Andrea Cuadra '13

Dr. Andrea Cuadra is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science. Dr. Cuadra’s field is Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), and her work lies at the intersection of interaction design, inclusivity, and artificial intelligence.

She studies the needs of marginalized groups who may particularly benefit from or be harmed by the outcomes of technology design decisions that affect us all. In addition, she employs her design skills to generate and advocate for more-inclusive design alternatives.

Dr. Cuadra’s career in the U.S. has been shaped in the form of a boomerang, starting and ending at Olin. She completed a postdoctoral appointment in the Computer Science Department at Stanford University, her Ph.D. in information science at Cornell Tech, her M.S. in product design also at Stanford University, and her B.S. in Engineering with a Concentration in Interaction Design at Olin. She has also worked as a User Experience Researcher at Google (Search and Chrome), Sidewalk Labs (now part of Google), Yahoo, and Hopper.

Dr. Cuadra spent time working as an entrepreneurial product designer prior to starting her Ph.D., and has been involved in teaching activities throughout her life, starting a maker group in high school, a summer camp during college, and teaching in some capacity at every academic institution she holds a degree from. Her work and teaching experience have shaped her social justice-centered, hands-on teaching philosophy.