Campus Directory

Pronouns she, her, her, hers, herself

Division Baskin School of Engineering

Department/College/Unit Computational Media
Center for Computational Experience

Title Professor

Affiliation Faculty

Faculty Type Regular Faculty

Areas of Expertise Human Computer Interaction
Game Design
Design

Web Site

Primary Office Location Engineering Building 2
265

Additional Location(s) Engineering Building 2, 262

Office Hours email for appointment

Mail Stop SOE / Computational Media

Biography, Education and Training

Katherine Isbister directs the Social Emotional Technology Lab https://setlab.soe.ucsc.edu/. She received her M.S. and Ph.D. from Stanford University, and completed a one-year postdoc at NTT in Japan. Isbister's research team creates interactive experiences at the intersection of HCI and Games/Play to heighten social and emotional connections and wellbeing, with over 100 peer-reviewed publications. Isbister is a recipient of MIT Technology Review's Young Innovator Award, and is an ACM Distinguished Scientist. Before joining UCSC, Isbister served as a faculty member at New York University, the IT University of Copenhagen, and at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. 

Summary of Expertise

Research expertise at the intersection of Human Computer Interaction and Game Design Research. Recent topics include Smart Fidgets, Emotion Regulation technologies, Social VR, Human Food Interaction technologies, Embodied Play, and Social Wearables, among others. 

Research Interests

• Human computer interaction
• Games and emotion, social and embodied interaction
• Interactive characters
• Game user research
• Wellbeing and technology

Awards, Honors and Grants

ACM Distinguished Scientist

Higher Education Video Game Alliance Founding Fellow

Humboldt Foundation Experienced Researcher

MIT Technology Review Young Innovator