At ThriveUX Lab, we explore how human-centered technologies can foster well-being, meaningful connection, and emotional resilience. Grounded in human-computer interaction (HCI), our work blends UX design, behavioral health, and participatory research to co-create digital tools that support communication, belonging, and personal growth. We collaborate closely with students, educators, and community partners to design for thriving—not just functioning—and to build inclusive, empowering systems that center empathy and lived experience.
Research Areas:
HCI, Health Informatics, Recommender Systems, Explainable AI, CUIs, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Machine Learning (ML), Gamification, Human-AI Interaction
Student Highlight: Varshini Bhavanam
Renee Olds
Master Student
(1st Yr)
Alumni Master Student
Alumni Master Student
Alumni Master Student
Regan Gross, Trevor Schimdt, Varshini Bhavanam, Sara Troseth, Olivia Brazier, Adam Orland, Jared Nordstrom
ProHealth Initiative aims to examine how health applications can be designed to support individuals in their pursuit of a healthy lifestyle as well as their desire to collaboratively promote healthy living within close relationships.
ProHealth Initiative is composed by 4 projects:
PhamilyHealth Project: An online social-based system for intergenerational family collaboration on health over distance.
FreeMind Project: A mobile application to help students to focus on self-care and wellness, and increase their awareness of behaviors and healthy practices.
OurHealth Project: Developing technology solutions that promote engagement in healthy living and reduce health disparities in rural communities.
Gamification to Enhance Mental Wellness Project: Collaborative design an application that uses gamification principles to personalize and promote mental wellness.
The remote monitoring system project aims to provide a model of HIPPA-compliant, non-intrusive patient's monitoring system for health-related research regarding patient-caregiver dyadic interactions. You can see more details here.
Intergenerational Sharing of Health Data among Family Members Project : Exploring opportunities to support tracking and sharing of health information between elderly parents and their adult children.
PaperClickers Project: An affordable technological solution for classroom response systems.
Community Animator Project: A mobile app to inspire connections within communities.
International Spouses Project: Investigating design solutions to help international spouses in community orientation and access to local social services.
(January 2012 – August 2013)
Developed mobile phone applications in Android. For instance, the Perfil game project for mobile phones.
(September 2008 – December 2011)
Worked on projects involving analysis and design of industrial automation systems, software development desktop and web database modelling, analysis supporting the production line (HD and Signs).
(August 2015-December 2017; May 2018 – August 2018, Summer 2019 - May 2020)
Served as an RA to Dr. John Carroll conducting qualitative data collection and analysis, design and prototyping of mobile applications;
Leading in-situ research study;
Collaborated as author and co-authors on research papers.