Biography

Jasper Maynard-Zhang is a Guest Lecturer at the University of Washington Information School. A recent graduate of UW with a degree in Informatics (Data Science) with a minor in French, they specialize in Data Visualization. Jasper is passionate about leveraging data to address social challenges, such as preserving resources and identifying areas of need. They are also deeply involved in storytelling, having completed their first novel, Mirror, Mirror, and are currently pursuing further creative writing studies. Jasper is also committed to the trans and LGBTQ+ community, exemplified by their Capstone project, thread4thread, which developed a web application to improve access to gender-affirming clothing. The project, which was developed primarily using React and Firebase, aimed to build community and provide a safe, gender-neutral platform for donating, trading, and requesting clothing.