Evan Mao
Computer Scientist at the University of Washington, Incoming Intern at Amazon
About Me
Hi, I'm Evan Mao and welcome to my website! I am a Chinese-Canadian, born in Alberta, Canada. I moved to America in 2021, where I am currently living in Redmond, Washington. I am studying computer science at the University of Washington in Seattle, with a minor in Music. I have a strong passion in problem solving, tackling new problems, and continuing to learn new things about technology in the field.
I am also part of the UW Husky Marching Band and Wind Ensemble, playing trombone and collaborating with many other musicians like me to perform in front of thousands of people. I also used to be a competitive pianist, winning many gold medals in state competitions. I still practice piano occasionally.
Some other hobbies I have include skiing, video games, admiring cool cars, meeting new people, and playing Catan!
Experiences and Volunteer Work
Front-End Developer Intern at Enciv
Enciv is a cross-partisan discourse platform run by software engineer volunteers. I volunteered as a front-end developer from July to September 2024. Some things I have done:• Developed a data collection wizard in React using Storybook, an open-source UI tool, to gather and manage user opinions, including user ID generation and seamless data integration with the Enciv database
• Improved user experience by implementing mandatory field validation and email address verification
• Boosted accessibility by adding tab navigation and spacebar support for smoother page navigation
Arts Officer at the Redmond Youth Partnership Advisory Committee
The Redmond Youth Partnership Advisory Committee (RYPAC) is a youth leadership board in Redmond, WA, comprised of mostly high schoolers dedicated to community service and youth empowerment. As an officer overlooking the arts sector from September 2021 to June 2022, I:• Led the visual aspects of RYPAC-hosted events, including designing and setting up decorations and exhibits
• Organized and contributed to a haunted house exhibit, ensuring an engaging and immersive experience
• Captured event photography for marketing and promotional purposes. • Volunteered at community events, such as Redmond Derby Days 2022, assisting with the 5K Derby Dash patrol and managing an interactive trivia wheel tent about Redmond’s history
Piano Performer and Caregiver at Aegis Living Marymoor
• Dedicated two hours each weekend to engaging senior residents through music and recreational activities. • Self-taught and performed 20th-century piano classics like "What a Wonderful World", "Moon River", and "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean", creating an interactive and heartwarming atmosphere• Organized recreational games and outdoor activities to promote emotional, physical, and mental well-being
• Built meaningful connections with residents through casual conversations, actively listening to their life stories and fostering a supportive community
Projects
Custom Length Wordle
This Wordle program is a Java project I started in High School that I continue to refine as I learn more about programming in university! It prompts the user to guess a word of desired length (from 3 to 6 letters) and gives feedback on the correctness of the guess, like the real Wordle, except more flexible! This program also features hard mode as well! I'm currently working on implementing it into its own website so that it can be played online!
"Chopin Liszt" Discord Bot
Chopin Liszt (sounds like "shopping list") is a passion project to practice coding in
Python, and also further educate myself on topics
I am passionate about: classical music, and the Beatles! The bot includes features such as picking
out a random song from a user-specificied Spotify
playlist, posting random supercars alongside information about them from Google Gemini, and a daily
message that includes history of a random Beatles
and classical song!
FULL DISCLAIMER: I haven't actually gotten into deploying the bot for users to test, so you
can't actually use it at the moment. I'm currently working
on making it happen, as well as implementing more features and commands to make the bot more
interactive and enjoyable for users with similar interests as me!
My Youtube Channel
I have a Youtube channel where I post all sorts of things related to my hobbies. I have a Geometry Dash video with over 2.2 million views, a three-year music transcription project on one of the "games" on the Nintendo Wii, and recently, I spent over three days making a Minecraft video showcasing a relaxing parkour course with giant mob builds and beautiful scenery!
My Twitch Channel
I used to be a live streamer on Twitch, where I would stream games very frequently and talk with my viewers, new or returning, about many different things, and just having a great time! Unfortunately, due to college, I haven't had the chance to stream, but I hope to get back into it soon! Here is a video of an event I hosted on the popular video game Minecraft, where my viewers would fight each other and win prizes. It was a super fun event!