Dr. Gillian R. Hayes is the Robert A. and Barbara L. Kleist Professor of Informatics at the University of California, Irvine, in the Department of Informatics in the School of Information and Computer Sciences, in the Department of Pediatrics in the School of Medicine, and in the School of Education. Dr. Hayes is also the Vice Provost for Graduate Education and Dean of the Graduate Division at the University of California, Irvine. She is an alumna of Vanderbilt University and the Georgia Institute of Technology. For 15 years, her research has focused on designing, developing, and evaluating technologies in support of vulnerable populations, including those with autism. Building on a background in computer science and a consulting career before academia, she focuses on methods for including people not traditionally represented in the design process or in research. She received a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation in 2008 for her work on mobile technologies for children and families coping with chronic illness and neurodevelopmental disabilities. Her most recent work in this space has focused on wearables and augmented and virtual reality in collaboration with former students and postdoctoral scholars, Dr. LouAnne Boyd, Dr. Franceli Cibrian, Dr. Kathryn Ringland, and Dr. Monica Tentori. Dr. Hayes received the CHI Social Impact Award in 2019 for her work supporting community-based engaged research related to technologies for neurodevelopmental disorders.
