Laura Martin

13309 Westlake Circle, Belleville, MI 48111 | lauramartin429@gmail.com | 734.634.6738

Education
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA (Graduated December 2002)
Masters, Human-Computer Interaction, 4.0 QPA
Bachelor of Science, Information Systems & Human-Computer Interaction, 3.4 QPA
Minor, Technical Writing
Experience
Usability Specialist, Ford Motor Company, Dearborn, MI, March 2005 – Present
• Leadership: Acts as Process Quality Assurance leader: conducts checkpoint and final wireframe
approvals for enterprise application; led and co-developed group process for performing accessibility
evaluations; serves as lead usability specialist on enterprise applications requiring multiple usability
specialists, authored and maintains step-by-step process for internal usability testing, instructs new team
members on how to perform heuristic evaluations during new employee on-boarding training.
• Interface Design: Leads usability projects and authors over 1200 wireframes for 3 enterprise-wide
applications. Gathers requirements, designs wireframes, and facilitates business customer and graphic
design relationship for various internal and business-to-customer websites and applications. Works with
teammates to establish internal and application usability standards and patterns.
• Usability Testing: Completed multiple usability tests with over 100 recommendations each to project
teams. Meets with customers to establish testing goals and timeline, organizes logistics by scheduling
users, creating user tasks and preparing usability lab, leads and conducts usability testing, analyzes and
interprets data, creates recommendations and writes up report and presentation for business customers.
• Heuristic Evaluations: Completed multiple heuristic evaluations with over 350 observed violations each.
Analyzes interface, performs heuristic evaluation using Neilsen’s Top 10, and writes up heuristic
evaluation report and presentation for customers. Conducts both one-person and three-person heuristic
evaluations.
• Accessibility Evaluations: Performed evaluations based on W3CAG established guidelines on over 35
Ford European Consumer-Facing and Internal websites.
• Awards: Three awards given for strong performance, excellent teamwork, and high-quality work on
various projects.

Texas Instruments / HCII 2002 Spring and Summer Group Project, Carnegie Mellon
Created application interface that allows teachers to generate programs on TI graphing calculators
• Preliminary Research (Spring 2002): Performed contextual inquiries (10 teachers), heuristic
evaluations (over 100 violations discovered), and cognitive walkthroughs (novice, intermediate, and
advanced tasks). Analyzed results, produced final report, and determined summer project directions.
• Interface Development (Summer 2002): Created semi-functional interface in Visual Basic and Director.
Tested 25 users through 6 rounds of iterative design and conducted 2 focus groups of teachers in
Pittsburgh and Chicago. Produced final report and CD-ROM for clients.
Leadership
Ford College Graduate (FCG) Council, Ford Motor Company, Fall 2003 – Fall 2005
• Newsletter Committee: Founded and chaired Fall 2004-Fall 2005. Lead 5 person team that created
online monthly newsletter highlighting FCG events, Ford news, and technology and industry trends.
• FCG Carousel: Co-chaired Fall 2004-Fall 2005. Organized advertisement and logistics for internal job
fair for IT FCGs attended by over 40 department representatives.
Business Opportunities Conference, Carnegie Mellon, Spring 2000 – Fall 2001
Student Services Director: Coordinated and planned annual job fair of 56 companies on an $18,000
budget with a student committee of 12 undergraduates. Selected and trained more than 30 student
volunteers for the conference. Served as liaison between the committee, departments, and students.
Big Brother / Big Sister of Southeastern Michigan, Spring 2006 – Summer 2006
Girls On The Run of Southeastern Michigan, Fall 2006
Freshman Orientation Counselor, Carnegie Mellon University, 1999, 2000 and 2001
Technical Experience
Software/Applications: Microsoft Office, Microsoft Visio, Corel WordPerfect, Macromedia Director,
Dreamweaver; Visual Basic;Internet clients; Familiar with Adobe PageMaker, Illustrator, Photoshop.
Languages: Familiar with HTML, SQL, C++, Java, JavaScript, and ASP.