Jessica Van Brummelen
Senior HCI Research Scientist at Niantic Spatial, Inc.
London, England, United Kingdom
Summary
👤
Senior🎓
Top SchoolJessica Van Brummelen is a Senior HCI Research Scientist based in London with a decade of experience designing and evaluating human-AI systems across AR, conversational agents, and autonomous vehicle tech. She holds a PhD and MS in Computer Science from MIT and has led user-centered research at Niantic, publishing empirical studies that bridge immersive spatial computing and practical product design. Her work spans building educational tools that democratize programming (with Amazon Alexa and MIT App Inventor), prototyping AR teaching apps in Unity, and developing ADAS features and cyclist collision-warning systems. Jessica combines rigorous empirical methods with hands-on prototyping—from machine learning features in Photoshop to multi-threaded robotics code—while directly mentoring and supervising student researchers. Known for translating HCI principles into deployable systems, she also has a track record of initiating international research collaborations and producing actionable design recommendations. Her interdisciplinary background in mechanical engineering and HCI gives her a rare ability to connect low-level sensing and control with human-centered interaction design.
11 years of coding experience
8 years of employment as a software developer
Doctor of Philosophy - PhD, Computer Science, Doctor of Philosophy - PhD, Computer Science at Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyBachelor of Applied Science (B.A.Sc.), Mechanical Engineering, 96% Average, Bachelor of Applied Science (B.A.Sc.), Mechanical Engineering, 96% Average at The University of British Columbia
Github Skills (7)
ai8
git7
react3
visual-programming2
agent1
alexa-skills-kit1
augmented-reality1
Programming languages (6)
Github contributions (5)
jessvb/zhorai
Mar 2019 - Nov 2021
An interactive conversational agent for AI education.
Contributions:251 commits, 4 PRs, 81 pushes in 2 years 8 months
ai
jessvb/secret-santa-sender-bot
Nov 2019 - Nov 2024
Contributions:19 pushes, 3 branches, 1 issue in 5 years 1 month
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