About me

Update: I am on sabbatical as a 2022-2023 William Bentinck-Smith Fellow at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute. I will also be on leave from 2023-2024 as an MIT MLK Fellow.

I am an Associate Professor at the University of Michigan’s School of Information (UMSI) and hold a courtesy appointment with the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) department. Before starting as an Assistant Professor, I was a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow at UMSI from January 2013 – July 2014. I also lead the Social Innovations Group at UMSI, and I am a member of the Michigan ICTD and Michigan Interactive and Social Computing (MISC) groups. My research spans Human-Computer Interaction and Ubiquitous Computing fields. I work at the intersection of human-computer interaction; environmental, economic, and social sustainability; and equity.

With the narrowing of the digital divide, and the ubiquity of smart devices and mobile hotspots in common places in the U.S. (e.g., libraries, community centers, and even McDonald’s), I see an urgent need to explore the use of these technologies for those that stand the most to gain from these resources. Therefore, my research team and I investigate, design, build,  enhance, and deploy innovative technologies that solve real-world problems to support the needs of people from historically-excluded groups. My team and I have developed digital employment tools that address the needs of job seekers with limited digital literacy and education; assessed real-time ridesharing and online grocery delivery applications among lower-income and transportation-scarce groups; and proposed models for novice entrepreneurs to build their technical capacity.

I hold an M.S. and Ph.D. in Human-Computer Interaction from Carnegie Mellon University, an M.S. in Computer Science from the Oregon Graduate Institute School of Science and Engineering (now a part of the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, OR), and a B.S. in Computer Engineering from North Carolina State University. I was also a software engineer at Intel Corporation for several years.

I use she/her/hers pronouns.

See my CV for details.