I am a Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) design researcher interested in designing and studying technology that positively shapes the human condition in terms of supporting personal growth,  meaning making, and social innovation,  well as facilitating change capable of crafting viable human and environmental futures. I am an Associate Professor in the School of Interactive Arts + Technology at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia. I am the founder and director of the  Homeware Lab (funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation). The Homeware Lab is a new design research laboratory and studio that offers world-class facilities to the design and study of radically new kinds of forms, materials and technologies for the emerging Internet-of-Things (IoT) paradigm. The term Homeware aims to critically challenge ideas of what ‘home’ is and what ought to constitute a ‘domestic technology’ through designing new technologies that connect materials and forms of domestic artifacts (e.g., tableware) with embedded and networked software and hardware. It provides dedicated access to state of the art equipment to support electronics prototyping, digital fabrication, finishing and assembly, small batch production, and field study documentation of new research products. I also co-direct the Everyday Design Studio with  Ron Wakkary. I previously held the Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship  (university-wide and departmental press releases). I was a 2015/16 Design United Visiting Research Fellow where I collaborated with researchers in industrial design departments at universities in the Netherlands, such as Eindhoven University of Technology.

I hold a PhD in HCI from the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University where I was advised by John Zimmerman and Jodi Forlizzi. I completed two research internships at Microsoft Research Cambridge in the  Human Experience & Design group. Before my PhD research, I was a Fulbright Scholar in the design department at the Griffith University Queensland College of Art in Brisbane, Australia where I worked with Dr. Tony Fry. I also studied interaction design at Indiana University with my advisors Eli Blevis and Erik Stolterman.

My work is published in over 60 peer-reviewed publications at venues including ACM CHI, DIS, Ubicomp, CSCW, and Design Issues where it has received seven best paper awards (CHI’11, Ubicomp’11, DIS’12, CHI’14, DIS ’18, DIS ’18, CHI ’19) and nine best paper honorable mention awards (CHI’10, CHI’13, CHI ’16, DIS’16, DIS ’16, CHI ’18, DIS ’19, CHI ’20, DIS ’20). Please see my Publications or Google Scholar for more details. I am the winner of the Imagine Cup design competition and co-recipient of the International Design Excellence Award from the Industrial Designers Society of America. I have received the Simon Fraser University Emerging Researcher Award for demonstrated excellence in early career research.