Research Areas
AI for Developer Productivity & Well-Being
Investigating how AI-driven tools and social norms shape developers’ lived experiences, and designing systems that balance efficiency and psychological well-being.
Full paper: Impact of Co-Presence Collaboration Practices on Developers with ADHD
Through 10 semi-structured interviews, we explore the modality of software engineers with ADHD engaging in collaborative co-presence practices (body doubling and pair programming), (2) challenges & mitigation strategies, and (3) aspects of co-presence practices that software engineers with ADHD believe an AI-tool can be used to balance conflicting social and cognitive demands. We map these experiences to co-presence theory by identifying a unique "embodied feeling" of co-presence that developers prioritize and provide design recommendations for AI-based tools that promote inclusive practices for developers with ADHD in workplace settings.
Publication coming soon! Read more →Full Paper: Good Vibrations? A Qualitative Study of Co-Creation, Communication, Flow, and Trust in Vibe Coding
Through 11 semi-structured interviews and qualitative analysis of Reddit and LinkedIn data, we present a systematic qualitative investigation into "vibe coding," an emerging natural language programming paradigm that prioritizes flow and experimentation over strict specification. We find that AI trust regulates movement along a continuum from delegation to co-creation and supports the developer experience by sustaining flow. We surface recurring pain points and risks in areas including specification, reliability, debugging, latency, code review burden, and collaboration. We also present best practices that have been discovered and shared to mitigate these challenges. We conclude with implications for the future of AI dev tools and directions for researchers investigating vibe coding.
Read publication →Short Paper: Generative Design and Vibe Coding, Rethinking the Design-Development Divide for UI Prototyping
Designathon with 100+ attendees to explore how generative AI reshapes prototyping workflows, blurring the traditional divide between designers and developers. We hosted this event at CHI 2026, where we gave attendees a design brief and credits from V0 by Vercel and Lovable for a 60 minute designathon where they developed and deployed websites from scratch. During the event, we interviewed attendees on their usage of the tools in shaping their design process, offering insights into the way AI-based tools combine the process of design and development.
Read Publication →Supporting Neurodivergent Professionals
Understanding how professionals with ADHD and chronic illness experience their workplaces and creating inclusive practices to better support them.
Full paper: Enhancing Learning Platforms for Individuals with ADHD
In this work, we designed and evaluated a post-hoc video processing intervention that segments instructional content into single-instruction chunks followed by fixed-length pauses to reduce cognitive load. In a within-participants controlled study with 17 individuals with ADHD and 10 without, we find that the intervention has an equalizing effect. Although it improved performance for all participants, gains were larger for those with ADHD, reducing their errors and hesitations to levels comparable to those of participants without ADHD under the same intervention. These results align with the goals of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), by showing that cognitively-aligned, post-hoc instructional video modifications can reduce performance disparities across diverse neurocognitive profiles.
Publication coming soon! Read more →Short Paper: A Longitudinal Autoethnography of Email Access for a Professional with Chronic Illness and ADHD
Email is a foundational infrastructure of professional environments, yet for chronically ill and neurodivergent individuals, it often becomes an invisible barrier to access. We share preliminary insights from a 14-year autoethnography of a professional with chronic illness and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). We detail this professional's iterative adaptation of mainstream email features into Mail++, their personalized workplace communication workflow for managing executive function challenges and chronic illness flares. We propose three emerging themes: (1) from hacks to assistive technology, (2) evolving access needs, and (3) toll of inaccessible systems. Based on our findings, we present initial design insights for accessible workplace communication systems to better inform the design of assistive workplace technology.
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