Lara Karki

  • lschenck@gatech.edu
  • (724) 244-2491
  • Atlanta, GA
  • https://notlaura.com

Education

  • Georgia Institute of Technology – Ph.D. Human-Centered Computing

    2022 - Present

    • Advisor: Dr. Betsy DiSalvo
    • Focus: learning sciences, broadening participation in computing, workforce development

  • School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University – Bachelor of Fine Arts

    2009 - 2011

    • Mentor: Steve Lambert
    • Focus: animation, printmaking and bookmaking, game design, open source web development

Industry Experience

  • Senior Principal Software Engineer – Penske Media Corporation

    2018 - 2022

    Full stack web engineering and technical leadership on a product and engineering team of 80 people maintaining a network of 25+ high traffic websites.

    • Architected modular user interface system, build tools, testing, and coding standards to speed up development time, reduce technical debt, and deploy shared packages across network of high-traffic websites.
    • Developed workflows to improve engineering team's communication with product and design.
    • Led and deployed re-platform and upgrade initiatives across the network.
    • Advocated for diversity, equity, and inclusion in team culture, hiring, and compensation.
    • Promoted from Senior Software Engineer.

  • Lead Instructor

    2013 - 2018

    Developed curriculum and instructed web development courses for adult learners with non-traditional backgrounds.

    • University of Southern California, WordPress Development – Los Angeles, 2018
    • Girl Develop It, multiple workshops – National, 2015-2018
    • Pratt Institute of Design, UI/UX Prototyping in Code and Coding I-II – NYC, 2015-2016
    • Decoded, Code in A Day – NYC, 2014-2016
    • Tacklebox School, online courses, 2015-2016
    • Noble Desktop, WordPress.org – NYC, 2015
    • General Assembly, Front-end Web Development Lead Instructor – NYC, 2014

  • Independent Consultant – Lara Schenck, LLC

    2011 - 2017

    Contract front-end and WordPress development and training for startups and small to large businesses and web development agencies.

Research Experience

  • CAT (Culture & Technology) Lab – Georgia Institute of Technology

    2022 - Present

    Community-based participatory research to understand how data work can be a pathway to technical career growth. Assume the role of Career Development Coordinator for DataWorks at Georgia Tech.

    • Develop workplace curriculum in job search and professional networking for career transitioning adults without Bachelor's degrees.
    • Focus on informal learning and catalyzing self-sustaining workplace communities of practice.

  • Independent

    2017 - Present

    Independently organized research into programming languages and gatekeeping in industry computing communities. Collaboration with Dr. Felienne Hermans.

    • Mixed methods research to understand how developers construct their understanding of programming.

Awards

  • Pathbreakers Fellowship – Georgia Institute of Technology

    2024

  • Graduate Research Fellowshop – National Science Foundation

    2023

  • President's Fellowship – Georgia Institute of Technology

    2022

Publications

Peer-Reviewed Conference and Journal

  1. Lara Karki, Gabe DuBose, Zajerria Godfrey, Dana Priest, Annabel Rothschild, Benjamin Rydal Shapiro, Betsy DiSalvo. 2025. “A Window into Data Apprenticeship: Developing an Integrated Work-Training Curriculum for Novice Adults”. In SIGCSE TS 2025.

  2. Lara Karki, Kayla Uleah, Carl DiSalvo, Sierra Traynail Ross, Jadin Butler, Selamawit Husein, Emanuel Bryant, Dana Priest, Justin Booker, and Betsy DiSalvo. "“I get hives when I come on here”: Persisting Through Platform-Delivered Microaggressions on LinkedIn."
    Under Review for CSCW 2025.

  3. Carl DiSalvo, Annabel Rothschild, Lara L. Schenck, Ben Rydal Shapiro, and Betsy DiSalvo. 2024. "When Workers Want to Say No: A View into Critical Consciousness and Workplace Democracy in Data Work". Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact. 8, CSCW1, Article 156 (April 2024), 24 pages. DOI.
    DEI Recognition

  4. Lara L. Schenck, Sabine Verdult, Felienne Hermans, and Betsy DiSalvo. "Stop the Gatekeepers: Expanding Our Ideas of 'Real' Programming."
    In Revision for ACM Transactions on Computing Education.

Short Papers/Posters

  1. Lara L. Schenck and Betsy DiSalvo. 2023. "From Data Work to Data Science: Getting Past the Gatekeepers." In Proceedings of the 2023 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research - Volume 2 (ICER '23), Vol. 2. Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 1–2. https://doi.org/10.1145/3568812.3603468

  2. Lara L. Schenck and Betsy DiSalvo. "Computational Work + Workplace Learning: A Pathway to Computing Careers for Adults." IPaT Industry Innovation Day and the GVU Research Showcase, April 2023; CRA Grad Cohort for Women, April 2023.

Service

  • Conference Reviewing

    SIGCSE 2025, CSCW 2024, SIGCSE 2024, ACM Transactions in Computing Education (2023), DIS 2023

Industry Conference Presentations

  • Generative Art With FizzBuzz in CSS (invited) at CodeDay – online, 2021
  • CSS Algorithms at Frontend United (invited, canceled) – Minsk, 2020
  • CSS Algorithms at StrangeLoop – St. Louis, 2019
  • Is CSS a Programming Language? at Abstractions – Pittsburgh, 2019
  • CSS Algorithms at JS Conf US – San Diego, 2019
  • Writing CSS Algorithms at CSS Camp – Barcelona, 2019
  • Algorithms of CSS at CSS Day (invited) – Amsterdam, 2019
  • CSS is a Programming Language at WordCamp Montclair (invited) – Montclair, NJ, 2019
  • Bridging the Gap Between Design & Development at WordCamp US – Nashville, 2018
  • Understanding Today’s CSS with Algorithms at SIGNAL (invited) – San Francisco, 2018
  • The Algorithms of CSS at js.la – Los Angeles, 2018
  • The Algorithms of CSS at CSSConf EU – Berlin, 2018
  • Let’s Build A Gutenberg Block Workshop at WordCamp EU – Belgrade, 2018
  • Let’s Build A Gutenberg Block at WordCamp San Diego – San Diego, 2018
  • The Five-figure WordPress Website at Abstractions – Pittsburgh, 2016
  • Vetting and Choosing Themes at WordCamp Pittsburgh – Pittsburgh, 2016
  • Why the Designer Failed FizzBuzz at SassConf – Austin, 2015
  • Sassy WordPress at WordCamp Montreal – Montreal, 2014
  • Freelancing, Real Talk at WordCamp NYC – NYC, 2014

Skills

  • Technical: Full-stack web development, software engineering, data analysis with Python and Excel;

  • Research: Qualitative analysis, ethnography, engaged scholarship;

  • Languages: English (native), Nepali (B2)

Volunteer

  • Technical Advisor – Supreme Network Global

    2021 - Present

    Advise CEO of a membership network empowering formerly-incarcerated people with financial and mentorship opportunities.

  • CS Classroom Volunteer – Microsoft TEALS

    2021 - 2022

    Provide instructor support twice per week for Intro to Computer Science at Westinghouse Academy, a public school in an underserved neighborhood of Pittsburgh.

  • Open Source Contributor – WordPress Core

    2011 - 2022

    Active member, organizer, and contributor in open source WordPress communities.

    • Facilitated weekly Core CSS team meetings to oversee and contribute code to long-term projects improving the maintainability of the WordPress Core CSS code-base.
    • Contribute code updates to WordPress Core.
    • Organize community meetups and conferences vital to maintaining and growing the open-source community.

  • Racial Justice Organizing – What's Up Pittsburgh

    2018 - 2022

    Participate in the core organizing group and mentorship program of the local Pittsburgh chapter of Showing Up for Racial Justice. Co-organized group session focused on racial justice in tech.

  • Web Developer – Center for Artistic Activism

    2017 - 2022

    Development, ongoing maintenance, and technical advising for the C4AA on their WordPress website and donation platform.

Industry Outreach

  • Mentor, Learn Teach Code – Los Angeles and online, 2017-2021;
  • Co-Organizer, Global Diversity CFP Day – Pittsburgh, 2019;
  • Mentor, Write Speak Code – Los Angeles, 2017-2019;
  • Mentor, Global Diversity CFP Day – Los Angeles, 2018;
  • Co-Organizer, WordCamp LA – Los Angeles, 2018;
  • Founder and organizer, CSS.la – Los Angeles, 2017-2019;
  • Founder and organizer, CodePen Meetup NYC – NYC, 2014-2016;
  • Facilitator CSS-Tricks, "Office Hours" – online, 2015;
  • Mentor, Presenter, WordPress NYC Meetup – NYC, 2014-2016