Hi!

I'm Shivani
Potnuru.

A Computer Science + Statistics student at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, drawn to work at the intersection of HCI, machine learning, and data.

about me

About

I've worked across pharma & clinical data, HCI research, and health insurance — and I like taking projects end-to-end, from research and design through engineering.

These days I'm focused on accessibility and vision-language models at the MadAbility Lab, shipping a medication-companion app called Pharavo, and supporting CRM data quality at TruStage.

UW
University of Wisconsin–Madison
B.S. Computer Science & Statistics
Sep 2024 – May 2028 · L&S Honors Program
Design InteractiveBiokind AnalyticsCode to ConnectMadAbility LabTech Exploration Lab
Coursework
Algorithms · Data Structures · Object-Oriented Programming · User Interfaces · Discrete Math · Linear Regression · Applied Categorical Data Analysis · R & Data Modeling
experience

Where I've been

May 2026 Aug 2026
TS

Data Operations InternIncoming

Madison, WI
TruStage — Filene Research Institute

Supporting Salesforce CRM data quality, reporting, and automation initiatives for Filene Research Institute.

SalesforceData QualityReporting
Feb 2026 Present
MA

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Madison, WI
MadAbility Lab @ UW-Madison CDIS

Evaluating vision-language models in MR/AR for an HCI accessibility project. Analyzed 500+ Meta Quest apps using a structured classification framework to surface accessibility trends; contributing to a paper in preparation.

HCIAccessibilityVLM EvalMR/AR
May 2025 Present
DI

Vice President · Product Manager

Madison, WI
Design Interactive @ UW-Madison

Lead operations across a 14-member exec team spanning marketing, comms, and web design. Oversee managers across 3+ local client projects each semester, supporting execution and delivery of human-centered design solutions.

LeadershipProductUX Strategy
Jan 2025 May 2025
SH

AI/ML Project Intern

Madison, WI
Spectacle Health

Engineered an end-to-end RAG pipeline using Python, NLP, and semantic search over health insurance documents. Built a Dockerized Weaviate vector DB with Hugging Face embeddings across 20+ document schemas.

RAGWeaviateHugging FacePythonDocker
Jun 2022 Sep 2024
LR

Data Science Intern

Middleton, WI
LAVIS Research Informatics

Built ETL pipelines in Python and R for 10+ workflows across 3 studies, reducing audit prep time by 45%. Designed 25+ SQL-based automated validation checks; developed 6+ Tableau dashboards for cross-study monitoring.

SQLPythonRTableauAWS
Jun 2022 Feb 2024
T4

Research Intern

Santa Cruz, CA
Tech4Good Lab @ UC Santa Cruz

Co-authored “Exploring Communal Gratitude in Online Communities” (PACMHCI / CSCW 2025). Conducted thematic analysis on user research data and synthesized findings into key behavioral patterns.

HCI ResearchThematic Analysis
work

Selected Projects

P.01
Feb 2026 – Present
[ PHARAVO ]
Pharavo
AI-powered medication companion for ESL patients & older adults

Reads prescription labels with Gemini vision and offers multilingual NLP-driven translation to support adherence for ESL patients and older adults.

React NativeGemini APIOCRNLP
View
Feb 2026 – Present

Pharavo

AI-powered medication companion for ESL patients & older adults

An AI medication companion built in React Native that reads prescription labels with Gemini vision and offers NLP-driven multilingual translation to support adherence.

React NativeGemini APIOCRNLP
Read case study
P.02
Sep 2025 – Jan 2026
[ WISCONSIN CONSERVATION VOICES ]
Wisconsin Conservation Voices
Native Vote & Voting Info redesign — end-to-end UX

Led a team of 8 through a Native Vote + Voting Info redesign — System Usability Score of 91, 23 points above average.

UI/UXFigmaUsability
View
Sep 2025 – Jan 2026

Wisconsin Conservation Voices

Native Vote & Voting Info redesign — end-to-end UX

Led a team of 8 through a redesign of Native Vote and Voting Info pages. Achieved a System Usability Score of 91 — 23 points above average.

UI/UXFigmaUsability
Read case study
P.03
Jan 2025 – May 2025
[ SPECTACLE HEALTH ]
Spectacle Health
AI chatbot for navigating health insurance

Production RAG pipeline + Weaviate vector DB with Hugging Face embeddings across 20+ insurance document schemas.

RAGWeaviateHugging Face
View
Jan 2025 – May 2025

Spectacle Health

AI chatbot for navigating health insurance

Vector database + semantic search over insurance documents. Delivered the production system to the client.

RAGWeaviateHugging Face
Read case study
P.04
Jan 2025 – May 2025
[ BILLBOARD “ONE HIT WONDER” ]
Billboard “One Hit Wonder”
Modeling chart reappearance with logistic regression

Built a 2,000+ record dataset across 50+ years of charts; modeled reappearance at 95% classification accuracy.

RPythonSpotify APIScikit-learn
View
Jan 2025 – May 2025

Billboard “One Hit Wonder”

Modeling chart reappearance with logistic regression

Built a 2,000+ record dataset from Wikipedia + Spotify + Last.fm; modeled reappearance at 95% classification accuracy.

RPythonSpotify APIScikit-learn
Read case study
stack

Toolkit

Languages
PythonGeneral-purpose language. Daily driver for data, ML, and backend work.SQLStructured Query Language. Pulling, joining, and validating data.RStatistical programming language. My go-to for regression + data viz.JavaObject-oriented language. Class projects + algorithms coursework.CLow-level systems programming. Memory, pointers, the classics.JavaScriptThe language of the web. Interactive UIs + scripting.TypeScriptTyped JavaScript. Catches bugs before they ship.HTML/CSSThe building blocks of every web page I make.
Technologies
React NativeCross-platform mobile. What Pharavo is built on.ReactComponent-driven UI library for the web.Next.jsReact framework for fast, production-ready sites.FastAPIPython web framework for building APIs quickly.WeaviateOpen-source vector DB. Powers RAG over insurance docs.Hugging FaceOpen-source ML models + embeddings hub.PandasPython data analysis library. dataframe-everything.Scikit-learnClassical ML in Python — regression, classification, clustering.DockerContainer runtime. Ship the dev env, not just the code.Tailwind CSSUtility-first CSS framework. Used to build this site.ExcelThe workhorse of business analytics. Still earns its keep.
Methods
RAGRetrieval-Augmented Generation — ground LLMs in your own documents.NLPNatural Language Processing — making sense of text at scale.LLM EvaluationSystematically scoring model outputs against ground truth.ETLExtract, Transform, Load — the plumbing of every data pipeline.Data ValidationBusiness-rule checks that catch bad data before it spreads.Data EngineeringBuilding the systems that move + shape data for analysis.
Tools
PostgreSQLOpen-source relational database. Boring — in the good way.SQLiteLightweight embedded database. Perfect for prototypes.MongoDBDocument-store NoSQL database.AWSCloud infrastructure. EC2, S3, Lambda, the usual suspects.Node.jsJavaScript runtime. Server-side JS + build tooling.GitVersion control. Branches, PRs, the works.FigmaWhere every design starts. UI + prototyping + handoff.

let's build
something cool
.

spotnuru [at] wisc.edu