CV | Caryn Thiên Ngân Tran

Contact Information

Name	Caryn Thiên Ngân Tran
Professional Title	Computer Science and Learning Sciences PhD Student at Northwestern University
Email	caryn@u.northwestern.edu

Professional Summary

I am an interdisciplinary scholar in the joint Computer Science and Learning Sciences Ph.D. program at Northwestern University. My research bridges AI, HCI, and K-12 CS education to explore authentic learning experiences in the age of AI. I conduct research at Delta Lab and the Center for HCI+Design at Northwestern University, and hold a B.A. and M.S. from UC Berkeley, where I specialized in AI and education.

Experience

2022 - Present

Evanston, IL
Graduate Researcher

Delta Lab, Northwestern University

Lead investigation of perceptions of authenticity in K-12 CS education and programming tools in high school classrooms.
- Designed and validated a survey instrument.
- Conducted interface probes and interviews; presented at ICER 2023.
- Conducting grounded theory and large-scale survey studies.
- Leading participatory design workshops with students and teachers.
- Additionally coded and analyzed math game interaction videos and CS office hour interview transcripts.
2024 - 2025

Mountain View, CA
PhD Intern

Intrinsic, an Alphabet Company & OpenCV

Conducted benchmarking research for industrial robotics vision systems.
- Released an open-source toolkit for evaluating 6D pose estimation against robotic displacements.
- Contributed to the Perception Challenge for Bin-Picking with data preparation, evaluation pipeline, data standardization, and research toolkits.
2023 - 2023

Evanston, IL
Graduate Teaching Assistant

Northwestern University

Co-created and taught a seminar on transformative generative AI cross-listed in Computer Science and Learning Sciences.
- Supported weekly discussions and helped design the reading list.
- Guided synthesis across ML, ethics, theory, and education.
2020 - 2022

Menlo Park, CA
Middle School Computer Science Teacher

Synapse School

Designed and taught project-based CS curriculum for grades 5-8.
- Taught 8 sections of mixed-grade computer science courses twice a week, plus electives in literature and STEM.
- Created units on functional programming, procedural programming, storytelling, accessible game design, computational art, AI and bias, computational geometry, computational music, robotics, and mechanisms.
- Created websites for student work with PhaserJS and NextJS and designed a 2D RPG-style world for online open house during Covid-19.
- Supported school IT, investigated a security breach, and built internal tools for teacher reports and attendance.
2019 - 2021

Menlo Park, CA
Full-stack & ML Engineer

TeachFX

Built products and machine learning systems for an education technology setting.
- Full-stack development in React, NodeJS, Django, and GraphQL.
- Built the Equity Tracker feature for analyzing real-time student participation data.
- Led Microsoft Teams integration using C#/.NET and bot development.
- Modularized the ML pipeline for speaker diarization with Kubernetes and Airflow.
2017 - 2019

Berkeley, CA
Graduate Researcher

Berkeley Wireless Research Center

Conducted research at the intersection of reinforcement learning and wireless communications.
- Developed multi-agent protocols for learning wireless communication modulation.
- Implemented and compared polynomial versus neural-network agents.
- Ported the system to PyTorch and deployed experiments in Google Cloud.
2017 - 2019

Berkeley, CA
Teaching Assistant for CS188

University of California, Berkeley

TA and head TA for Berkeley’s Introduction to Artificial Intelligence course.
- Prepared slides, notes, problem sets, programming assignments, and exams.
- Led discussions, review sessions, and 1:1 office hours weekly.
- Undergraduate TA for 2 semesters and Head Graduate TA for 1 semester.
2017 - 2018

San Francisco, CA
Software Engineer

Adobe

Worked on product and engineering problems in a large-scale software environment.
- Front-end React engineering for Adobe PhoneGap guided by Spectrum.
- Developed authentication tooling for Adobe OAuth across product suites.
- Taught weekly introductory machine learning workshops to engineers using University of Washington curriculum.
2016 - 2016

Berkeley, CA
Undergraduate Researcher

Berkeley Institute for Data Science URAP

Researched AR and ML applications for mobile retail.
- Built an Android AR app using Vuforia to identify marijuana brands through image recognition.
2016 - 2016

San Francisco, CA
Computer Scientist Intern

Adobe

Contributed to Apache Cordova and Adobe PhoneGap.
- Contributed fixes, tests, and features to Cordova and published resulting packages to NPM.
- Earned committership to the Apache Cordova open-source project.
- Architected and completed an extensive refactor to decouple version dependency.
2015 - 2016

Berkeley, CA
Undergraduate Researcher

Bio-Nanosensor Interface URAP

Developed tools and models for sensor signal visualization and classification.
- Developed a Java Swing GUI for real-time sensor data.
- Applied k-means and SVM for sensor signal classification.
2016 - 2016

Berkeley, CA
Student Instructor for CS61AS

University of California, Berkeley

Responsible for course logistics, grading, teaching, creating labs, and leading office hours.
- Managed class logistics, course website, and grading.
- Held mini-lectures and office hours and wrote tests and labs.
2023 - 2023

Chicago, IL

Volunteer ESL Instructor

Vietnamese Association of Illinois

Taught English as a Second Language for the citizenship test to Vietnamese immigrants in the Chicago area.
2019 - 2019

Berkeley, CA
Nonprofit Board Director

Berkeley Student Cooperatives

Served on the board of a nonprofit student housing cooperative serving over 1,300 members.
- Helped support democratically run, affordable housing near UC Berkeley.

Education

2022 - Present

Evanston, IL
Ph.D.

Northwestern University

Computer Science and Learning Sciences
- Human-Computer Interaction and K-12 CS Education
2018 - 2019

Berkeley, CA
M.S.

University of California, Berkeley

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
- Applied Artificial Intelligence
- Minor in Education
2014 - 2017

Berkeley, CA

B.A.

University of California, Berkeley

Computer Science

Publications

arXiv

Preprint Learning to Communicate in a Noisy Environment

Anant Sahai^*, Joshua Sanz^*, Vignesh Subramanian^*, Caryn Tran^*, and Kailas Vodrahalli^*

arXiv preprint arXiv:1910.09630, 2019

@article{sahai2019learningnoise,
  publication_sort = {2019-01},
  title = {Learning to Communicate in a Noisy Environment},
  author = {Sahai, Anant and Sanz, Joshua and Subramanian, Vignesh and Tran, Caryn and Vodrahalli, Kailas},
  journal = {arXiv preprint arXiv:1910.09630},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/1910.09630},
  year = {2019}
}

Allerton

Conference Learning to Communicate with Limited Co-Design

Anant Sahai^*, Joshua Sanz^*, Vignesh Subramanian^*, Caryn Tran^*, and Kailas Vodrahalli^*

In 2019 57th Annual Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing, 2019

@inproceedings{sahai2019learning,
  publication_sort = {2019-02},
  title = {Learning to Communicate with Limited Co-Design},
  author = {Sahai, Anant and Sanz, Joshua and Subramanian, Vignesh and Tran, Caryn and Vodrahalli, Kailas},
  booktitle = {2019 57th Annual Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing},
  doi = {10.1109/ALLERTON.2019.8919749},
  year = {2019},
  organization = {IEEE}
}

IEEE Access

Journal Blind Interactive Learning of Modulation Schemes: Multi-Agent Cooperation Without Co-Design

Anant Sahai^*, Joshua Sanz^*, Vignesh Subramanian^*, Caryn Tran^*, and Kailas Vodrahalli^*

IEEE Access, 2020

@article{sahai2020blind,
  publication_sort = {2020-01},
  title = {Blind Interactive Learning of Modulation Schemes: Multi-Agent Cooperation Without Co-Design},
  author = {Sahai, Anant and Sanz, Joshua and Subramanian, Vignesh and Tran, Caryn and Vodrahalli, Kailas},
  journal = {IEEE Access},
  volume = {8},
  pages = {63790--63820},
  year = {2020},
  publisher = {IEEE},
  doi = {10.1109/ACCESS.2020.2984218},
}

NeurIPS

Conference Dynadojo: An Extensible Platform for Benchmarking Scaling in Dynamical System Identification

Logan M Bhamidipaty^*, Tommy Bruzzese^*, Caryn Tran^*, Rami Ratl Mrad, and Maxinder S Kanwal

Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems, 2023

@article{bhamidipaty2023dynadojo,
  publication_sort = {2023-02},
  title = {Dynadojo: An Extensible Platform for Benchmarking Scaling in Dynamical System Identification},
  author = {Bhamidipaty, Logan M and Bruzzese, Tommy and Tran, Caryn and Ratl Mrad, Rami and Kanwal, Maxinder S},
  journal = {Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems},
  volume = {36},
  pages = {15519--15530},
  url = {https://proceedings.neurips.cc/paper_files/paper/2023/file/32093649cbbcff773d9a991d8c30a7fe-Paper-Datasets_and_Benchmarks.pdf},
  year = {2023},
}

ICER

Conference Exploring Student-Perceived Dimensions of Authenticity in High School Computer Science

Caryn Tran, Max Kanwal, Kristin Fasiang, and Eleanor O’Rourke

In Proceedings of the 2025 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research V. 1, 2025

@inproceedings{tran2025exploring,
  publication_sort = {2025-02},
  title = {Exploring Student-Perceived Dimensions of Authenticity in High School Computer Science},
  author = {Tran, Caryn and Kanwal, Max and Fasiang, Kristin and O'Rourke, Eleanor},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2025 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research V. 1},
  pages = {93--108},
  doi = {10.1145/3702652.3744229},
  year = {2025},
}

ICML Workshop

Workshop Measuring Memorization and Generalization in Forecasting Models via Structured Perturbations of Chaotic Systems

Max Kanwal and Caryn Tran

In ICML 2025 Workshop on Methods and Opportunities at Small Scale, 2025

@inproceedings{kanwal2025measuring,
  publication_sort = {2025-01},
  title = {Measuring Memorization and Generalization in Forecasting Models via Structured Perturbations of Chaotic Systems},
  author = {Kanwal, Max and Tran, Caryn},
  booktitle = {ICML 2025 Workshop on Methods and Opportunities at Small Scale},
  url = {https://openreview.net/pdf?id=DHo0eqNkvm},
  year = {2025},
}

AAAI Workshop

Workshop Constructive Alignment

Max Kanwal^* and Caryn Tran^*

In AAAI-26 Workshop on Machine Ethics: from formal methods to emergent machine ethics, Singapore, Jan 2026

@inproceedings{kanwal2026constructive,
  publication_sort = {2026-02},
  title = {Constructive Alignment},
  author = {Kanwal, Max and Tran, Caryn},
  booktitle = {AAAI-26 Workshop on Machine Ethics: from formal methods to emergent machine ethics},
  location = {Singapore},
  month = jan,
  url = {https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-4189/paper1.pdf},
  year = {2026},
}

AAAI Workshop

Workshop Bounded Morality

Max Kanwal^*, Caryn Tran^*, and Patrick Mineault

In AAAI-26 Workshop on Machine Ethics: from formal methods to emergent machine ethics, Singapore, Jan 2026

@inproceedings{kanwal2026bounded,
  publication_sort = {2026-01},
  title = {Bounded Morality},
  author = {Kanwal, Max and Tran, Caryn and Mineault, Patrick},
  booktitle = {AAAI-26 Workshop on Machine Ethics: from formal methods to emergent machine ethics},
  location = {Singapore},
  month = jan,
  url = {https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-4189/paper2.pdf},
  year = {2026},
}

CHI

Conference 🏆 Best Paper 🏆 Starting From Scratch Again and Again: Tracing the Origins of High Schoolers’ Negative Perceptions of Block-Based Programming

Caryn Tran, Kristin Fasiang^*, Max Kanwal^*, and Eleanor O’Rourke

In Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2026

Best Paper Award

@inproceedings{tran2026starting,
  publication_sort = {2026-03},
  title = {Starting From Scratch Again and Again: Tracing the Origins of High Schoolers' Negative Perceptions of Block-Based Programming},
  author = {Tran, Caryn and Fasiang, Kristin and Kanwal, Max and O'Rourke, Eleanor},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems},
  pages = {1--17},
  doi = {10.1145/3772318.3791825},
  year = {2026},
}

Posters and Reports

ICER

Poster Understanding Novices’ Perceptions of “Authentic” Programming

Caryn Tran and Eleanor O’Rourke

In Proceedings of the 2023 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research-Volume 2, 2023

@inproceedings{tran2023understanding,
  publication_sort = {2023-01},
  title = {Understanding Novices’ Perceptions of “Authentic” Programming},
  author = {Tran, Caryn and O'Rourke, Eleanor},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2023 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research-Volume 2},
  pages = {37--38},
  doi = {10.1145/3568812.3603492},
  year = {2023},
}

Lambert

Poster Investigating the Negative Perceptions of Blocks-Based Programming

Caryn Tran, Kristin Fasiang, and Eleanor O’Rourke

In Lambert Conference on the Future of Human-Computer Interaction + Design, Northwestern University, Oct 2022

@inproceedings{tran2022blocksbased,
  publication_sort = {2022-01},
  title = {Investigating the Negative Perceptions of Blocks-Based Programming},
  author = {Tran, Caryn and Fasiang, Kristin and O'Rourke, Eleanor},
  booktitle = {Lambert Conference on the Future of Human-Computer Interaction + Design},
  location = {Northwestern University},
  month = oct,
  year = {2022},
}

Thesis Effect of Model Dissimilarity on Learning to Communicate in a Wireless Setting with Limited Information

Caryn Tran

University of California, Berkeley, 2019

M.S. thesis, EECS Department

@mastersthesis{tran2019effect,
  publication_sort = {2019-01},
  title = {Effect of Model Dissimilarity on Learning to Communicate in a Wireless Setting with Limited Information},
  author = {Tran, Caryn},
  school = {University of California, Berkeley},
  year = {2019},
  note = {M.S. thesis, EECS Department}
}

Awards

2023

Design Cluster Fellowship

Center for HCI+Design at Northwestern University

Skills

Machine Learning: TensorFlow/Keras, PyTorch, Kubernetes, Airflow, Pandas

Back-end and Cloud: Django, SQL, Google Cloud Platform, Azure Cloud, SLURM workload orchestration

Front-end: React, Android, C#/.NET

Programming Languages: Python, C++, Java, JavaScript

Research: Survey Development and Analysis, Interviewing, Qualitative Analysis, Design Research

Contact Information

Professional Summary

Experience

Graduate Researcher

Delta Lab, Northwestern University

Lead investigation of perceptions of authenticity in K-12 CS education and programming tools in high school classrooms.

PhD Intern

Intrinsic, an Alphabet Company & OpenCV

Conducted benchmarking research for industrial robotics vision systems.

Graduate Teaching Assistant

Northwestern University

Co-created and taught a seminar on transformative generative AI cross-listed in Computer Science and Learning Sciences.

Middle School Computer Science Teacher

Synapse School

Designed and taught project-based CS curriculum for grades 5-8.

Full-stack & ML Engineer

TeachFX

Built products and machine learning systems for an education technology setting.

Graduate Researcher

Berkeley Wireless Research Center

Conducted research at the intersection of reinforcement learning and wireless communications.

Teaching Assistant for CS188

University of California, Berkeley

TA and head TA for Berkeley’s Introduction to Artificial Intelligence course.

Software Engineer

Adobe

Worked on product and engineering problems in a large-scale software environment.

Undergraduate Researcher

Berkeley Institute for Data Science URAP

Researched AR and ML applications for mobile retail.

Computer Scientist Intern

Adobe

Contributed to Apache Cordova and Adobe PhoneGap.

Undergraduate Researcher

Bio-Nanosensor Interface URAP

Developed tools and models for sensor signal visualization and classification.

Student Instructor for CS61AS

University of California, Berkeley

Responsible for course logistics, grading, teaching, creating labs, and leading office hours.

Volunteer ESL Instructor

Vietnamese Association of Illinois

Taught English as a Second Language for the citizenship test to Vietnamese immigrants in the Chicago area.

Nonprofit Board Director

Berkeley Student Cooperatives

Served on the board of a nonprofit student housing cooperative serving over 1,300 members.

Education

Ph.D.

Northwestern University

Computer Science and Learning Sciences

M.S.

University of California, Berkeley

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

B.A.

University of California, Berkeley

Computer Science

Publications

Posters and Reports

Awards

Design Cluster Fellowship

Center for HCI+Design at Northwestern University

Skills