People
Katherine Isbister
Director
Katherine Isbister, Director. Katherine Isbister is a full professor in the University of California, Santa Cruz's Department of Computational Media, where she directs the Social Emotional Technology Lab, and the Center for Computational Experience. She has a Research through Design practice at the intersection of Human Computer Interaction and Games/Play, focused on interactive experiences that heighten social and emotional connections and wellbeing. She is the author of more than 100 peer-reviewed publications, and has shown games and playful experiences at IndieCade (Yamove! and SceneSampler), as well as at museums including the San Francisco Exploratorium and the Liberty Science Center in New Jersey. Her most recent book from MIT Press is How Games Move Us: Emotion by Design, winner of an American Library Association award. Isbister is a recipient of MIT Technology Review's Young Innovator Award, and is an ACM Distinguished Scientist.
Personal page: http://www.katherineinterface.com
Email: katherine.isbister@ucsc.edu
Postdoctoral Researchers
Linda Hirsch
Postdoctoral Researcher
Dr. Linda Hirsch is a postdoctoral fellow at the SET lab and is working on the intersection of playful technological intervention and local communities’ climate resilience. Her research focuses on flooding risks in this broad range of natural hazards, including heavy rainfalls, coastal flooding, and precipitation. She holds a doctorial degree Magna cum Laude from the LMU Munich in Germany, where she explored and developed the design concept Traces in Use for meaningful human-environment interaction. She is also an elected executive committee member of the German group “Be-greifbare Interaktion” since 2021, an expert research group within the German Society of Information Technology regarding topics for tangible and embedded interfaces.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-linda-hirsch-88ba9413a/
Email: uxresearch@hirschlinda.com
Doctoral Students
Samir Ghosh
Ph.D. Candidate
Samir Ghosh, Ph.D. candidate. Samir Ghosh is a computational media PhD candidate specializing in multi-user and networked XR applications, especially those with societal impact. Their interests include WebXR based development, open source, and creative code. Previously they were the Assistant Director at the Ahmanson Lab at USC, where they managed a makerspace, produced a wide array of interdisciplinary VR and AR projects, and taught practical workshops concerning generative art and rapid prototyping. They hold a BS in Computational Linguistics and a BA in Cognitive Science from USC. Email: sghosh17@ucsc.edu
MJ Johns
Ph.D. Candidate
MJ Johns (they/them) is a researcher, designer, and innovator focused on the use of novel technologies to solve complex social problems, with a passion for inclusive experience design. Their background is in computer science, game design, and virtual reality development, with a masters degree from CMU's Entertainment Technology Center and a decade of professional experience including software development, project management, and teaching. Currently, MJ's projects include serious games for natural hazard resilience and participatory design activities with communities as well as AI-driven immersive art installations.
Master's Students
Erik Chao
Masters Student
Erik Chao is a Master’s student in Computer Science whose research interests explore how people connect and communicate within a virtual/augmented reality space. His current project includes developing a taxonomy database for VR interactions.. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from UC Santa Cruz.
Personal Website: https://www.erikchao.com/
Tristyn Lai
Masters Student
Tristyn Lai is a Master’s student in Human-Computer Interaction with a background in computer science and game design. Her work centers on game development, media production, and UX research, with the goal of creating thoughtful, impactful interactive experiences that engage and resonate across diverse player communities.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tristynlai/
Kieren Emens
Research Assistant
Kieren Emens is a Master’s student in Computer Science leveraging his skills as a designer and developer to rapidly prototype projects. Their current interests are in creative web development and fluid interaction design. They are currently working with MJ Johns to create accessibility features for serious games.
Undergraduates
Charles Lesser
Research Assistant
Charles Lesser is a third-year student pursuing a computer science: game design major. He specializes in XR development and software engineering, with interest in unity development, collaborative coding, and systems development. He has experience implementing features in webXR with THREE.js as well as in Unity with OpenXR, OVR and Mapbox. LinkedIn
Shalini Raval
Research Assistant
Shalini Raval is an undergraduate studying Technology & Information Management and Computer Science. Her work focuses on data-driven systems, VR development, and human-centered design. She is especially interested in how infrastructure, visualization, and XR can make complex systems more accessible for diverse users.
Sonia Murgesh
Research Assistant
Sonia Murugesh (she/her) is a third-year Cognitive Science major at the University of California, Santa Cruz, with a Computer Science minor on the AI/HCI track. She works at the intersection of human–computer interaction, social computing, and sustainable behavior change, with a particular interest in how interfaces can support more inclusive, emotionally aware, and environmentally responsible technology use. In her research, she focuses on designing and evaluating interfaces that shape people’s everyday choices around energy, climate resilience, and wellbeing. She is committed to designing technology that feels accessible and empowering to people who are often overlooked in mainstream products. She has been involved in student-led initiatives that center inclusive UX practices, peer learning, and community outreach, and she enjoys bridging technical skills with careful attention to users’ lived experiences. Sonia plans to pursue graduate study in HCI and related fields, with the goal of continuing to develop technologies that are playful, equitable, and responsive to the needs of diverse communities.
Alumni
Anthony Angeles
Ferran Altarriba Bertran
Suzanne B. da Camara
Peter Cottrell
Ella Dagan
Jared Duval
Sean Fernandes
James Fey
Sabrina Fielder
Muskan Gupta
Chen Ji
Victor Jialang Li
Joshua McVeigh-Schultz
Pardis Miri
Andrew Moshkovich
Anya Osborne
Alexandra Pometko
Raquel Robinson
Elena Márquez Segura
Samantha Wang
Jimmy Zhou