Hello,

UX Researcher. Youth and STEM Advocate. Mentor. Educator.

I'm Daniela Markazi!

I am an Informatics Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (where I received dual Bachelor's Degrees in Agricultural and Biological Engineering and a minor in Natural Resource Conservation), a Generation Google Scholar, and a Computational and Data Science Fellow from the Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on High-Performance Computing. I am deeply committed to supporting youth, women, and underrepresented students in pursuing STEM and academic endeavors and contributing to disaster resilience in Puerto Rico.

My work aims to leverage technology to elevate societal well-being, with a particular emphasis on underserved communities, environmental contexts, and empowering youth via participatory methods. As a UX researcher, I integrate research and design to create user-centered solutions that address diverse challenges while promoting equity and accessibility. I am advised by Dr. Luis Rodríguez and Dr. Rachel Magee.

Leadership

Resume

Recent Highlights:

I served as a User Researcher Fellow at the General Services Administration via Coding it Forward. There, I led my own UX research project and won the Courtney Brousseau Community Builder Award.

I created a new course at the University of Illinois titled Community-based Design and Management for Disaster Resilience! In this class, I teach students about human-centered design and how design justice principles can be used for environmental and sustainability-related projects in Puerto Rico.

I presented my work on teens and technology at the ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing.

I was named the doctoral student winner of the Graduate Student Leadership Award from The Graduate College due to my leadership efforts.