Julie Kientz, associate professor of Human Centered Design & Engineering, has received a Google Faculty Research Award to study how technology can foster engagement between children with and without disabilities.

The project idea was conceived by HCDE PhD student Kiley Sobel, who will lead portions of the research. Jason Yip, assistant professor in the UW's Information School, is Co-Principal Investigator. 

Children experience opportunities to learn and build social relationships and skills when they jointly engage with media. The research team aims to understand how technology design can promote joint media engagement between children with and without disabilities.

The team will study YouTube Kids as an inclusive co-viewing platform, design and prototype a version of YouTube Kids specifically to support inclusive co-viewing, and evaluate this application with pairs of children with diverse abilities and needs. 

The findings from this research will inform the future design of inclusive co-viewing applications that support cooperation and learning between children with and without disabilities.

Awarded annually, Google Faculty Research Awards support graduate student tuition, and provide both faculty and students the opportunity to work with Google researchers and engineers. In 2018, Google received 1033 proposals and funded 152 projects. 

Learn more about the Google Faculty Research Award here.