Lavanya Dalin Annappa

UX Researcher/Human Factors Engineer

University of California, Merced

I am a Master's student in Computer Engineering at UC Merced, researching human-computer interaction and assistive technology in the Inclusive Interaction Lab. I specialize in developing haptic feedback systems for accessible navigation.

My work bridges user research, interaction design, and technology development to create inclusive solutions. I am a mixed methods researcher conducting usability studies, build prototypes, and apply machine learning to enhance user experiences, all focused on developing technology that meaningfully improves people's lives.

My research interests center on Human Factors, UX Research, Accessibility, and Intelligent Systems.

Lavanya Dalin Annappa

Contact Info

ldalinannappa@ucmerced.edu +1 209-291-4393
Selected Work

Projects

Young blind woman using phone HCI · Assistive Tech

TactileAlign: An Assistive HCI System for Visually Impaired Camera Alignment

A haptic feedback system that helps visually impaired users take well-framed photographs through real-time audio and tactile guidance.

Hardware Dev User Studies Accessibility
View Project
Multi-modal Ingredient Analyzer AI · NLP

Multi-modal Ingredient Analyzer: AI-Driven Consumer Empowerment

A multimodal AI tool that analyzes product ingredient lists via image and text to provide accessible health insights for consumers.

LLM Multimodal Health Tech
View Project
Madhubhani AI AI · Cultural Heritage

Madhubhani AI: Cultural Heritage Preservation via PEFT

An AI system leveraging parameter-efficient fine-tuning to generate and preserve the visual language of Madhubhani folk art traditions.

PEFT Diffusion Models Visual AI
View Project
TeachU Personal Tutor AI · EdTech · Hackathon

TeachU: Your Personal AI Tutor at Your Fingertips

A hackathon-built AI tutoring system that transforms any learning material into personalized, multilingual video explanations using RAG, LLM agents, and character video generation.

RAG ElevenLabs EdTech
View Project
Career

Experience

Inclusive Interaction Lab
Graduate Student Researcher | Inclusive Interaction Lab
University of California, Merced | Prof. Ahmed Arif | August 2024 – Present
  • Led foundational accessibility research with visually impaired users through contextual interviews and observation to identify navigation barriers and define system requirements.
  • Designed and engineered 6 haptic feedback patterns optimized for tactile perception, using human factors research to refine vibration intensity and directional encoding.
  • Developed high-fidelity "Wizard-of-Oz" prototypes by integrating custom Arduino hardware (6-motor array) with Android software for realistic usability testing.
  • Facilitated mixed-methods studies with 40+ participants, building custom data-logging systems to analyze error metrics and establish design standards for assistive interfaces.
Technical Skills
UX Research: Contextual Inquiry | Persona Development | Journey Mapping | Within-Subjects Study Design
Human Factors: Haptic Interaction Design | Tactile Perception Analysis | Signal Optimization
Data Analysis: Statistical Analysis | Quantitative Performance Metrics | Qualitative Coding
Prototyping: Figma | Android Studio | Arduino | Physical Computing | Wizard-of-Oz Simulation
SOAIS
UX & Usability Consultant
SOA IT Solutions Pvt Limited, Bangalore, India | February 2023 – November 2023
  • Conducted systematic usability evaluations (heuristics/cognitive walkthroughs) on enterprise software, documenting 25+ critical issues and increasing task completion by 35%.
  • Directed iterative research and prototyping using Figma, translating insights from surveys and interviews into design improvements that boosted task success by 15%.
  • Partnered with stakeholders to prioritize UX fixes and advocate for user-centered design (UCD) within technical project constraints.
Technical Skills
Methodologies: Heuristic Evaluation | Cognitive Walkthrough | Mixed-Methods Research | Moderated Usability Testing
Principles: Human Factors Engineering | Nielsen's Usability Heuristics | Cognitive Load Theory | Error Prevention
Tools & Metrics: Figma | Task Success Rates | Completion Metrics | Impact Analysis
Infosys
Human Factors & Interaction Design Engineer
Infosys Limited, Bangalore, India | March 2021 – January 2023
  • Led user research for global clients, conducting 10+ interviews, usability testing sessions, and behavioral analysis to inform product strategy and drive UX improvements across international markets.
  • Created wireframes and interactive prototypes in Adobe XD to simplify complex business workflows, reducing user friction and improving satisfaction scores.
  • Partnered with international development and product teams to synthesize research insights into actionable recommendations that guided product decisions and feature prioritization.
  • Ensured design specifications met WCAG 2.1 accessibility standards and brand guidelines while maintaining design systems and component libraries for consistency.
Technical Skills
Design & Prototyping: Figma | Wireframing | Interactive Prototyping | Design Systems | Component Libraries
User Research & Testing: User Interviews | Usability Testing | Surveys | Behavioral Analysis | Competitive Analysis
Collaboration Tools: Cross-functional Team Collaboration | Design Documentation | Style Guides
Xcelerator
Machine Learning Intern
Xcelerator, Bangalore, India | June 2019 – July 2019
  • Engineered content-based and collaborative filtering engines in R to provide personalized movie suggestions based on historical user data.
  • Directed end-to-end data processing using R and Python, performing statistical analysis and cleaning to ensure high model accuracy across ML tasks.
  • Applied ML algorithms to model user preferences, translating complex genre similarities and behavioral patterns into relevant product recommendations.
Technical Skills
Algorithms: Collaborative Filtering | Content-Based Filtering | Pattern Recognition
Tools: R | Python | ML Libraries for Statistical Analysis
Focus Areas: Behavioral Data Analysis | Personalized Systems | Predictive Modeling