News
- I'm on the job market. I'm interested in academic and industry research positions related to how online platform design impacts relationships and mental health.
- I'm honored to have been selected as a participant for EECS Rising Stars.
Amanda Baughan
Hello! I am in the final year of my PhD (ABD) in Computer Science & Engineering, advised by Alexis Hiniker. My expected graduation date is Spring 2024. My work focuses on human-computer interaction and social computing, drawing from a variety of disciplines including user-centered design, social psychology, and recently, critical theory. The purpose of my work is to design, evaluate, and build systems to support users' connection with themselves and each other on social media and communication platforms.
Currently, I'm building a messaging platform as a culmination of three years of research on hard conversations online, including conflict and other emotionally fraught discourse. I'm implementing novel design features to increase connection and understanding during these critical moments. The beginnings of this work have been featured on NPR.
Separately, I'm passionate about understanding social media use through the lens of dissociation. I'm interested in how design and peer networks can disrupt dissociation to support users' goals for time spent on social media. This work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal and Scientific American.
Previously, I worked as a UX Researcher at AI2's Semantic Scholar, improving human-AI interaction on research feeds. Before that, I spent two years working at Google, and I returned recently as a Research Intern to evaluate user trust in voice assistants. This work received an honorable mention at CHI '23.
When not working, you can find me surfing, hiking, or screaming into the void.
Email: baughan at cs.uw.edu