Spring Professional Development Luncheon
- Annenberg School, Room 500
Featuring Kayla Hales, User Experience, Google
About the Event
Join an intimate conversation with Dr. Kayla Hales, who is part of User Experience (UX) team at Google, as she discusses her journey from academia to industry, her experiences navigating various pitfalls as a professor and practitioner, and her insights on how doctoral students and postdocs can best prepare for their careers ahead. This candid discussion will include lunch for attendees.
About the Speaker
Kayla Hales, Ph.D., is a born and raised New Yorker of Jamaican ancestry. Hales earned her B.S. in Information Technology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and her Ph.D. at Penn State University from the College of Information Sciences and Technology. Following graduation, Hales was a tenure-track assistant professor at Michigan State University. Her academic research centered on topics like interpersonal relationship processes, communication technologies, computer-mediated communication, and the digital divide.
Today, Hales is a User Experience (UX) practitioner who leads research in the social impact space at Google. One of her key responsibilities as a UX researcher is to identify and understand consumer needs and use those insights to guide product development. Her current research emphasizes economic opportunity for marginalized and underserved communities who use Google Search.
Personally, Hales is passionate about relationship maintenance, travel, physical and mental health, the personal and professional development of herself and others, and having a positive social impact.
Events
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