Enter “Emily Moxley” into the Google search engine, and you won’t find: “UC Santa Barbara Ph.D. alum who works hard, enjoys collaboration, is creative and curious. Making her mark in the traditionally male-dominated technology field as a Product Manager at Google.”
It just goes to show that a Google search isn’t foolproof.
While we were able to Google up some information about Emily, including her work on the Knowledge Graph at Google; her UCSB Ph.D. thesis, “Multimedia Annotation Through Search and Mining”; a Google video in which she and other executives explain how their search product Knowledge Graph works (view the video at the end of this article); even a photograph of her as a child with her first computer, we also learned about Emily the old-fashioned way: We interviewed her.
Emily earned her Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from UCSB in 2009, and her MSE in Electrical and Computer Engineering here in 2007. She came to UCSB from Princeton University, where she earned a BSE in Electrical Engineering in 2005 while finding time to serve as Princeton Class Treasurer for four years and as a member of the Graduation Committee to plan an event for 7,000 guests.
Emily – who went straight from UCSB to a company many consider to be a dream employer, Google – says she enjoys applying what she learned in Santa Barbara to concepts in Silicon Valley that are used by “billions of people.”
She tells us that her education at UC Santa Barbara prepared her to ask a lot of questions. So we decided to turn the tables and ask her a lot of questions. Emily shares with the GradPost how life in the corporate world differs from and is similar to life in grad school; tips for finding your dream job; advice for current Ph.D. students; how the Google product she focuses on, the Knowledge Graph, works; which UCSB professor had a positive impact on her; and more. Read on ...
Please give us a little background about yourself.
I grew up in Richmond, Virginia, and lived there until going to get my undergrad degree in Electrical Engineering at Princeton. I went from there to do my Ph.D. in Computer Engineering at UCSB, joining B.S. Manjunath’s Vision Research Lab and the Interactive Digital Multimedia Program. My Ph.D. applied computer vision techniques to image and video search.
How did you get the job at Google?
While I was finishing up my Ph.D., I realized that places like Google take technology similar to what I’d been working on, and solve the problem for end users. At a company, the product has to scale and work for people in the real world, so it was a great opportunity to take things I’d learned and apply them in a context where billions of people will use them.
So I applied for a Product Management job at Google as I was finishing my Ph.D. because I’d heard it was a great place to work. I was lucky enough to receive an offer, and started up a month after I submitted my thesis at UCSB.
Please tell us a little bit about your job at Google.
I’m a Product Manager on the Knowledge Graph – which is a technology that Google is using to teach computers about real-world objects and concepts. It’s a game changer in terms of how search works: rather than just matching keywords that people type to what’s on web pages, search is now beginning to understand people, places, and things in the real world and provide better answers based on that understanding. One of my main roles is figuring out where and how this interfaces with users of search. So I worked with a team on designing and launching a user-facing view of the Knowledge Graph – a new way of presenting answers to you in a concise and visual way that also encourages you to explore your search topic further.
As a grad student, did you consider Google to be one of your dream companies to work for?
Yes. A lot of engineers have heard mythical legends about working at Google – and they’re mostly true! It’s given me an opportunity to try things at enormous scale and reach, surrounded by people that are fun and creative.
In what ways did UCSB prepare you for your current career?
Working in a collaborative environment is essential for what I do – I’m working with a diverse group of people including designers, engineers, researchers, etc., in order to build a great product, and this is not too far from what I did at UCSB. While part of the Interactive Digital Multimedia program, I was working with students from many different departments such as MAT, Statistics, CS and others in order to design and build things like “Spheres of Influence.” In the Vision Research Lab, I was also working closely with many other students to help solve problems and answer questions.
UCSB also prepared me to ask a lot of questions, which is crucial for working at a place like Google. There’s usually someone out there that knows the answers to the questions you have – part of your job is to find them, ask questions, and learn as much as you can.
Do you have or did you have a mentor or hero?
I’m not sure that I have a single mentor or hero – I’ve really been influenced by a number of people at various stages in my life in various ways.
One person that stands out, though, is my Ph.D. advisor, Professor B.S. Manjunath, who taught me a lot about patience and persistence. My natural inclination has often been to rush forward with an idea, but Manjunath reminded me to look around and do my homework on what else was being done throughout my research process.
Did you find big differences between life in the corporate world versus an academic world?
I actually have found there to be fewer differences than I expected. In both places, the same sorts of skills are important: collaboration, patience, hard work, and curiosity. An important difference is that while the academic world at the end of the day is often working to establish proof or belief in a concept, the corporate world is a bit more focused on scaling technology and making it usable for a large number of people.
What obstacles/challenges do you face as a woman in a predominantly man’s world of technology?
When I was younger, I wasn’t someone who noticed there weren’t too many women around, but it’s true that when I look around, the ratio is still skewed despite more women entering technology these days. At Google, I have mentors and role models like Susan Wojcicki, Jen Fitzpatrick, and formerly Marissa Mayer who are all very supportive of women in Silicon Valley and at Google. I’ve found it to be a very supportive atmosphere – women in technology at UCSB and at Google look out for each other.
Do you have any job search tips you’d like to share with our grad students? Anything you think will help a grad student stand out as a job seeker with potential employers?
One major piece of advice I’d give is to be patient and careful about your job search process. It’s easy to feel insecure and go after a job you don’t really want or that isn’t a good fit – but then you’re stuck living that job. If the people you work with aren’t folks you enjoy hanging out with, or you’re doing something that you don’t really enjoy, it will become clear really fast.
Another thing I’d mention is not to be intimidated by what you don’t know. Many skills you learn on the job, so don’t be worried that you don’t have experience precisely in the particular area you’d like to work in.
For grad students who have dreams of working for Google or some other big technology company, do you have any tips or advice to share?
Having a technical background helps you tremendously in communicating at a tech company, no matter which role you end up in. Understanding the entire stack results in expertise and respect, so focus on learning enough to be able to explain the entire product.
What advice do you have for grad students?
After spending the duration of your Ph.D. on one subject, trying out a new area (research or otherwise) is likely to be refreshing and productive. Don’t be afraid to try new things – you’re likely to bring a fresh perspective to it, and learn about yourself and what you really like in the process.
Do you have any suggestions for the UCSB educational system on how to better prepare our grad students for careers?
Hearing more about opportunities outside your direct area of research would be helpful. To keep students challenged and productive, it’d be nice to give them opportunities to research or work in areas other than their primary focus.
What do you consider to be your biggest accomplishment?
Finishing my Ph.D. While I was at UCSB I built an image search engine that tagged photos with landmarks and other objects by mining a large database of photos from the web (see link to her thesis below). The tagger was usable by the public for a while. Building this required expertise in a number of languages and skills in more than simply computer vision. Completing my degree is really something I am proud of, and it never ceases to make me smile that I was able to build and create new ideas, research, and bind it together into a usable end product and a thesis.
What do you like to do for fun and/or relaxation?
I love rock climbing and hiking, but also enjoy cooking.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
As it turns out, UCSB might also be a good place to meet like-minded people you’d like to spend more than just your time at grad school. My fiancé is another UCSB alum (Phil Marshall) – he was doing his (astrophysics) post-doctorate while I was in grad school – and we’re getting hitched in September.
No need to Google Emily. We’ve compiled our own Knowledge Graph on Emily K. Moxley:
Google's Emily Moxley on the Knowledge Graph (and Women in Tech)
I'm Feeling Googly: Google Changes "I'm Feeling Lucky"
How an MP3 Player Inspired the Launch of Google's Knowledge Graph
Emily Moxley's Thesis: "Multimedia Annotation Through Search and Mining"
Google's Knowledge Graph Studies How We Think
How Google Organizes the World: Q&A With the Manager of Knowledge Graph