Lara Karki

  • lschenck@gatech.edu
  • (724) 244-2491
  • Atlanta, GA
  • larakarki.com
  • linkedin.com/in/notlaura

Education

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

    2022 - Present

    • Advisor: Dr. Betsy DiSalvo
    • Focus: future of work, computing workforce development, employment, workplace tools, AI impacts on work

  • 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

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, Kayla Uleah, Carl DiSalvo, Sierra Traynail Ross, Jadin Butler, Selamawit Husen, Emanuel Bryant, Dana Priest, Justin Booker, and Betsy DiSalvo. 2025. 'I get hives when I come on here': Persisting Through Platform-Delivered Microaggressions on LinkedIn. Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact. 9, 7, Article CSCW232 (November 2025), 36 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3757413

  2. Lara Karki, Dana Priest, James G. Dubose, Zajerria Godfrey, Annabel Rothschild, Ben Rydal Shapiro, and Betsy DiSalvo. 2025. A Window into DataWorks: Developing an Integrated Work-Training Curriculum for Novice Adults. In Proceedings of the 56th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 1 (SIGCSETS 2025). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 568–574. https://doi.org/10.1145/3641554.3701826

  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. https://doi.org/10.1145/3637433.

Short Papers and Posters

  1. Lara L. Schenck and Betsy DiSalvo. 2023. "From Data Work to Data Science: Getting Past the Gatekeepers." In ICER 2023. DOI.

  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. 2023.

Teaching & Mentorship

  • Graduate Teaching Assistant - CS 7001 Educational Game Design – Georgia Institute of Technology

    2025 - Present

    Support instruction and deliver guest lectures.

    • CS 7001 Educational Game Design (upcoming, Spring 2026)
    • CS 7001 Intro to PhD Studies (Fall 2025)

  • Mentor – IC Buddies @ GA Tech

    Fall 2025 - Present

    Provide mentorship to incoming PhD Students.

  • Career Dev Coordinator – DataWorks @ GA Tech

    Fall 2022 - Spring 2025

    Founded, designed, and facilitateed career development program for career changing adults in a work-training program.

  • 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 Workshop Facilitator – NYC, 2014-2016
    • Noble Desktop, WordPress.org – NYC, 2015
    • General Assembly, Front-end Web Development Lead Instructor – NYC, 2014

Selected Speaking Engagements

  • Platform Delivered Microaggressions on LinkedIn (invited) - CSCW 2025 - Bergen, 2025
  • A Window into DataWorks (invited) - SIGCSE TS 2025 - Pittsburgh, 2025
  • Research Presentation (invited) - Critical Computing Group at Georgia Tech, Spring 2024
  • Research Presentation (invited) - STS Symposium at Georgia Tech, Fall 2023
  • 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
  • Bridging the Gap Between Design & Development at WordCamp US – Nashville, 2018
  • The Algorithms of CSS at CSSConf EU – Berlin, 2018
  • Let’s Build A Gutenberg Block Workshop at WordCamp EU – Belgrade, 2018
  • Why the Designer Failed FizzBuzz at SassConf – Austin, 2015
  • Freelancing, Real Talk at WordCamp NYC – NYC, 2014

Industry Experience

  • Intern - Commercial AI Capabilities – Merck

    Summer 2024

    Initiated human-centered AI research initiative to drive pharmaceutical sales product innovation, translating complex business challenges into actionable research frameworks and technology adoption strategies; delivered strategic recommendations to VP and executive leadership.

  • 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.

  • 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 Workshop Facilitator – NYC, 2014-2016
    • 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.

Core Competencies

  • Artificial Intelligence: Responsible AI, human-centered AI, AI product adoption and applications, workforce impacts;
  • Development: Full-stack web engineering (PHP, JS, React, HTML/CSS), software architecture (design systems), Python (pandas);
  • Research: Applied research, qualitative analysis, mixed-methods, ethnography, engaged scholarship;
  • Professional: Project management, public speaking, executive communication, organizational change, learning and development;
  • Languages: English (Native), Nepali (Fluent), Spanish (Advanced Beginner)