Yao Du, M.A., CCC-SLP
PhD student in Informatics
Email: yaod7 [at] uci [dot] edu
Research Interests: mobile and voice interface, game design, speech therapy, individuals with disabilities
I am doctoral student in Informatics (Fall 2016-Present) at the University of California, Irvine. My advisor is Katie Salen Tekinbas. My research examines best practices in interaction design for children with disabilities, service design for speech language pathologists, and game design for therapy activities through touch-based and voice-based interfaces. Using both quantitative (e.g., experiment, survey) and qualitative (interviews, video analysis, heuristic evaluations) techniques, my empirical projects aim to transform clinical knowledge to inform technical design and development of educational, assistive, and health technology.
Prior to attending UCI, I worked as a bilingual Mandarin-English speech language pathologist across multiple educational and medical settings (e.g., private school, outpatient clinic, hospital, skilled nursing facility, and at home) with children and adults with developmental and/or acquired communication disorders. I completed my M.A. in Communication Science and Disorders at the University of Texas, Austin in 2014, where I worked with Dr. Li Sheng for a master thesis on developing a language screener for bilingual Mandarin-English speaking preschoolers. I received my B.A. in Communication Disorders and Sciences at San Jose State University in 2011.