👩🏽💻 Hello, I'm Rachel
I shape educational experiences, mission-driven technology, and community-focused design.
Kaona
Bridging interactive learning with Hawaiian lore through a role-playing game and digital "Storyteller."
Kumu Connect
Empowering culturally relevant CS education with asset-based AI tools for teachers.
About Me
I'm Rachel, a UX designer and researcher in educational technology and community-based design, with a focus on the intersections of culturally revitalizing education, AI for low-resource languages, and game-based learning.
I bring robust experience in human-centered design, participatory research, and project leadership, with two rigorous design degrees and 6+ years co-designing with communities. My work is informed by my multidisciplinary background and Latina heritage, aiming to provide equitable, engaging, and culturally affirming educational experiences to K-12 students.
I currently lead the Education and Public Interest HCI research group of Georgia Tech's Ka Moamoa Ubiquitous Computing Lab, under the guidance of Dr. Josiah Hester. I was recently awarded the College of Computing's Outstanding Research Scientist Award for 2025.
Our paper Kumu Connect: Culturally-Authentic AI Tools to Enable Educator Agency and Data Sovereignty for Hawaiian K-12 CS Education just received an Honorable Mention at IDC 2026!
Projects & Efforts
Still Warm
A climate grief narrative game exploring loss, hope, and healing.
Data Centers & Elections
A new research effort, currently in progress.
AI4HI
An AI professional development workshop series for Kaiapuni educators.
Noondawind
A co-designed data platform for Indigenous environmental data access and policy.
Kumu Connect
Empowering culturally relevant CS education with asset-based AI tools for teachers.
Kaona
Bridging interactive learning with Hawaiian lore through a role-playing game and digital "Storyteller."
IODA
Transforming how a global audience understands internet shutdowns through a data dashboard redesign.
Crafting Consistency
Transforming the U.S. Asylum Office's design system for improved functionality and user experience.
Pickrick Project
Educating and engaging through AR storytelling of Atlanta's civil rights history.
CoHeart 🩷
Fostering friendships for introverted international students via a dedicated social app.
Crosstalk
Mastering language nuances with an app for learning idioms and slang.
Capsule
Facilitating cultural (re)connection and exploration through a recipe exchange platform.
TRACE
Reimagining architectural co-design with a video conference app blending sketching and digital drafting.
Research Publications
- IDC 2026 • Full Paper ★ Honorable Mention Kumu Connect: Culturally-Authentic AI Tools to Enable Educator Agency and Data Sovereignty for Hawaiian K-12 CS Education
- CHI 2026 • Full Paper Whose Knowledge Counts? Co-Designing Community-Centered AI Auditing Tools with Educators in Hawai'i
- CHI 2026 • Full Paper ★ Honorable Mention Noondawind: Co-Designed Dashboard for Indigenous Data Access and Environmental Policy Implementation
- RESPECT 2025 • Full Paper Kumu Connect: Design Thinking for Place-Based Generative Educational Technology in Hawaiian Immersion Schools
- CHI 2025 • Late-Breaking Work "I Would Never Trust Anything Western": Kumu (Educator) Perspectives on Use of LLMs for Culturally Revitalizing CS Education in Hawaiian Schools
- CHI PLAY 2024 • Work-in-Progress Enabling Restorative Hawaiian Futurism via a Tabletop Role-Playing Game and Digital Ha'i Mo'olelo (Storytelling)
- RESPECT 2024 • Full Paper "Those don't work for us": An Assets-Based Approach to Incorporating Emerging Technologies in Viable Hawaiian Teacher Support Tools for Culturally Relevant CS Education
- Koli Calling 2023 • Full Paper Keeping Mindful of Modality: A Comparison of Computer Science Education Resources for Learning
Illustration & Graphic Design
Kaona Game Art
Bridging interactive learning with Hawaiian lore through a role-playing game and digital "Storyteller."
Veggie Mijas
Elevating the identity of a food justice org through strategic branding and logo redesign.
Birthing Rights Zines
Distributing critical maternal health information via accessible and engaging zines.
The Archive
Eco-Machine
Landscape interventions informed by runoff, to address flooding and erosion.
Lloyds: Erosion and Reoccupation
A projection of erosion and reoccupation of Lloyds of London.
Polaris
Five-day design challenge to design a shelter for celestial observations.
Eco-Morphology
An architectural study on connectivity, symbiosis, and weaving the built environment with the land.
Birth Rights: Design Proposal
A birthing community center, focused on dignity and continuous support systems.
Conservation on Aisle Four
The rise and failure of eco-commerce in the 1980s and 1990s.