The Human Centered Design & Engineering PhD Graduate Ambassador program enables prospective students to learn from the experiences of current HCDE doctoral students.
If you’re interested in applying to the HCDE PhD program, first you should meet with PhD Adviser Kathleen Rascon. Then, once you’ve identified faculty you want to work with, plan to meet with a PhD ambassador who also works with that faculty (or contact Kathleen for more info if you don’t see the faculty’s name represented on this page). Look through the list of PhD ambassadors below, and find the one(s) whose research interests match your own or who work with faculty that you’d like to work with. Schedule through their appointment link, or contact their email if no link is available.
More ambassadors will be added to this list in June 2026.
Kyra Arnett
Hi, I'm Kyra (she/her)! I'm a fourth-year PhD student advised by David Ribes. I study the relationship between scientific practice, policy, and organizations. So far, my research has focused on the set of policies that regulate science in relation to national security concerns. My work is historicist and ethnographic, so I spend a lot of time digging through (mostly digital) archives. I was drawn to HCDE, in part, because its interdisciplinarity and the supportive community here.
Before starting my PhD, I worked for several years at a global health nonprofit. I'm happy to talk about returning to school after time away, doing social scientific or archival research, potential research fits, and other questions you might have. You can reach me at knarnett@uw.edu!
Jeff Basoah
Hello! I'm Jeff (he/him), a Northern Virginia native of Ghanaian descent and a fifth-year PhD candidate in HCDE. My research examines how AI-supported writing technologies interact with users' sociolinguistic identities, with a particular focus on how Black Americans and speakers of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) experience, perceive, and are affected by these systems. I work with Dr. Daniela Rosner in the Tactile and Tactical Design Lab here in HCDE and Dr. Katharina Reinecke in the WildLab over in CSE. You can learn more about my work at jeffreybasoah.github.io. If you have any questions about the program, living in Seattle, grad school, or research alignment, feel free to reach out via email (jeffkb28@uw.edu).
René Capella
Hello! My name is René Capella. I am a second year PhD student studying for my Generals Exam this upcoming fall quarter. My research interests include archival work, discursive design, feminism, and sociotechnical imaginaries as we collectively consume and then enact technology through design. I am also the curator of the Archive of Sociotechnical Imaginaries. Being advised by Tyler Fox and Jennifer Turns with both Regina Lee and Daniela Rosner on my committee has been an enlightening and fascinating experience. After I defend my dissertation, I am interested in going into industry to lead design teams and serve as a consultant for design and engineering companies. You can schedule a meeting with me through this link: https://calendar.app.google/oxXrZ4JAi66ZpENAA
Lucy Jiang
Hi! I’m Lucy Jiang (she/her) and I am a third-year PhD student advised by Leah Findlater. My research interests are in accessibility and human-computer interaction, and I specifically focus on understanding how to make visual content (e.g., images, videos, artwork) more accessible to blind and low vision people. I’ve also collaborated with professors and students in HCDE and Computer Science to design and implement research recruitment infrastructure, apply vision language models to identify and describe urban artwork at scale, and investigate interventions for evaluating bias in AI-generated images. Prior to joining HCDE, I received my BS in Computer Science from the University of Washington and my MS in Computer Science from Cornell University. I was excited to return to UW for my PhD and I’ve genuinely appreciated how interdisciplinary and inclusive HCDE is! If you have any questions about the PhD application process, the department, or grad school more generally, feel free to reach out via email (lucjia@uw.edu).