Education
07/2017 - 07/2022
PhD in Human-Computer Interaction
Media Informatics Group | LMU Munich
Munich | Germany
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PhD thesis: Conversational Agents with Personality (summa cum laude)
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Supervisors: Albrecht Schmidt, Heinrich Hussmann (deceased)
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Research focus: imbuing conversational agents with personality, personalisation, personality recognition, transparent and controllable AI
10/2013 – 11/2016
M.Sc. Technical Communication & Computer Science
RWTH Aachen University
Aachen | Germany
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Focus: HCI, technology acceptance, user diversity, e-learning, practical application of empirical methods
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Thesis: Can Tangibles Perform Magic? Learners’ Requirements for Successful Performance in Computer Science Using Haptical Interfaces,
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Supervisors: Prof. Martina Ziefle, Prof. Jan Borchers, Dr. Wiktoria Wilkowska
08/2014 - 12/2014
International Student
Brock University
St. Catharines | Canada
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Focus: Human Motivation, Social Psychology, Professional Communication
10/2009 - 09/2015
B.Sc. Computer Science
RWTH Aachen University
Aachen | Germany
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Focus: HCI, e-learning, designing interactive systems
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Thesis: Evaluating the Impact of an Interactive Statistical Analysis System on Learning Statistics
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Supervisors: Prof. Jan Borchers, Prof. Chat Wacharamanotham
10/2010 – 09/2013
B.Sc. Technical Communication & Computer Science
RWTH Aachen University
Aachen | Germany
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Focus: Empirical research methods, cognition psychology, interface design
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Thesis: Usability of the Multimedia Guide Aixplorer: An Empirical User Study in Aachen’s Town Hall
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Supervisors: Prof. Martina Ziefle, Prof. Jan Borchers
Professional Experience
since 06/2022
User Experience Researcher
Munich | Germany
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Led foundational, strategic, and tactical research with the goal to create a safe, enjoyable, and privacy-preserving online experience for children and teens
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Worked horizontally with product teams from multiple product areas, e.g., YouTube, Privacy/Safety/Security, Payments
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Supported organising the Google Safety Engineering Center for Kids Research in Munich to foster collaborations with Academia and NGOs
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Gave multiple presentations to cross-functional stakeholders to inform the product strategy
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Organised UX community events
07/2017 - 05/2022
Researcher
Media Informatics Group | LMU Munich
Munich | Germany
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Led and collaborated in multi-disciplinary research projects in teams of 3 to 9 people, co-authored 27 publications (h-index: 13, Google Scholar Profile)
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Designed and evaluated lab/field experiments and online surveys, writing 10K+ lines of codes using Python & R
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Designed and evaluated interviews and focus groups, qualitatively analysing 120+ h of audio recordings
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Created course material and gave coding sessions (i.a. Scikit, Alexa) for Master & Bachelor classes, e.g. “Intelligent UIs”
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Coached and supervised 24+ Master/Bachelor theses students
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Led community development by regularly joining speaker engagements, e.g., student events (BWINF), online talk shows
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Fostered social engagement & created long-lasting group dynamics by organising events (e.g. Internal Colloquium) and standardising internal processes (e.g. GDPR guidelines)
07/2017 - 06/2020
Cooperation Doctoral Student for User Experience
Series Development User Experience |
Audi AG
Ingolstadt | Germany
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Developed, prototyped, and evaluated five concepts for personalised voice assistants & communicating driver states
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Introduced machine learning processes to 50-person department with multi-disciplinary team
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Gave 12 workshops/presentations to company-wide audiences
07/2021 - 09/2021
User Experience Research Intern
Munich | Germany
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Selected as the only UX research summer intern in EMEA
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Conducted and analysed foundational and strategic research (remote interviews, inductive thematic analysis) with the Google Account UX team and tactical research (usability testing, affinity diagramming) with the Android team
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Worked horizontally with product teams from multiple product areas, e.g. Search, Maps, YouTube, Privacy/Safety/Security
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Gave multiple presentations to cross-functional stakeholders up to director-level to inform the product strategy
12/2016 - 03/2017, 04/2016 - 05/2016
User Experience Student Assistant / Intern
bitstars GmbH | HoloBuilder, Inc.
Aachen | Germany
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Tested the usability of an AR/VR application
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Developed interactive tutorial displayed on website to improve user onboarding
10/2013 - 12/2016
Student Assistant in Interdisciplinary Research Projects
HCI Centre | RWTH Aachen University
Aachen | Germany
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Prepared and conducted interviews and focus groups
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Designed experiments and evaluated findings using SPSS
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Thereby contributed to 3 industry projects & 5 publications
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Developed low fidelity (paper) prototypes, i.a. Processing
04/2013
Scientific Junior Associate
Media Computing Group |
RWTH Aachen University
Aachen | Germany
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Implemented (Objective C) & evaluated a feature for a multimedia guide, displayed in Aachen’s town hall since 2013
04/2011 - 07/2011, 04/2012 - 07/2012
Student Assistant for a Tutorial
Logic and Theory of Discrete Systems | RWTH Aachen University
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Gave a tutorial for the lecture “Formal Languages, Automata, & Processes”
Aachen | Germany
Scholarships & Grants
01/2020
Admission into the Faculty Mentoring Program
awarded by the Faculty for Mathematics, Computer Science, and Statistics
01/2019
SIGCHI Travel Grant
for supporting the SIGCHI Executive Committee as student volunteer
07/2017 - 06/2020
Grant for PhD studies by Audi AG
3-year funding for PhD studies awarded by Audi AG
2014
Scholarship for International Travels
awarded by the German National Academic Foundation
since 2012
Admission into the German National Academic Foundation
Honours for study achievements and social commitment
Awards
German Society for Online Research
Best Paper Award 2021
Clemes Stachl, Quay Au, Ramona Schoedel, Samuel d. Gosling, Gabriella M. Harari, Daniel Buschek, Sarah Theres Völkel, Tobias Schuwerk, Michelle Oldemeier, Theresa Ullmann, Heinrich Hussmann, Bernd Bischl, and Markus Bühner. 2021. Predicting personality from patterns of behavior collected with smartphones. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 117 (30), 17680-17687
CUI@IUI 2021 Workshop
Best Paper Award (Top 10% of submissions)
Sarah Theres Völkel and Lale Kaya. 2021. Examining User Preference for Agreeableness in Chatbot. In Proceedings of the 2021 IUI Workshop on Conversational User Interfaces.
CHI 2020
Honourable Mention Award (Top 5% of submissions)
Sarah Theres Völkel, Ramona Schoedel, Daniel Buschek, Clemens Stachl, Verena Winterhalter, Markus Bühner, and Heinrich Hussmann. 2020. Developing a Personality Model for Speech-based Conversational Agents Using the Psycholexical Approach. In Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’20).
IUI 2019
Outstanding Paper Award (Top 5% of submissions)
Malin Eiband, Sarah Theres Völkel, Daniel Buschek, Sophia Cook, and Heinrich Hussmann. 2019. When people and algorithms meet: user-reported problems in intelligent everyday applications. In Proceedings of the 24th International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces (IUI ’19).
2012, 2011
DeansList of RWTH Aachen University
Honours for study achievements
2009
Silver coin for valedictorian honour
Silver coin for special social commitment
Awarded by the school’s support association
Volunteer Work
03/2020 - 07/2021
Project Manager and Front-end Developer
Retla e.V.
Munich | Germany
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Managed a 4-person team, communicated with stakeholders, and conducted the requirement analysis
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Developed the front end of an online data management solution, which replaced manual excel tables, using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery, Bootstrap, DataTables
since 03/2020
Private Tutor during School Lockdowns
Corona School e.V.
Online
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Tutoring a pupil online in Math, Computer Science, & German
01/2015 – 12/2016, 03/2014 – 08/2014
Head of Team
University’s Welcome Week Team | RWTH Aachen University
Aachen | Germany
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Organising the university’s Welcome Week for 8,000 students and coordinating the 2,000 involved helpers
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Managing the 17-person team and communicating with project partners from the university and Aachen city
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Developing the financial concept, sponsoring acquisition
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Representing the project at the university and in the press
05/2015 – 04/2017
Project Manager for Strategy Development
Students’ Union Executive Committee | RWTH Aachen University
Aachen | Germany
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Developing the strategic and innovative orientation
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Organising conceptual workshops and public relations
04/2013
Deputy Member, Member of the Committee for Mobility
Student Parliament |
RWTH Aachen University
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Student representation in student parliament
Aachen | Germany
10/2011 - 05/2016
Deputy Head of Welcome Week
Logic and Theory of Discrete Systems | RWTH Aachen University
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Mediating and communicating between students and university regarding education quality
Aachen | Germany
Research Community
Program Committees
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CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) 2022 / 2023
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Conversational User Interfaces Conference (CUI) 2021 / 2022
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INTERACT '21
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Transparency and Explainable Smart Systems Workshop (TExSS) at IUI ‘21
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Explainable Smart Systems Workshop (ExSS) at IUI ‘20
Organisation
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Program Chair at CUI '23
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Publication Chair at AutoUI ‘19
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Workshop Proceedings Chair at MuC ‘19
Student Volunteer
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CHI '21
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SIGCHI Executive Committee Volunteer for ACM Executive Vice President Helena Mentis
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MobileHCI ‘19
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AutoUI ‘17
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MuC ‘16
Reviewing
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Conferences: CHI '23, CUI ’22, CHI ’22, CUI ’21, CHI ’21, UIST ’21, EICS ’21, MobileHCI ’21, INTERACT ’21, CSCW ‘21, CHI ’21, WI ’21, CHI ’20, NordiCHI ’20, ECIS ’20, CHI ’19, INTERACT’19, MobileHCI ’18, AutomotiveUI ‘18
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Journals: ToCHI, IxD&A, European Journal of Personality, IMWUT
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Research Proposals: ETH Grants
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I received 11 recognitions for outstanding reviews for CHI ’19, ’20, ’21, ’22, INTERACT ’21, and UIST ‘21
Summer (or rather Four Seasons) Schools
02/2022
Philosophy of Science
Winter school by Prof. Albrecht Schmidt
Hirschegg | Austria
02/2020
Technologies to Reduce Stress and Increase Wellbeing – A Research Perspective (Part I) & How Artificial Intelligence Impacts User-Centred Innovation Processes (Part II)
Winter school by Prof. Albrecht Schmidt
Hirschegg | Austria
02/2019
From Research to Start-up (Part I) & Creating and Evaluating AR/VR/MR Systems (Part II)
Winter school by Prof. Albrecht Schmidt
Hirschegg | Austria
02/2018
HCI Technologies for Augmenting the Human Senses
Winter school by Prof. Albrecht Schmidt
Hirschegg | Austria
09/2017
Invited to "Eintauchen 2017"
Workshop by McKinsey & Company
Lisbon | Portugal
03/2016
Project Development at Universities - a Magic Elixir?
Spring school by the German Academic Scholarship Foundation
Papenburg | Germany
08/2015
Everything New, Everything Different? A Psychology of the Digital Age
Summer school by the German Academic Scholarship Foundation
Rot an der Rot | Germany
03/2015
Introduction to Management Consulting
Spring school by the German Academic Scholarship Foundation
Papenburg | Germany
02/2015 - 03/2015
3-week Intense Language Course in Spanish
Language Course by the German Academic Scholarship Foundation
Barcelona | Spain