Chau Vu

CS Student @ Pomona College

Both an academic and a programmer at heart, my research concerns the full tech cycle from shipping and evaluating machine-learning-powered systems to developing theoretical frameworks that inspire the next ones. I've applied both technical and theoretical skills to solve critical problems across multiple domains, including personal informatics, creativity support, education, and always challenge myself with more ideas—all centered on keeping humans at the core of technology.

Beyond research, I built softwares at Microsoft. Honored to have published and received Best Paper awards at premier research venues including ACM UIST and CHI.

Chau Vu presented at Google PI&E Summit in Sunnyvale on accessibility and HCI.

News

[01 - 2026] — Received the Computing Research Association Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award [link]

Pomona's First CRA Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award, highest honor for an undergraduate involved in computer science research.

[10 - 2025] — Presented "Computationally Scaffolding of Composition, Value, and Color" and received Best Paper Award at UIST 2025 (Top 1%).

In-person presentation in Busan, Korea.

My work would not have been possible without the support of my advisors at Pomona College & UC Irvine: Prof. Alexandra Papoutsaki, Prof. Jingyi Li, and Prof. Daniel Epstein.

Computational Scaffolding of Composition, Value, and Color for Disciplined Drawing
— UIST, 2025 Best Paper Award

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

Understanding Temporality of Reflection in Personal Informatics through Baby Tracking
— CHI , 2025 Honorable Metion Best Paper Award

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

Mind wandering somewhere above the clouds, between Hanoi and Los Angeles.

I like building things—staying close to the code, whether for research or ideas that simply won't leave me alone. Visit GitHub for a full list of my projects.

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