Eureka Foong
Eureka Foong Reflects on her Experiences at Northwestern.
Eureka Foong, who earned her PhD in Technology & Social Behavior, shares her insights on HCI, the Northwestern experience, and her career path.
Eureka Foong's education has taken her across the world. From receiving her B.A. in Psychology at Linfield College, to earning her PhD in Northwestern's Technology & Social Behavior, to researching as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Tokyo, to landing in Switzerland working as a User Experience Researcher at Youtube, Eureka has established herself in the field of human-computer interaction.
Could you describe your career path?
After my psychology degree, my first job was leading user experience research at Piktochart in Malaysia, helping everyday designers make beautiful infographics. Then, I worked with Liz Gerber at Northwestern in the PhD in Technology and Social Behavior program, investigating issues of gender equity in online freelancing. After grad school, I moved to Japan to do a Postdoc at the University of Tokyo, and now I work as a UX researcher at YouTube in Switzerland, where I influence product teams to improve creators’ experiences with copyright.
Why did you choose Northwestern?
I came to Northwestern because I really clicked with my advisor, Liz! She had just gotten a grant to study the use of crowdsourcing for design education and I was also interested in learning how people become better designers. My seniors in the Delta Lab also made me feel really welcomed to the human-computer interaction community, and I thought I would give living in Chicago a try!
What was your experience at Northwestern like?
Grad school is not easy, but being at Northwestern meant I had a great community of peers and mentors to lean on. I made a lot of friends with other students in my cohort in my first year, and some of my fondest memories were with the Delta Lab - we had weekly "pair research" sessions to help each other, and quarterly potlucks with the faculty. There were multiple ways to have fun and get support from others, from dissertation writing groups, to international student skiing trips, and salsa dance parties.
How do you envision the future of human-computer interaction?
I think there could be multiple futures for human-computer interaction. Over the last few decades, we've seen HCI enter new spaces in politics, collaborative work, and health. I imagine we will continue to see HCI research embedded even more in areas, such as the legal space. We’ve obviously seen a boom in generative AI technology in the last year, so I imagine there won’t be a shortage of research understanding its potential and also how we will mitigate some of its risks, such as job replacement in the creative sector.
What advice would you give to a student just starting the program?
Don't be afraid to ask for support and carve space to grow yourself as a person outside of grad school (meaning - make time to pursue your hobbies on the weekend!). It really is a marathon, not a sprint, and the people you meet here will continue to play a role in your life after you finish!