Hi, I'm Marj! (pronouns: she/her).

I'm a UX Researcher and a Computational Media PhD student in the Alternative Learning Technologies & Games Lab at UC Santa Cruz.

As researchers, empathy should be at the heart of everything we do! Games interest me because they emphasize the engagement and enjoyment of the player/user experience. I use mixed-methods processes and design to research my various interests across human-computer interaction (HCI) and games.

I'm curious how challenge and collaboration game mechanics affect player experience and encourage conversations that lead to reflective learning. I use (games) user research methods and also explore embodied interaction (XR) to study this.

Ever since Pokémon indirectly taught me English as a kid, I've loved games and technologies for encouraging us to imagine beyond our individual lenses of the world. I especially believe media that address issues such as mental health, queer identities, and accessibility are powerful in eliciting meaningful experiences 🎮