“What I found was that there are a lot of people who know a lot about design or tech, and they have these fantastic ideas but no strong way to communicate them and that's where professional writing comes in.”

Starr May is a junior from Versailles, KY, double majoring in Computer Science and English with a concentration in Professional Writing. May is known for the many projects she has taken on during her time at WKU, including projects in the Art and Design Department, taking courses in the User Experience Department, working at Image West, being an Honors College student, and being a member of the Honor’s Social Planning Board.

May first came to WKU when she was originally a Gatton Student and when she officially joined WKU as a college student, she decided to study Computer Science and Professional Writing in English. Double-majoring in Computer Science and English may seem like a tremendous feat, as they are two completely different fields. However, May says that these two fields interact more than some would think. 

“It's definitely interesting. They're two very different worlds. But, there's a lot that you can learn from the interactions between them,” May says. “And I find that a lot of  English-related projects need someone who has CS skills. And a lot of CS-related projects need someone who has English skills. They’re fields that interact more than you would think.”

Along with being a double major and an honors student, in Fall 2023, May also started working at Image West, WKU’s AD and PR Agency, where she uses her skills as a Copywriter. Using the skills that she has gained from her English major, May is able to lend a helping hand to Image West.  

May is also very involved with some UX and XR projects on campus that she is very excited about. UX stands for “user experience,” which is based on designing things like web user interfaces, signs, or directories–things that are easy to use and will give the user a good experience. XR is an umbrella term that AR (Augmented Reality) and VR (Virtual Reality) fall under. So, XR is anything dealing with putting the user into a computerized world or bringing a computerized world to the user. “There are also computer imaging projects that happen. For instance, there is one really cool project going on right now where someone is working on a sign language interpreter program,” May says. “So you set up a camera and then sign in front of it and the computer then interprets the data from physical space into digital space.”

May is also very involved with UX (User Experience) and XR (Augmented and Virtual Reality) projects on campus. During these projects, May is still able to use her English degree in a very helpful way! “What I found [in the tech side of things and in UX] was that there are a lot of people who know a lot about design or tech, and they have these fantastic ideas but no strong way to communicate them and that's where professional writing comes in.” May explains that the UX teams she was being put in needed people there to help communicate ideas effectively. She was able to use the skills that she gained with her English degree to help these teams. 

May is very excited to use her knowledge of the English field to help with XR projects as well. “Once we start these kinds of projects we are going to have to get a bunch of people on board very quickly. I know that will be a huge writing challenge, if we expect people to use these specialized science programs, we’re going to have to explain to them how to do that. So while I haven’t gone crazy into the English field of XR yet, I know it’s coming,” May says. 

Starr May is a very accomplished student who takes any challenge that is handed to her, whether it be working in the English Department or helping create programs in the User Experience program. Whatever her plans are next, we are very excited to see what she accomplishes!