I am a Ph.D candidate in Cognitive Science at UC San Diego working with Dr. Scott Klemmer and collaborating with Dr. Caren Walker. My focus is in human-computer interaction. I am fascinated by how we as humans learn and develop expertise. Specifically, I am interested in creative cognition and scaffolding methods that might improve creative problem-solving.Prior to entering my graduate program, 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.
When out of my natural habitat of the lab, I enjoy rewatching the Office and Parks & Rec, attempting to exercise, playing video games, and exploring the San Diego coffee and beer scene.
View my CV.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%).
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.
C. Ailie Fraser, Tricia J. Ngoon, Ariel S. Weingarten, Mira Dontcheva, & Scott Klemmer. 2017. CritiqueKit: A Mixed-Initiative, Real-Time Interface for Improving Feedback. In User Interface Software & Technology (UIST) Companion.
Tricia J. Ngoon, Alexander Gamero-Garrido, & Scott Klemmer. 2016. Supporting Peer Instruction with Evidence-Based Online Instructional Templates. In 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. In Computer-Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing (CSCW) Companion.
One of the most rewarding parts of being a graduate student is being able to teach and mentor promising, motivated students.
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 discussion sessions with active learning strategies to help students review and consolidate course material.
UCSD Cognitive Science
The Design Lab
Early Learning & Cognition Lab
UCSD Graduate Women in Computing