The Department of Philosophy is proud to announce that Jack Lucas Chang, a double major in Philosophy and Informatics, is one of the University of Washington 2021 Husky 100! The Husky 100 recognizes 100 UW undergraduate and graduate students from Bothell, Seattle, and Tacoma in all areas of study who are making the most of their time at the UW.
In addition to his classes, Chang is a student researcher at the UW Security and Privacy Lab at the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, studying how members of the queer community disclose their identity online.
During his time at UW, Chang has interned at Microsoft and the World Ethical Data Foundation. After graduation, he will be a data engineer at the Morris Animal Foundation, a nonprofit foundation dedicated to funding studies to improve and protect the health of animals.
He is working on creating a blog and podcast to document his journey as a queer and trans person in the tech industry. Chang said, he hopes “to show LGBTQ+ youth that people from their community can thrive in the tech industry,” Chang said.
He credits his major in philosophy with preparing him for his career in tech in a myriad of ways including understanding why people believe conspiracy theories, understanding natural language processing, and developing a foundation in ethical structure. He will use these skills to inform his work in tech; addressing privacy and security work, as well as creating more inclusive systems. Additionally, his video submission for the “Why do we need philosophy now?” video contest earned an honorable mention from the Department of Philosophy this year.
Congratulations to Jack! Thank you for adding so much to the Husky community!