Disha Sardana, Ph.D.

Experience

• 

  Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi

  Jan 2014 - May 2015

  Research Intern

  • Developed an Acquisition and Tracking Method for an Optical Inter-Satellite Communication Link, as part of a project sponsored by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)• Derived analytical results to calculate contact time between a Geostationary Equatorial Orbit (GEO) and a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite, for different orbits of the LEO• Studied the principles of satellite imagery and calculated the total data burden involved in imaging all of India, using the technical specifications of a specific LEO• Demonstrated application of results by calculating the required data transmission rate for transferring imaging data between a specific LEO/GEO pair within a single contact window Show less

• 

  Center for Space Science and Engineering Research, Virginia Tech

  Aug 2015 - May 2018

  Machine Learning Engineer

  • For M.S. thesis, presented a study of large solar storms occurring from 2000‐2018 to quantify their effects on the Total Electron Content (TEC), a key indicator of the state of the ionosphere, over the U.S. sector• Studied the strength of influence of various storm parameters on the TEC using tree-based machine learning techniques, such as random forest, which included filtering, visualizing, and processing large datasets. Parameters studied include the onset time of the storm, the duration of the storm, its intensity, and the rate of change of the ring current response • Used AWS, Python, and scikit learn to build a pipeline to fetch and ingest time-series ionospheric data (order of 10s of GBs) to train and test machine learning models• Computed parameter importance from a Random Forest model with an Out of Bag (OOB) score of 0.74789• Analyzed and visualized the effects of various other natural phenomena, such as time of day, changing seasons, and solar eclipses, on the TEC in the ionosphere• Work won the student presentation award at the AMS 98th Annual Meeting (2018) for exceptional research and presentation quality Show less

• 

  Virginia Tech Bradley Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

  Jan 2016 - Jul 2016

  • Created solutions for and graded student assignments for the `Electromagnetic Fields’ course• Held office hours and help sessions to resolve student queries and mentor them in problem solving skills• Supervised the class whenever the professor was unavailable • Graded class assignments and exam papers for the `Analog Electronics’ course• Ensured timely submission of graded papers, provided student’s written feedback on homework assignments and updated the gradebook database

  • Graduate Teaching Assistant

    May 2016 - Jul 2016

  • Graduate Grading Assistant

    Jan 2016 - May 2016
• 

  Advanced Research Computing Lab , Virginia Tech

  May 2017 - Aug 2017

  Data Experience and Visualization Engineer

  • Developed an interactive, immersive 3D web front-end using JavaScript and X3DOM to enable rapid visualization of the safety implications of various storage configurations of spent nuclear fuel rods

• 

  Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology (ICAT), Virginia Tech

  Aug 2017 - Jul 2020

  Lead Data Experience Researcher

  • Led an NSF-funded project that focused on the sonification of geospatial datasets and how sound can help detect patterns and outliers in datasets in an interactive, immersive audio environment - Award Abstract #1748667• To enable user interaction with immersive audio environments, designed a new motion-tracking glove that allows physical control of a high-density, 3-dimensional array of speakers utilizing motion capture systems• Programmed the logic to recognize 3-dimensional gestures (such as pinch, zoom, etc.) from real-time coordinates of various glove elements. Packaged code into a reusable toolkit that can be deployed in other settings• Tested and debugged the system by conducting beta-testing with around 40 participants• Conducted user studies with over 150 participants to study the human perception of sound in an immersive multi-layered auditory environment• Performed hypothesis testing and statistical analysis (including t-test and ANOVA) on user data, leading to four publications in prestigious audio-related conferences Show less

• 

  Center for Human-Computer Interaction, Virginia Tech

  Jan 2019 - May 2023

  Doctoral Researcher

  • Developed and tested an approach for embodied data exploration of multi-dimensional datasets in an immersive mixed reality (MR) environment using HoloLens 2• Demonstrated the proof-of-concept at a science fair (ICAT Creativity + Innovation Day 2019) and gathered user feedback from a diverse general audience (over 20 participants)• Designed, conducted, and analyzed a research study with 34 participants to evaluate the strengths and limitations of analyzing data in a 3D immersive environment compared to a non-immersive WebGL desktop environment based on accuracy and task completion times of specific visual analytics tasks• Recommended design guidelines for doing data analytics in an MR environment based on frames of reference by assessing user performance, presence, rank order, and subjective user feedback• Designed, conducted, and analyzed 90-minute in-person research sessions with 55 participants to quantify the impact of audio on augmenting visual data analysis in MR environments using real-world space weather datasets• Performed thematic analysis on the collected data and compared task metrics such as the number of patterns identified by users, their confidence level, task responses, NASA-TLX, and SUS questionnaire between audio-visual and visual-only scenarios• Conducted a user study at a space weather conference (CEDAR 2023) and collected data from 43 space science experts to broaden the demographics in order to more rigorously quantify and assess the potential impact of XR technologies on educational and analysis tools and techniques• Wore many hats through various projects as a designer, coder, engineer, and artist, and collaborated cross-functionally with people from different backgrounds, communicated research across disciplines, and looked at a problem from diverse perspectives Show less

• 

  NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

  Nov 2023 - Nov 2023

  Panel Reviewer - NASA Transform to Open Science (TOPS) 2023

  • Selected as a reviewer for the NASA Open Science 101 curriculum and a panelist for the Transform to Open Science (TOPS) community panel held at NASA Headquarters, Washington D.C., on November 14, 2023

• 

  NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

  May 2024 - now

  Coding Mentor - NASA Student Airborne Research Program (SARP) 2024

  • As a coding mentor for rising 4th-year senior undergraduates in the earth sciences of the NASA SARP 2024 program, solved many types of coding problems, adapting to different students' learning styles • Gave classroom lectures on the fundamentals of scientific programming and worked one-on-one with 24 students to assist them with acquiring NASA earth science flight and satellite datasets and writing data analysis and visualization code for their individual research projects • Taught machine learning concepts to advanced students' group and helped students develop skills in cloud computing, version control, and open scientific software Show less