I received my PhD in Cognitive Science at UC San Diego. I was advised by Dr. Scott Klemmer in the Design Lab. My dissertation examined interactive strategies and tools to support exploratory thinking in creative work. Prior to my PhD, I graduated from UC Berkeley with Honors in Psychology and worked as a research assistant at the Stanford Cognitive & Systems Neuroscience Lab studying math cognition in children. Outside of research, I enjoy boxing, ice skating, playing piano, doing word puzzles, and attending trivia/game nights.
Tricia J. Ngoon, David Kovalev, Prasoon Patidar, Chris Harrison, Yuvraj Agarwal, John Zimmerman, & Amy Ogan. "An instructor is [already] able to keep track of 30 students": Students' Perceptions of Smart Classrooms for Improving Teaching & Their (Mis)conceptions of Teaching and Learning. Under review.
Vikram Cannanure, Eloisa Avila, Tricia J. Ngoon, Yves Adji, Sharon Wolf, Kaja Jasinska, Tim Brown, & Amy Ogan. 2022. "We dream of climbing the ladder, to get there, we have to do our job better": Designing for Teacher Aspirations in Rural Côte d'Ivoire. In ACM Conference on Computing Systems & Sustainable Societies (COMPASS) Proceedings.
Tricia J. Ngoon. 2021. Interactive Attunement Catalyzes Creative Learning. UC San Diego PhD dissertation. Defense recording.
Tricia J. Ngoon, Joy O. Kim, & Scott Klemmer. 2021. Shöwn: Adaptive Conceptual Guidance Aids Example Use in Creative Tasks. In ACM Designing Interactive Systems (DIS) Proceedings.
C. Ailie Fraser, Tricia J. Ngoon, Mira Dontcheva, & Scott Klemmer. 2019. Replay: Contextually Presenting Learning Videos Across Software Applications. In ACM Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) Proceedings. Honorable Mention (Top 5%)
Tricia J. Ngoon*, C. Ailie Fraser*, Ariel S. Weingarten, Mira Dontcheva, & Scott Klemmer. 2018. Interactive Guidance Techniques for Improving Creative Feedback. In ACM Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) Proceedings. Honorable Mention (Top 5%) * indicates equal contribution as first-authors
Christian Battista, Tanya M. Evans, Tricia J. Ngoon, Tianwen Chen, Lang Chen, John Kochalka, & Vinod Menon. 2018. Mechanisms of Interactive Specialization and Emergence of Functional Brain Circuits Supporting Cognitive Development in Children. npj Science of Learning, 3(1).
Tanya M. Evans, John Kochalka, Tricia J. Ngoon, Sarah Wu, Shaozheing Qin, Christian Battista, & Vinod Menon. 2015. Brain Structural Integrity and Intrinsic Functional Connectivity Forecasts 6-Year Longitudinal Growth in Children’s Numerical Abilities. Journal of Neuroscience, 35(33). 11743-11750.
Tricia J. Ngoon, Vivian Y. Leung, Micah Goldwater, & Caren Walker. 2022. Exploration as a Strategy to Support Children's Pattern Learning. Abstract at Cognitive Science Society Conference.
Tricia J. Ngoon, Prasoon Patidar, Amy Ogan, Chris Harrison, Yuvraj Agarwal, & John Zimmerman. 2022. Professional Informatics: Personalized, Data-driven Professional Development. Position paper in the Personal Informatics & Artificial Intelligence workshop at ACM Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI).
Tricia J. Ngoon, Vivian Y. Leung, & Caren M. Walker. 2022. How Exploration Supports Children's Pattern Learning. Poster at the Cognitive Development Society Conference.
Tricia J. Ngoon, Caren M. Walker, & Scott Klemmer. 2019. The Dark Side of Satisficing: Setting the Temperature of Creative Thinking. In ACM Creativity & Cognition (C&C) Proceedings.
Samuel Lau, Tricia J. Ngoon, Vineet Pandey, & Scott Klemmer. 2019. Experiment Reconstruction Reduces Fixation on Surface Details of Explanations. In ACM Creativity & Cognition (C&C) Proceedings.
Tricia J. Ngoon. 2019. Overcoming Satisficing: Scaffolds for Amplifying Creativity. Graduate Student Symposium Abstract in ACM Creativity & Cognition (C&C) Proceedings.
Tricia J. Ngoon. 2019. Inventive Scaffolds Catalyze Creative Learning. Doctoral Consortium Abstract in ACM Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) Proceedings.
C. Ailie Fraser, Tricia J. Ngoon, Ariel S. Weingarten, Mira Dontcheva, & Scott Klemmer. 2017. CritiqueKit: A Mixed-Initiative, Real-Time Interface for Improving Feedback. Demo in ACM User Interface Software & Technology (UIST) Companion.
Tricia J. Ngoon, Alexander Gamero-Garrido, & Scott Klemmer. 2016. Supporting Peer Instruction with Evidence-Based Online Instructional Templates. Work-in-Progress in ACM Learning at Scale (L@S) Proceedings.
Tricia J. Ngoon, Rachel Chen, Amit Deutsch, & Sean Lip. 2016. Oppia: A Community of Peer Learners to Make Conversational Learning Experiences. Demo in ACM Computer-Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing (CSCW) Companion.
Support Cognitive Science graduate students in teaching roles and work with the Engaged Teaching Center to develop training resources for instructors.
Developed a curriculum for teaching introductory web programming concepts.
Facilitated discussions of current issues in social computing research.
Helped students conceptualize and prototype innovative startup ideas.
Lead studios and guide students through the human-centered design process to develop a mobile web application.
Lead discussions about the origins of laughter and humor from a cognitive and social perspective.
Lead discussion sessions with active learning strategies to help students review and consolidate course material.
Provide critiques in studios to help students analyze design concepts through group-based projects.
CMU Human-Computer Interaction Institute
UCSD Cognitive Science
The Design Lab
Early Learning & Cognition Lab