Hi, i'm Chau Vu

A software engineer and academic researcher from Los Angeles and Hanoi. Senior undergraduate ('26) studying Computer Science at Pomona College.

Growing up reflecting on hearing disabilities and the limited physical & mental healthcare support for those with sensory impairements, I'm passionate about how technology could fill those gaps. This led me to research multisensory and human-AI systems that empower humans to understand and utilize their use of technology for better health and well-being.

Pursuing this goal by combining theoretical work and technical skills. My recent research range from enhancing well-being, creativity, to improving health tracking through novel theoretical frameworks, AI-powered systems, and AR, VR. Beyond research, I also worked on optimizing industry-scale 3D graphics at Microsoft. Honored to have published and received Best Paper awards at premier research venues for Human-Computer Interaction including UIST and ACM CHI.

Publications

  • Computational Scaffolding of Composition, Value, and Color for Disciplined Drawing

    Jiaju Ma, Chau Vu*, Asya Lyubavina*, Catherine Liu, Jingyi Li.

    Best Paper (Top 1%) at UIST 2025

    Details

  • Understanding Temporality of Reflection in Personal Informatics through Baby Tracking

    Julianne Louie*, Tara Mukund*, Chau Vu* , Daniel Epstein, and Alexandra Papoutsaki.

    Honorable Mention Best Paper (Top 5%) at CHI 2025

    Details

Industry

Microsoft

Software Engineering Intern

May - Aug 2025

I spent my 2025 summer in the beautiful Microsoft Redmond campus, working on state-of-the-art GPU-powered ray-tracing features.

github page (inspired by a sakura forest)

Awards

Research awards

I'm honored to have published and received Best Paper awards at premier academic conferences in human-computer interaction (See Publications above). My work would not have been possible without the support of my advisors at Pomona College & UC Irvine: Prof. Alexandra Papoutsaki, Prof. Jingyi Li, Prof. Daniel Epstein, and collaborators at Stanford University (PhD Jiaju Ma).


Google Product Inclusive & Equity Summit Winner (2023)

Selected among 60 student leaders to attend the first Google Product Inclusion & Equity Summit, where I presented tech initiatives & design methodologies aimed at creating products for marginalized communities with Google researchers.


Rockoff Foundation Research Fellowship (2023)

Awarded the Rockoff Foundation Research Fellowship, I co-host the symposium "History of Assistive Technologies" with Professor Angelina Chin, Pomona History Department.

Details


Other academic awards

2022 - Pomona International Scholarship (the highest scholarship covering the full cost of the undergraduate program)

2023 - Google Conference Scholarship (scholarship covering full cost to Grace Hopper Conference 23)

2024 - Best Insights Main Prize at UCLA Datafest (top 2 out of 48 teams)

2024 - Pomona College Scholar (awarded to students with high GPA)

2025 - UIST Conference Travel Scholarship (scholarship covering full cost to UIST in Busan, Korea)


Programming


Visit GitHub for a full list of my projects here. I love building and stay hands-on with programming across my projects, whether research- or non-research-related.

languages: Java; Python; C++; JavaScript; HTML; CSS; Haskell; SQL

technologies: Web development (ReactJS, NodeJS, MongoDB, Flask, Django); Arduino; XR development (Unity); Postgres; Pytorch (FastAI); Git

UX: Qualitative Research; Thematic analysis; Surveys; Interviews; Prototyping (Figma)

learning: Direct3D, HLSL

Misc

Outside of work, you will find me thrifting, gyming, getting lost in movies (check out my Letterboxd), or vlogging with my digicam when I travel (IG: @whereschau)