programming: Python, JavaScript, Bash. Working knowledge of Java, C and C++.
Backend: FastAPI, Flask, Django, Spring Boot. Postgres, MySQL, graph databases.
Frontend: HTML, CSS, Less, Node, React, Hyperapp.
Devops: AWS. Docker. Linux systems. CI systems.
Project Management: Jira. Scrum. Kanban.

Education

PhD, Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge (2015–19). Numerical simulations of granular currents.
MMath and BA (Hons.), Faculty of Mathematics/Queens' College, University of Cambridge (2011–15). Applied mathematics and fluid dynamics.
Secondary education (2004–11), including A levels in Mathematics and Further Mathematics, Chemistry, Economics and Physics.

Selected publications

Website (essays on software, teaching, maths and physics, etc.): https://jmft.dev

GitHub: https://github.com/jftsang

PhD thesis: https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/222832504.pdf

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4796-2210

Interests

Codebar and related causes around teaching and diversity in STEM. Music. Languages and linguistics.

Miscellany

Current residence: Cambridge, UK.
Nationality: British.