Claire Kearney-Volpe
Tandon School of Engineering, NYU & Verizon UX Research | claire.kv@nyu.edu
Highlights of Qualifications
- Skilled in qualitative and quantitative research design, data collection, analysis and visualization.
- Specialization in Participatory Action and Community-Based Participatory Research Methods.
- Skilled in digital and analog fabrication techniques including laser-cutting and 3d
printing
Education
PhD, Rehabilitation Science
New York University, 2016-2021
M.P.S., Interactive Telecommunications Program
New York University, 2013-2015
Art Therapy Post Graduate Diploma (With Thesis)
Vancouver Art Therapy Institute (VATI), 2010-2012
B.A., Majoring in Psychology and Visual Arts
University of British Columbia, 2004-2009
Technical Skills
- UserTesting, UserZoom, DScout, Qualtrics, Decipher/Forsta, Google Forms
- Psychometric & Biometric data capture, Environmental sensing
- Digital Accessibility: WCAG 2.2, ADA
- Statistical Analysis: SPSS, STATA, ATLAS.ti
- UX Design: InVision, Figma, Sketch, Adobe Creative Suite
- Web Development: JavaScript, HTML, CSS, Python
Related Experience
Senior Accessible UX Researcher, Verizon
New York, NY (2020-Present)
- Advocated and established processes for an Accessible UX Research practice
- Manage generative and iterative design research team with a focus on users with disabilities
- Lead high profile research portfolios and conduct generative research to drive wireless plan and loyalty program strategy and design
HCI Research Fellow/Lab Manager
NYU, New York, NY (2015–18)
- Conducted research on accessibility and assistive technologies
- Led accessibility and usability research for clients including Spectrum Communications, the Cooper-Hewitt (Smithsonian Design Museum), and the Processing Foundation
Accessibility Specialist
Tech Dev (2U, 2018-2019)
- User Experience Design and Research
- Work with design and engineering teams to ensure the accessibility of new products
Creative Technologist
Google Creative Lab (Google via Adecco, June-November 2016)
- Accessible UX Research and Design at Google's Creative Lab
- Creative technologist for Creatability (experiments.withgoogle.com/collection/creatability), winner of the 2019 Design Grand Prix Winner at Cannes Lions.
- Recruited to focus on accessibility research in Google’s R&D lab, a group of interdisciplinary thinkers and doers (designers, writers, business leaders, filmmakers, creative technologists) using cutting-edge technologies in real-world experiments to create use cases for new tech.
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Tandon School of Engineering (New York University, 2016-2019)
- Teach Developing Assistive Technology and Looking Forward (vision-related assistive
technology) at the graduate level
Research Fellow
ABILITY Project (New York University, 2015-2018)
- Manage a lab and several projects dedicated to the development of assistive and rehab technologies
- Employ a human-centered approach to the research and development of assistive and rehab technologies
Content Producer
Digital Communications Department (New York University, 2014-2015)
- Developed content of the university’s and individual school websites within NYU
- Assisted in various aspects of the nyu.edu redesign
- Created analytics reports for the university-wide site (nyu.edu)
- Conducted user-testing for the redesign of nyu.edu
Information Designer
(Springer Publications, 2014)
- Developed infographics and wireframes for the publisher’s online peer-review journals
Research Coordinator
St. Michael’s Hospital (Centre for Research on Inner City Health, 2013-2014)
- Coordinated fieldwork and communications for a citywide health services research study.
- Liaised with and communicated study results to key stakeholders from various hospitals, community health centers as well as, other organizations regarding a health intervention aimed at reducing frequent Emergency Department use.
- Performed assessments and psycho-educational sessions with RCT participants, as well as, qualitative and quantitative interviews using measures of subjective health and quality of life
Art Therapist
(Vancouver Women’s Health Collective, 2012-2013)
- Facilitated a weekly, women’s art therapy group with three regular clients.
- Experienced working in a collective with feminist ideology, with issues around gender, oppression, abuse and addiction.
Student Art Therapist (VATI Practicum Work)
Enhanced Living Society (January-August 2011)
- Facilitated a weekly, open-studio style art therapy group in a supportive housing community of older adults living with mental health and addiction issues.
- Experienced working with issues of later life, chronic addiction and schizophrenia.
The Bosman Hotel Community (January- June 2011)
- Facilitated an open-studio style art therapy group in a supportive housing community that employs the harm reduction model of community care.
- Worked with people facing issues arising from chronic homelessness and dual diagnoses.
- Worked with a network of support workers (director, caseworkers, psychiatrist, hotel and nursing staff).
False Creek Elementary School (October-June 2012)
- Met with students aged 6-11 for one on one art therapy sessions on a weekly basis.
- Established therapeutic relationships and maintained a supportive role based on varied individual client needs and goals.
Paid Research Assistant/Data Visualization Designer
St. Paul’s Hospital (Centre Health Evaluation Outcome Sciences, 2010-2012)
- Visualized housing transitions of over 400 homeless and transitionally housed study participants to produce interactive maps, graphs and infographics for presentations and analysis.
- Performed Data Entry and analysis for a nationwide longitudinal study of health outcomes for transitionally housed and homeless participants.
Paid Research Assistant
Quality of Life in Homeless and Hard to House Individuals Validation Study (University of British Columbia, 2009-2010)
- Liaised with various organizations in the lower mainland in BC Canada that serve homeless and transitionally housed individuals.
- Interviewed vulnerably housed and homeless individuals using various measures of Quality of Life
- Performed data entry and analysis using SPSS
Awards
Ontario Scholar Award, 2003-2007 (Ontario Government)
Tisch School of the Arts Funded Fellowship, 2013-2015 (NYU)
Prototyping Fund Award Recipient, 2014 (NYU Entrepreneurial Institute)
ABILITY Lab Access Design Competition Grant Recipient,
2015 (NYU Polytechnic)
Teaching Experience
Adjunct Assistant Professor, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA (Sept 2021-January 2022)
- Developed and instructed an undergraduate course entitled Disability, Design and The Web
- Service-learning course focused on digital accessibility and solutions for community partners
Adjunct Assistant Professor, NYU, New York, NY (2015–18)
- Developed and instructed Graduate-level Human-Centered Design and UX courses o Service-learning courses focused on assistive tech and accessibility solutions
First Author Publications
- Claire Kearney-Volpe, Chancey Fleet, Keita Oshira, Veronica Alfaro Arias, Eric Hao Xu, and Amy Hurst. 2022. Tangible Progress: Tools, Techniques, and the Impacts of Teaching Web Development to Screen Reader Users (TACCESS) '23. https://doi.org/10.1145/3585315
- Claire Kearney-Volpe and Amy Hurst. 2021. Accessible Web Development. ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS) '21. http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3458024
- Claire Kearney-Volpe, Chancey Fleet, Keita Oshira, Veronica Alfaro Arias, and Amy Hurst. 2021. Making the Elusive More Tangible. W4A '21: Proceedings of the 18th Web for All 2021 Accessibility in Crisis https://doi.org/10.1145/3430263.3452418
- Claire Kearney-Volpe, Shannon Holloway, and Amy Hurst. 2019. Entertainment for All: Understanding Media Streaming Accessibility. In Extended Abstracts of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '19). https://doi.org/10.1145/3290607.3312882
- Claire Kearney-Volpe. Web Development Training for Students That Are Blind. 2019. W4A '19: Proceedings of the 16th Web for All 2019 Personalization - Personalizing the Web. https://doi.org/10.1145/3315002.3332434
- Claire Kearney-Volpe, Amy Hurst, and Scott Fitzgerald. 2019. Blind Web Development Training at Oysters and Pearls Technology Camp in Uganda. W4A '19: Proceedings of the 16th Web For All 2019 Personalization - Personalizing the Web. https://doi.org/10.1145/3315002.3317562
- Claire Kearney-Volpe, Devorah Kletenik, Kate Sonka, Deborah Sturm, and Amy Hurst. 2019. Evaluating Instructor Strategy and Student Learning Through Digital Accessibility Course Enhancements. ASSETS '19: The 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility. https://doi.org/10.1145/3308561.3353795