2023-2028
Northeastern University
Personal Health Informatics, Ph.D. student
Advised by Prof. Matthew Goodwin
Yuna Watanabe
I am a Ph.D. student in Personal Health Informatics Program at Northeastern University.
I am intersted in developing technologies for romantic couples to improve their relationship, especially for neurodiverse couples.
My research involves the intersection of psychophysiology, social psychology, human-computer interaction, and ubiquitous computing.
About me
- Yuna Watanabe
- Ph.D. student at Computational Behavioral Science Laboratory, advised by Professor Matthew Goodwin
- Khoury College of Computer Science and Bouve College of Health Science, Northeastern University
Education & Experience
2023
The University of Tokyo
Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies
2022-2023
The University of Tokyo
Reserch Assistant at the Sensory Perception & Interaction, Research Group
Advised by Prof. Karon MacLean
2022-2023
The University of Tokyo
Reserch Assistant at the Human Augmentation Lab
Advised by Prof. Jun Rekimoto
2022-2023
The University of Tokyo
Reserch Assistant at the Information Somatics Lab
Advised by Prof. Daisuke Uriu
2021-2022
The University of Tokyo
Research Assistant at the Cyber Interface Lab
Advised by Prof. Takuji Narumi
2019-2023
The University of Tokyo
Information Science Major, Bachelor of Arts and Sciences
Projects
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Computational Behavioral Science Lab
Physiological linkage
Analysis of how dyad's physiological responses are linked in different relationship dynamics.
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Computational Behavioral Science Lab
HeartView
An open-source signal quality assessment software for cardiovascular signals.
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Computational Behavioral Science Lab
Aggression prediction
Prediction of aggressive behaviors of children with autism using machine learning technologies.
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SPIN Lab (Intern at UBC)
Synchrobot
A device that displays a breathing-like motion according to an online collaborator's heartbeat.
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Human Augmentation Lab
OpenRBSync
An open-source toolkit to acquire time-synchronized biosignals and visualize them/thier synchrony.
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Information Somatics Lab
T-Leap
A wearable telepresence system that can share 360-degree video to remote users.
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Cyber Interface Lab
Virtual Co-embodiment
A virtual body that two users operate together. Examined the cognitive effects of this system.
Publications
- Dunn, J., Mishra, V., Shandhi, M. M. H., Jeong, H., Yamane, N., Watanabe, Y., ... & Goodwin, M. S. (2025). Building an open-source community to enhance autonomic nervous system signal analysis: DBDP-autonomic. Frontiers in Digital Health, 6, 1467424.
- Yazaki, T., Uriu, D., Watanabe, Y., Takagi, R., Kashino, Z., & Inami, M. (2023, December). “Oh, could you also grab that?”: A case study on enabling elderly person to remotely explore a supermarket using a wearable telepresence system. In Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Multimedia (pp. 340-352).
- Yazaki, T., Watanabe, Y., Kong, L., & Inami, M. (2023, December). Design and Field Study of Syn-Leap: A Symmetric Telepresence System for Immersion Switching and Walking Across Multiple Locations. In Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Multimedia (pp. 353-365).
- Kitagishi, T., Hiroi, Y., Watanabe, Y., Itoh, Y., & Rekimoto, J. (2023, October). Telextiles: End-to-end Remote Transmission of Fabric Tactile Sensation. In Proceedings of the 36th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (pp. 1-10).
- Watanabe, Y., Cang, X. L., Guerra, R. R., Mclaren, D., Vyas, P., Rekimoto, J., & Maclean, K. E. (2023, April). Demonstrating Virtual Teamwork with Synchrobots: A Robot-Mediated Approach to Improving Connectedness. In Extended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-4).
Awards
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Japan Student Services Organization (JASSO) Scholarship (2025-2028)
- Japanese government scholarship for international students
- Granted approx. 97000 USD
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Grad Cohort for Women (2024)
- Selected as a student for Grad Cohort for Women 2024
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Heiwa Nakajima Foundation Scholarship (2023-2025)
- Granted approx. 50000 USD
Activities
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.
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Official Global Leadership Program at the University of Tokyo. Conducted research about gender inequality with diverse teammates and designed an app prototype as a solution. Researched/interviewed about the cultural preservation of Sado island and gave a group presentation.Global Education for Innovation and Leadership -
Organized academic events for high school students as a leader. Discussed business/academic topics with top Asian university students. Got the best presenter awards among 30 students three-time (February/August 2021 & February 2022).Asia Elite Business Scholars -
Organized an online event where students and female working professionals can discuss the careers of womenWomen's career event -
Talked about gender diversity as a panelist in an online event (1257 participants)BRIDGEs2021-ESG & SDGs meeting -
Organized online events where students and working professionals can discuss their careers and future (more than 1000 participants in total)Gakushaka -
Learned various social issues from working professionals and discussed a variety of topics. Organized a three-day-event (50 participants) as a lead organizer and facilitated the academic discussion.Knowledge Investment Programs -
Organized workshops for high school students on Ishigaki island to fill in the educational gapUniversity of Tokyo Frontier Runners -
Visited a rural village in Malaysia and worked on a simplified water purification system as a core memberMultilateral Interaction with Students
Contact
- Yuna Watanabe
- email: watanabe.y [at] northeastern.edu
More about me
Things I love:
- Cooking
- Baking
- Workout
- Piano