mission

As a multidisciplinary HCI and UX researcher from a social science background, I think about impact at invidual and societal levels. I explore creative learning opportunities aligned with my aspirations to build experiences that equitably and ethically advance digital wellbeing. I'm specifically interested in democratizing the movement for humane technology by empowering people with a contextualized understanding of how their day-to-day interactions with technologies impact their emotional, psychological, and cognitive states. How can we help people thrive in today's society and promote civic engagement in digital life?

about

Through experiences in academia and industry, I've worked on projects involving a wide range of research methods and emerging technologies ranging from mobile health research, virtual reality, and autonomous movements for telepresence robots to consumer and enterprise products. Chasing my curiosities through a unique breadth of opportunities, I've embraced cross-disciplinary collaboration in applying UX techniques and supporting social impact initiatives to a diversity of domains ranging from Google’s ad-tech space and The Wall Street Journal to involvements in Cornell Tech’s Digital Life Initiative.

Currently, I'm a researcher and project manager in Cornell University's Social Media Lab and Weill Cornell Medicine’s Patient Decision Support Lab. At Cornell SML, I work on projects supporting Social Media TestDrive, which aims to teach kids digital literacy and citizenship skills through experiential learning; I'm leading a research study on empowering resource-challenged parents in helping their kids navigate privacy risks online. At WCM, I collaborate with clinical practitioners and a bioinformatics group on a variety of projects, such as a study on bioethics and a validation study involving mobile health technologies to conduct remote health assessments.

highlights

• 

  Adobe MAX 2020 Annual Creativity Conference

  Invited Luminary Speaker on the UX/UI Track, Session Title: Designing The Next Generation of User Experience. Topic: The meaning of time well-spent and the limitations of relying on screentime as a proxy for digital wellbeing.

• 

  National Day of Unplugging 2021

  Invited to be an ambassador for NDU 2021, an annual campaign to promote mindful technology use through community events.

• 

  Facebook Research Award: People's Expectations & Experiences with Digital Privacy

  Our team at Cornell SML secured funding for our project titled: empowering under-resourced parents in tweens' digital privacy education. See projects page for details

• 

  Publication:

  Web-Based VR Experiments Powered by the Crowd. Xiao Ma, Megan Cackett, Leslie Park, Eric Chien, Mor Naaman. The Web Conference 2018 (WWW 2018). See projects page for details

education

• Cornell University
• B.S. Communication and Technology
• Minors: Business & Information Science,
  behavioral science concentration
• [ Research Areas ] human-computer interaction, social science, mobile health, ethics, virtual reality, computer-mediated communication, social media

current

• Weill Cornell Medicine, Patient Decision Support Lab
• Cornell Social Media Lab
• National Day of Unplugging Ambassador
• Hexagon UX - NYC, Mentorship & community programs

past

• The Wall Street Journal - 2020
• Digital Life Initiative, Cornell Tech - 2019
• Small Data Lab, Cornell Tech - 2019
• Google - 2018
• Communication & Collaborative Tech Lab, Cornell - 2018
• Social Technologies Lab, Cornell Tech - 2017
• Design User Experience with Technology, Cornell - 2017
• Virtual Embodiment Lab, Cornell - 2016

uni leadership

• Cornell CALS Career Services, Peer Advisor
• Communication Student Advisory Board
• Future Business Leaders of America - Phi Beta Lambda, President & Cornell Chapter Founder
• Temple University Seminar, Peer Instructor

uni awards

• Kenneth Bissett Award 2018
• Andrew Park Foundation Scholarship 2017
• Sheila Turner Seed Award 2017
• PwC Data Analytics Case Competition 2015 - 1st Place at Temple University