Yuna Watanabe
Yuna Watanabe
I am interested in how technologies can change our perceptions, emotions, and behaviors. I conducted research about communication assistive technologies in my undergraduate studies. For my graduate study, I am passionate about developing personal health informatics technologies to help people with autism regulate their emotions.
  • Yuna Watanabe
  • Ph.D. candidate at Computational Behavioral Science Laboratory
  • Khoury College of Computer Science and Bouve College of Health Science, Northeastern University

2019-2023

The University of Tokyo
Information Science Major, Bachelor of Arts and Sciences

2023

The University of Tokyo
Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies

2023-

Northeastern University
Personal Health Informatics, Ph.D. candidate

Biosignals × System design × Communication & perception
Through working on multiple projects about technologies to foster/smoothen communications, I felt the incredible power of technologies to change our perception toward others. Building on these projects, I am motivated to explore technologies to change our perception of ourselves and help us control our emotions.
  • SPIN Lab (Intern at UBC)
    Synchrobot A device that displays a breathing-like motion according to an online collaborator's heartbeat.
  • Human Augmentation Lab
    OpenRBSync An open-source toolkit to acquire time-synchronized biosignals and visualize them/thier synchrony.
  • Information Somatics Lab
    T-Leap A wearable telepresence system that can share 360-degree video to remote users.
  • Cyber Interface Lab
    Virtual Co-embodiment A virtual body that two users operate together. Examined the cognitive effects of this system.
  • Yuna Watanabe, Xi Laura Cang, Rúbia Reis Guerra, Devyani McLaren, Preeti Vyas, Jun Rekimoto, and Karon E MacLean. (2023). “Demonstrating Virtual Teamwork with Synchrobots: A Robot-Mediated Approach to Improving Connectedness,” CHI EA '23: Extended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.
  • Takekazu Kitagishi, Yuichi Hiroi, Yuna Watanabe, Yuta Itoh, and Jun Rekimoto. (2023). Telextiles: End-to-end Remote Transmission of Fabric Tactile Sensation. In Proceedings of the 36th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST '23).
Building connections & Providing opportunities for underrepresented people
Facing educational disparity between the genders and schools, I have come to see the great importance of role models and supportive people. I have been involved in many activities to connect various people and provide support for underrepresented people.
  • Yuna Watanabe
  • email: watanabe.y [at] northeastern.edu
  • tel: (+1) 857.867.9517

Things I love:

  • Cooking
  • Baking
  • Workout
  • Piano