isassist's blog

I am a Health IT data specialist currently working as the Analytics Manager at a San Francisco based startup, Doximity. I received my Ph.D. in Computer Science at North Carolina State University in 2012, then served in academia (both in Pakistan, my birthplace, and the USA) for a few years before joining the tech industry. I joined Amazon and worked for Prime, where I was a backend engineer for four years. Then I became curious about the world of startup, which brought me to Doximity. 

I'm a professor at Boston University in electrical and computer engineering, but my trajectory was through theoretical physics. I went a long way as a theoretical physicist, getting a degree from the University of Chicago and then grad school at Stanford, where I was the first Black person earning a Ph.D. in Physics—followed, starting six months later, I’m glad to say, by many more. I then came to MIT for a while and switched to computer engineering in the mid 1980s.

I met Dr. Holmes in an MTBI workshop in 2013, and also did some Professional Development workshops with her, focused on development as a scientist. For a few summers, Dr. Holmes conducted workshops with MTBI, helping students learn how to play and improvise in a collaborative setting. I saw first-hand how much the MTBI students enjoyed the play in the sessions and how the games built ensembles and created community within the group. Dr. Holmes invited MTBI students into conversations as a way of building community.

I have a Ph.D. in physics and have been focused on science education and communication for the last two decades. What I like best about science is sharing it with people, sharing the understanding of the world around us through the lens of science. This made working with Raquell a good and easy fit for me. I began working with her early in the development of improvscience.

I met Raquell Holmes in May 2010, three months before improvscience was born. Raquell had been given a grant to explore combining creativity and science. She began leading workshops to analyze the ideas she was shaping into a company.

Dr. Holmes met Sandy at Boston University in the National Science Foundation sponsored program, GK-12, that prepares graduate students to become K-12 educators. Cynthia Brossman, director of LERNet, brought me in to coach students in how to perform as teachers.

I first met Dr. Holmes at the SuperComputing Conference (SC13) in Salt Lake City, Utah, where she was leading a workshop as part of the Broader Engagement program. This workshop would change my life. I was fascinated by how Raquell brought science, play and improvisation together, and experienced how looking through this lens allowed people to seamlessly engage with one another.