EDUCATION //
BSc in Computer Science
BA in Italian Studies
MSc in Computer Science
University of Calgary
2011 - 2015
Human Computer Interactions
Honours First Class
University of Calgary
2011 - 2015
with Distinction
University of Calgary
2015 - 2017
Thesis: Exploring Notifications with Pepper’s Ghost Illusion
PhD in Computer Science
University of Calgary
2018 - current
WORK //
EXPERIENCE
MAKEFASHION | Designer and Engineer
ANT+ Symposium 2016 | Shenzhen Maker Fair 2016 | Makefashion Calgary Gala 2017
THE BRIGADE | iOS Developer
App Updates 2016
UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY | Teaching Assistant
Human Computer Interactions I
(CPSC 481) Spring 2017 Dr. Tony Tang
Graded assignments, prepared and presented tutorials, and provided 1-1 help to students in second year Computer Science class.
Software Analysis and Design
(SENG 301) Winter 2017 Dr. Tony Tang
Graded assignments, prepared and presented tutorials, help supervise exams and provided 1-1 help to students in second year Computer Science class.
Software Analysis and Design
(SENG 301) Fall 2016 Dr. Robert Walker
Graded assignments, prepared and presented tutorials, and provided 1-1 help to students in second year Computer Science class.
Introduction to Computer Science for Computer Science Majors II (CPSC 233) Winter 2016 Dr. Lenard Manzara
Graded assignments, prepared and presented tutorials, and provided 1-1 help to students in first year Computer Science class.
UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY | Research Assistant
Agile Surface Engineering Research Lab
January 2013 - September 2015
In the ASE lab my responsibilities are to aid in the development of new and innovative software products. The major past projects that I was a part of in the ASE Lab include:
Projected Pixels | In 2015 I worked on my own undergraduate research investigating ways to increase customer engagement for retail spaces, with a project exploring the applicability and interaction of low-resolution projected pixels in a spatially aware multi- surface retail space. The main goal of this project was to investigate ways of engaging users to interact with information in a virtual space.
The Brigade | This is a new project that will create a multi-surface prototype to support an immersive retail environment and will allow users to interact with product information across different devices. For example a high-resolution wall display will allow multiple users to discover new products or visually compare different products. A digital tabletop will allow customers to quickly search for products and personal advertising and product information can be received on a customer’s personal device such as an iPhone. With multiple displays, there is a dynamic focus on specific products or promotions, without the need for printing expensive promotional materials. I will be a developer on the Brigade project from September 2013 until February 2014.
ePlan Lite | The ePlan Lite project was an industry collaboration with the University of Calgary and the company C4i to provide multi-surface support in an emergency response simulation. Our team at the university incorporated C4i’s simulation engine into a collaborative, multi- surface system. I contributed to the development of a tabletop application, a wall display, and an iPad application that can all communicate together through various gestures. I was a developer on this project for six months (January 2013 – June 2013) and saw the project through from start to finish. Towards the end of the project, while developing the wall display application, I became the lead developer and I was entrusted with the guidance and over-seeing of two other research assistances.
JAYMAN MASTER BUILT | Student Software Developer
May 2012 - August 2012
At Jayman my responsibilities are to assists the developers in various tasks. I updated crystal reports, wrote help documentation and I converted all of their forms to a digital format so that they can be accessed and completed on an iPad.
PROGRMMING LANGUAGES //PLATFORMS
Languages
C#
JavaScript
HMTL
CSS
Objective-C
Java
Swift 2
Arduino
WPF
Applications
Visual Studio
Xcode
Eclipse
Arduino Editor
Sublime Text 2
Illustrator
Photoshop
Microsoft Office
Axure
AWARDS //
PUBLICATIONS
AWARDS |
Fred A. McKinnon Award - Teaching Assistance Excellence for Faculty of Science
2016 - 2017
Computer Science Honorary Teaching Assistance Excellence Award
2016 - 2017
Computer Science Teaching Assistance Excellence Award
2015 - 2016
Computer Science Graduate Research Award
2016 - 2017
Queen Elizabeth II Award
2016 - 2017
PUBLICATIONS |
Sydney Pratte. 2018. Exploring Notifications with Pepper’s Ghost Illusion. Masters Thesis. University of Calgary, Alberta, CA.
Sydney Pratte, Teddy Seyed, Alaa Azazi, Edwin Chan, Yuxi Wang, Frank Maurer
In F. Maurer (Eds.) "Society of Devices Toolkit and Projected Pixels" in SURFNET / Designing Digital Surface Applications. Calgary, AB: NSERC SurfNet, 2016, pp. 229-240.
Sydney Pratte, Teddy Seyed, Frank Maurer (2016). Acquario: A Tangible Spatially-Aware Tool for Information Interaction and Visualization. In Proceedings of the ACM Symposium on Spatial User Interaction (SUI 2016), Tokyo, Japan, 2016.
Edwin Chan, Dan Gonzalez, Mahshid Marbouti, Irene Mayor, Sydney Pratte, Teddy Seyed, Yuxi Wang, Jade White, Frank Maurer (2016). Multi-Surface Systems for the Emergency Operations Centre of the Future. In Proceedings of the Workshop on Collaboration and Decision Making in Crisis Situations (CADMICS) in ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW), San Francisco, USA.
Projected Pixels: Exploring Projection Feedback in Multi-Surface Environments
Sydney Pratte, Teddy Seyed, Frank Maurer (2015). Projected Pixels: Exploring Projection Feedback in Multi-Surface Environments. In ITS 2015 Workshop on Collaboration meets Interactive Surfaces (CmIS), Madeira, Portugal.
Sydney Pratte, Teddy Seyed, Frank Maurer (2015) Projected Pixels: Exploring Techniques for Feedback in Projection -Enhanced Multi-Surface Environments. In CSCW 2015 Workshop on Supporting "Local Remote" Collaboration: Applying and Adapting Remote Group Awareness Techniques to Adapting Remote Group Awareness Techniques to Co-located Settings , Vancouver, Canada.
Sydney Pratte, Teddy Seyed, Frank Maurer: Exploring Multi-Surface Interactions in Retail Environments. In Proceedings of the ACM Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces 2014 (ITS 2014), Dresden, Germany, 2014. *Best Poster Award*
Examining Customer Collaboration in Multi-Surface Retail Environments
Sydney Pratte, Teddy Seyed, Frank Maurer: Examining Customer Collaboration in Multi-Surface Retail Environments. In Proceedings of the 2nd Collaboration meets Interactive Surfaces Workshop (CmIS) in ACM Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces 2014 (ITS 2014), Dresden, Germany, 2014.
Theodore D. Hellmann, Apoorve Chokshi, Zahra Shakeri Hossein Abad, Sydney Pratte, Frank Maurer: Agile Testing: A Systematic Mapping Across Three Conferences: Understanding Agile Testing in the XP/Agile Universe, Agile, and XP Conferences. Proceedings of the International Conference on Agile Methods in Software Development (Agile 2013), Nashville, TN, 2013.