Jared Duval is an Assistant professor in the Northern Arizona University's Department of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems, where he directs the Playful Health Technology Lab. He has a Research through Design practice at the intersection of Human Computer Interaction, Games/Play, and Minority Health. He is the author of more than 20 peer-reviewed publications and is the creator of 3 Serious Games for Health.

Jared received his Ph.D. from the University of California Santa Cruz, where he was a part of the ASSIST Lab and SET Lab. His work has received a Best Paper Honorable Mention at ACM CHI, he is the recipient of multiple National Instituite of Health Pilot Grants, an NIH LRP award, the Jack Baskin and Peggy Downes-Baskin Fellowship, a Smile Train Research Grant, an IdeaHub Judges Award, a Blackstone LaunchPad Fellowship, and a two-time recipient of CITIRS Tech for Social Good Award. Jared has been invited to keynote at the Kraw Lecture Series, is an ARCS Scholar, Vice President of the Games for Health Early Career Committee, and editor of the SIGACCESS newsletter on Assistive Technology. 

Personal page: http://jareduval.com / Email: Jared.Duval@nau.edu

Tochukwu Ikwunne is a Postdoctoral Scholar in the School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems at Northern Arizona University, where he works under the direction of Jared Duval, who runs the Playful Health Technology Lab. His research interests focus on how computing technologies mediate wellness, health, and human behavior, as well as how digital interventions's design processes can be designed to improve user engagement. He has published more than 15 peer-reviewed articles to his credit.

Tochukwu holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Trinity College Dublin, where he was also a researcher at the ADAPT Lab. He received the ADAPT Recognition Early Stage Researcher Award in 2022 for his groundbreaking research on cultured-centered user engagement design for mobile health in the Global South.

Email: Tochukwu.Ikwunne@nau.edu

My name is Pavan Prasad, and I’m currently pursuing my PhD in Computer Science at Northern Arizona University (NAU). I also have a Master’s degree in Computer Science from NAU, where I had the opportunity to work as a teaching assistant under the guidance of Professor Jared Duval. I’m grateful to still be working closely with him as a developer at the Playful Health Technology Lab. Our work focuses on the connection between digital technologies and human well-being, and I’ve learned a lot from Professor Duval’s research on using digital tools to boost user engagement and health outcomes.

Before coming to the U.S., I completed another Master’s degree in Information Technology from Alliance University in Bangalore, India. I also worked for over three years as a Software Developer at Vaishnavi Information Technology, where I gained hands-on experience with real-world projects and deepened my technical skills.

I’m very passionate about using my knowledge to make a positive difference, especially through research and projects that have the potential to benefit society. Whether it’s building health-focused technology or supporting students, I believe in combining hard work, curiosity, and purpose in everything I do.

Email: ppg8@nau.edu

Chaithanya Heblikar is a Graduate student in the School of Informatics, Computing and Cyber Systems at Northern Arizona University, where she works under the direction of Jared Duval as part of the Playful Health Technology Lab. Her research interests focus on Interactive design, mobile application development and computer vision.

She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Engineering from JSS Academy of Technical Education, India, where she graduated as the Top performer of her class. She received the Student Project Programme grant by the Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology (KSCST) for her research in Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) System and Real‐time helmet detection of motorcyclists in urban traffic.

Personal Page: https://csheblikar.me | Email: csh342@nau.edu

Varna Gobbur is a research assistant at the School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems at Northern Arizona University, where she works under the direction of Jared Duval as part of the Playful Health Technology Lab. Her research interests focus on data collection and healthcare applications. Her projects are integrating Unity and Firebase to collect and analyze data, and designing Qualtrics surveys for healthcare research initiatives.

She holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science from Northern Arizona University. After her graduation, she worked as an Engineering Intern, where she utilized SQL to query and extract relevant data, conducted statistical analyses using R and Excel, and developed dashboards in Excel.

Email: vg574@nau.edu

Hunter Beach is an Undergraduate Student in the School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems at Northern Arizona University, where he works as an intern under the direction of Jared Duval. He is a member of the Playful Health Technology Lab through the NAU I2S Program. His research interests focus on studying Cleft Palates and how they can be treated, Website design, and Cloud computing. He has yet to publish any articles but he hopes to soon!

Hunter is currently attending NAU for a bachelor's in  Computer Science as well as he studying for two minors in Cybersecurity and Data Science respectively. He participated in the ASA Datafest 2024 and was a member of one of the winning teams. He is a member of the VICEROY DECREE program at NAU and this summer is going to work at the Griffiss Institute as part of the MAVEN program.

Email: Hunter.Beach@nau.edu

Alison Graham is an Undergraduate Student in the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Northern Arizona University. She works as an intern under the direction of Jared Duval in the School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems. She is a member of the Playful Health Technology Lab where she contributes to projects involving technology, wellness, and health equity. Her research interests focus on data analytics, graphic design, and statistical inferencing. 

Alison is currently attending Northern Arizona University for a bachelor's in University Studies as well as minors in Statistics, Business, and Mathematics and a cerfiticate in Marketing. Alison is also an active member of the Pi Beta Phi Fraternity for Women and the chapter president of the Order of Omega: Leadership Honor Society at NAU.

Email: akg352@nau.edu

Cathy Ly is an Undergraduate Student in the School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems at Northern Arizona University, where she works as an intern under the direction of Jared Duval.  Cathy is actively involved with PHT Lab where she contributes to projects involving technology, education, and healthcare.

She is currently attending Northern Arizona University for a Bachelors in Computer Science to fuel her passion for using technology to improve healthcare and education. Cathy's commitment to hands-on learning and collaboration has driven her to be apart of various research projects and is currently on a multidisciplinary team of mechanical and electrical engineers to develop medical technology solutions.

Email: cl2493@nau.edu