Reflecting back on what inspired Victor Li ’17 to want to make the world a better place, leading to his focus in Robotics Engineering at the University of Santa Cruz, he will tell you it was the time he saw a problem that needed to be solved. Notably, he recalls witnessing his mother–with back pain struggling to pick up a suitcase out of the trunk of a car with a high lid design. As he pursued his degree, he found himself switching to the Intensive Research Psychology major with focus on UX. The UX (User Experience) field is the study of learning what end users of a system or product need and want, then employing those insights to enhance the design process for businesses, products, services or software. Throughout his time at university, Victor interned as a Project Manager at Didi Chuxing Technology company in Beijing China which serves the needs of customers through mobility such as food delivery, taxi services and much more. Victor also became a research assistant for a couple of his professors in their PHD level Lab projects. One of his professors was Professor Leila Takayama. She was the scientist who helped build the robot that starred in the hit Television show Big Bang Theory. During his time under Professor Takayama, he helped to design the interface of a website that promotes research opportunities for college students. The other professors he assisted were Professor Katherine Isbister and Professor Josh McVeigh-Schultz at Social Emotional Technology Lab. During his time under Isbister and McVeigh-Schultz, Victor researched the Social Superpowers through VR (Virtual Reality). Victor graduated in 2021, and was then accepted into the Human Computer Interaction Master’s Program at the University of Santa Cruz on their Saint Clara campus. As Victor pursued his Master’s degree, he continued to help research in his university labs, he applied to many internships and completed two corporate capstone projects in the UX field for Mastercard and Trust Financial. He graduated with his Master’s degree in 2022 and began work for a company called Zoox as a UX Researcher. Zoox as an independent subsidiary of Amazon, creates self-driving cars and are on a mission to revolutionize mobility. At Zoox, unlike Tesla, the cars are purpose-built self-driving robot taxis with no manual steering wheels, manual brakes, or gas pedals.
Victor was born in Japan, and his family all live in the United States. Victor pursued his education and dream of being a part of the UX Field but his main priority has always been to stay near to his family. When he is not working, his passions are spending time with loved ones, photography and driving cars around race tracks across California.
“Derryfield taught me perseverance and adaptability. Which have positively impacted me in my future endeavors. I even think that those two particular skills are the key to life.” -Victor Jialang Li ‘17