Work

A body of work.

Engineering and AI, interdisciplinary research, a national nonprofit, and a policy fight to protect incarcerated people, built in parallel, not in sequence.

Engineering, AI & research.

A software and AI engineer and interdisciplinary researcher, with work that spans industry teams and four research labs at Cornell, from biomedical engineering to sociology.

2025–2026

Ready.net

AI Software Engineer

Building AI products and ML pipelines

2025

JPMorgan Chase

Software Engineer

Infrastructure Platforms

2022–2024

Google

AI Engineer

AI infrastructure and data systems

  • Schaffer-Nishimura Lab

    Biomedical Engineering

  • Rebecca Nelson Lab

    Integrative Plant Sciences · Global Development

  • Krosch Lab

    Psychology

  • Social Dynamics Lab

    Sociology · 2026–present

  • Unveiling Heterogeneity: Educational Attainment Disparities in the U.S.
  • COVID-19 Influence On Suicide Impulses
  • Visualizing Urban Accessibility: A Map-based Design Probe Study

Rehabilitation through education. Creativity before capital. STEM for the youth the system forgot.

20K+

Young people reached

34+

Chapters nationwide

$300K+

Raised for programs

18

States & counting

Three programs, one mission.

JSTEM is a certified 501(c)(3) working to reduce educational disparities and lower recidivism by giving incarcerated youth the tools to imagine a different future.

01

STEM education

Hands-on courses in coding, data analysis, astrophysics, and collaborative robotics, taught inside juvenile centers and correctional facilities.

02

Therapeutic services

Behavioral health care and therapeutic support that meets youth where they are, not where the system expects them to be.

03

Reentry support

Preparing incarcerated youth for life beyond detention with mentorship, career pathways, and community connections.

Emily Cho at the Forbes New Icons Celebration wearing her JSTEM badge
Juvie for STEM / 30 Under 30 Lister

Where we are today

JSTEM operates chapters across 18+ states, with volunteers from every U.S. state and territory, plus international chapters in Singapore and Mexico City.

We are expanding our collaborative robotics curriculum and building new international partnerships, because every young person deserves access to meaningful education.

juvieforstem.org →

Policy & Advocacy

From the classroom to the capitol.

Programs change lives. Policy changes the system. Emily is a member of the Climate Justice Coalition advocating for the Climate Justice and Worker Safety Act of 2026 (AB 2499, formerly AB 1424), establishing enforceable indoor heat and climate-safety standards for the incarcerated people California's prisons are built to trap heat around.

90°F+

Routine indoor temps in CA prisons

~50

Days a year exceeding 95°F indoors

2024

Heat death of Adrienne Boulard, CCWF

What the bill does

Fiscally disciplined · Implementation-first

01

Directs Cal/OSHA to set a prison-specific indoor heat and climate-safety standard for incarcerated workers, no less protective than 8 CCR 3396.

02

Establishes enforceable planning, monitoring, interim relief, and accountability for heat, cold, wildfire smoke, flooding, and evacuation.

03

Separates low-cost immediate protections from higher-cost capital retrofits, which are phased and subject to appropriation.

04

Hard-wires transparency through monitoring pilots, public reporting, and OIG corrective-action requirements.

05

Bars prison expansion as a compliance pathway, treating closure as a primary fiscal compliance strategy.

“Conditions that would be unlawful in any other workplace shouldn't be legal behind a prison wall.”