I am a HCI researcher, Technology consultant, and 4th year Phd candidate at Northwestern University.
Curriculum Vitae (CV) | Google Scholar
As a human-computer interaction (HCI) researcher, I use participatory and community-based research methods to co-design technologies that support frontline workers / healthcare providers & promote positive health outcomes for all. I have experience conducting user-centered research in AI for health, digital safety, workplace technologies, and more. I am advised by Maia Jacobs in the Personalized & Adaptive Technology for Health (NU-PATH) Lab.
As a technology consultant, I create & facilitate trainings to understand and address technology-facilitated abuse, particularly for survivors of domestic violence. I work closely with The Network: Advocating Against Domestic Violence on initiatives to build Chicago’s capacity to increase digital safety practices, trauma-informed care, and support within local communities.
Email at: [ conniewchau@u.northwestern.edu ] / conniewchau [@] u [dot] northwestern [dot] edu.
Publications
[P1 -🏆 Best Paper Honorable Mention Award] “‘All Day, Every Day, Listening to Trauma’: Investigating Features of Digital Interventions for Empathy-based Stress and Burnout”. [PDF]
Connie W. Chau, Colleen Norton, Kaylee Kruzan, Maia Jacobs.[P2] “Envisioning the Future of Burnout Support: Understanding Frontline Workers' Experiences in Nonprofit Gender-Based Violence Organizations”. CSCW 2024. [PDF]
Connie W. Chau, Hannah Studd, Denise Huang, Colleen Norton, Kaylee Kruzan, Maia Jacobs.[P3] “On Hackathons: A Multi disciplinary Literature Review”. CHI 2023. [PDF]
Connie W. Chau and Elizabeth M. Gerber.[P4] “Equityware: Co-designing with and for low-SES communities.” CHI 2023. [PDF]
Stefany Cruz, Alexander Redding, Connie W. Chau, Claire Lu, Josiah Hester, Maia Jacobs.[P5] “Part of the Conversation: Workforce Professionals’ Perspectives on the Roles and Impacts of Workforce Technologies”. CSCW 2022. [PDF]
Connie W. Chau, Kenneth Holstein, and Michael Madaio.“Preliminary Feasibility of Using Crowdworkers to Identify Visual Triggers for Photosensitive Epilepsy in Digital Media”. [PDF]
Angela Davis, Connie W. Chau, Maia Jacobs“Towards trauma-informed interventions with & for secondary traumatic stress (STS) for advocates in gender-based violence”. Workshop on Trauma-Informed Design: A Collaborative Approach to Building Safer Online Spaces at CSCW ‘23. [Workshop Paper]
Connie W. Chau, Hannah Studd, Kaylee Kruzan, Maia Jacobs.“From self to community care: The need for multilevel interventions to address advocate burnout in gender-based violence”. Workgroup on Interactive Systems in Healthcare (WISH) at CHI ‘23. [Workshop Paper]
Connie W. Chau, Hannah Studd, Kaylee P. Kruzan, Maia Jacobs.
Updates & News
Jun 2025 - 🏥 Attending AcademyHealth’s Annual Research Meeting as a selected Health Equity Scholars Program 2025 Scholar in Minneapolis, MN, USA
May 2025 - Presented my 🏆 Best Paper Honorable Mention- awarded paper at CHI 2025! I also gave a presentation on trauma-informed computing & design to researchers at the 🧠 Alan Turing Institute, received a grant to support community-based digital literacy & safety, started my UX internship at the NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, and was awarded for my service & leadership in the CS PhD Advisory Board by the Northwestern Computer Science Department
April 2025 - I presented a poster about my work to the 📊 NU IPHAM Public Health Summit 2025 and have an accepted poster talk at the 13th Scientific Meeting of the International Society of Research on Internet Interventions (ISRII)
March 2025 - 3 qualifying exams later, I am a PhD Candidate 🎉 !! I also presented my doctoral work with my community partner at the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) Economic Justice Summit and facilitated an expert panel on Tech Abuse & Safety at the Reclaiming Our Love: 4th Social Justice & Domestic Violence Conference
Feb 2025 - 🏅 Recently awarded the ARCC 2025 Partnership Development Grant to create a community advisory board for my work creating an intervention to support the work of frontline workers in domestic violence! 📊 My undergrad (now graduated) mentee’s paper on using crowdsourcing to identify triggers for photosensitive epilepsy was accepted to CHI LBW!