The Transformative Play Lab

Saumya is a designer, UXer, maker, and a PhD student in the Informatics department at the University of California, Irvine. She studies how interactions with technology can be embedded in the environment around us rather than being limited to screen-based interfaces. Her current research is on interactive storytelling through physical-digital interfaces. She works with tangible interfaces, ambient environments, wearables, and virtual reality. Prior to her PhD, Saumya completed her bachelor’s degree in computer science from BITS Pilani Goa and worked for a few years as a software developer at Dell EMC. She earned her master’s degree in Informatics at UCI and interned at Esri as a UX researcher and designer. In her free time, she likes making art, swimming, practicing yoga, and watching or reading anything that tells a good story.