BIO
Hello! My name is Aura, and I’m an artist, musician, and researcher. I am a passionate advocate for the interdisciplinary life — I believe that powerful associations can be made across seemingly disparate fields, and that these connections spur innovation and discovery. Art, music, and research are the origin nodes of my interest network, from which many of my fascinations extend and interact. There is so much that I wish to explore and create!
As an artist, I am inspired by themes of whimsicality, vibrant colors, natural environments, and the human form. I love creating quirky, surreal artwork that causes a viewer to take a second look, to think differently, or simply smile. I often combine human elements with components of nature, crafting an image of animacy and earthly interconnectedness. I value playfulness, and love experimenting with different materials and techniques! My work ranges from paintings to illustration, and I enjoy integrating both traditional and digital tools to create art.
As a data scientist and researcher, my path has evolved quite a bit over the years. I graduated with a degree in Economics & Mathematics, and pursued the field of development economics following my undergraduate studies. I worked abroad as a research associate for various professors, supporting studies in both Ghana and Peru. As my work in data analysis grew, I became interested in machine learning, and completed the Machine Learning Methods certificate program through UC San Diego. From there I entered the world of biotech, accepting a position as a data scientist with the Biologics IT Research team at Eli Lilly. I had a fortunate learning journey through this position, having the opportunity to do extensive data analysis and visualization in R and Python, build web tools for biologists (one used for COVID-19 research), learn about database design and ontologies, write upload protocols, and develop APIs. I was also able to co-author a paper, officially published as of June 2022!
As a musician, I am most inspired by soulful, bluesy, and playful expression. I love to play guitar, sing and improvise vocally, and build live songs through looping. My taste is shaped by early days listening to classic rock, jazz, and classical music. From Led Zeppelin to Grieg, music was always flowing through the house or in the car as I grew up. This journey was supplemented by piano lessons over the years, listening to my dad play saxophone, and finding guitar as a teenager. In recent years, I have been performing more regularly, and learning about audio engineering — this led to my first song release in 2021!
I am passionate about drawing associations across these fields that I love, and cultivating a holistic life path. I hope to grow away from the pressure to compartmentalize these pursuits, to place them in defined boxes or identities. Recently, I have found compelling links across these interests, manifesting in areas such as acoustic ecology, data journalism and sonification, album artwork, the union of nature field recordings and music… the list goes on. (Sound, and art, and data — oh, my!) I am keen on continuing these explorations, and aspire to work and grow as a freelance artist, data scientist / researcher, and musician.
Contact Form
I'm always excited to connect with other creatives and like-minded individuals. Feel free to reach out. I'd love to hear from you!
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