GaiaXus Mobile App

Developing a cross-platform mobile app for students, teachers, citizen scientists, and researchers to collect water quality data, participate in projects, and calibrate their instruments.

Role: Full-stack developer, UI designer

Organization: GaiaXus, Inc. (Early-stage startup)

Tech stack: AWS Lambda, S3, DynamoDB, GraphQL, React Native, TypeScript, Android Studio, XCode

Approaches: Hardware-software integration, mobile app development, UI/UX

Challenge & Impact

As the first full-time software engineer to join an early-stage startup, my challenge was to transform the prototype app used primarily by our engineers into a fast and user-friendly mobile companion to our Bluetooth-controlled environmental sensors. I improved the usability of our instrument control interface, refactored backend architecture to more efficiently load instructional content, and expanded the compatibility of the app from its original Android build to Chromebooks and iOS (and caught a bug in AWS Amplify’s handling of authentication in ChromeOS while at it).

My work carried the output of a $250,000 SBIR Phase 1 grant and was tested by hundreds of educational users around the country.

Alongside software development, I was responsible for training educators on using our technology, managing distribution and release through the Google Play and Apple stores, and maintaining VPAT documentation to evaluate our app’s compliance with WCAG 2.2 accessibility standards.

Features I shipped

Data review and filtering interface

I designed and implemented a graphical interface for reviewing and filtering past data, and for previewing data sets on an interactive chart.

Offline-first education workflows

I refactored the backend architecture of our multimedia instructional modules (Labs) to reduce loading time from minutes to seconds, enabling practical use of this feature. I also designed and implemented step-by-step components within the instructional modules for operating and calibrating the sensors.

Responsive, intuitive sensor calibration

I translated a command-line internal tool developed by our engineers into a responsive, intuitive graphical interface that allows users to calibrate our sensors with minimal training. I collaborated with engineers on my team and external scientists to validate the calibrations, and designed for compliance with WCAG’s guidelines on moving and auto-updating content.

Project participation interface

I developed an interface for participating in projects, allowing for classroom and community collaboration and sharing of educational content and water data.