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♥ Hi hello!! Welcome to my little corner of the web ♥

I'm Tonya (TAHN-yuh | /ˈtɔːnjə/ ) – an HCI researcher and Ph.D. candidate at UC Berkeley. I think a lot about how technology can solve the world's problems, but also how the richness of real-world contexts + legal landscapes, human motivations + emotions, and historical forces intersect to shape the systems we've built (and the challenges with that!). I'm a student of Human Computer Interaction, Science & Technology Studies, Sociology, Critical Theory, and Machine Learning.

Some questions I'm thinking about right now

  • ♥How can we balance user privacy and agency in an AI powered world, where data is used to make decisions about us and with us?
  • ♥What values should we operationalize in systems, and how can we actually measure and operationalize them in how systems are designed and used?
  • ♥How might marginalized perspectives and openness in epistemological pluralism change the way we approach AI evaluation, development, and deployment? How can thinking about power structures and incentives give us more insight into successes and failures?

I love learning new things (and especially appreciate when I'm not the smartest/most able person in the room). I owe many of my friends to this, as well as my wonderful mentors. I spent a lot of my days drinking inordinate amounts of caffeine. My favorite mode for movement is on a snowboard or involves a barbell. I love a good cultural analysis, making a playlist, and always, trying something new and learning it from scratch!

Currently Vibing With

  • ♥ SAILORR's "FROM FLORIDA'S FINEST"

    I really love this album and have repeated it on loop for the past few months. What I love about SAILORR is that her music is so reminiscent of 2000's R&B but is experimental and unique enough to capture the Gen-Z aesthetic. Also, we are both Vietnamese American --- and what's not to love about diverse representations of SEA people. "POOKIE'S REQUIEM" is about an ex-boyfriend who ends up dating a new girl who is a carbon-copy of his ex, but he also totally steals SAILORR's swag ("got you a mini-me"). I also loooove "W1LL U LI3" – just give it a listen. The songs are bouncy, full of 808s, but still has this soft-bubblegum-hyper-pop sound.

  • ♥ Meditation

    I read Dr. Tucker Peck's book "Sanity and Sainthood: Integrating Meditation and Psychotherapy" and it really help met set expectations for meditation (specifically Vipassana). I have also been doing 'body scans' (observing bodily sensations without reacting) for a while — and I think it's a great way to process emotions in the body. The idea is that emotions and feelings are actually felt somatically: that sinking feeling and tension in your stomach is anxiety, and often emptiness is sadness. Instead of thinking through emotions or rationalizing them, a helpful way to process them is by focusing on how your body feels and sitting with the physical sensations of an emotion. Emotions are impermanent in the body just as sensations are — they arise and pass if you don't add a story to them.

  • ♥ Homemade Matcha Lattes

    I've been enjoying matcha from Kettl and Rocky's Matcha.

  • ♥ Swimming Freestyle

    I spent a huge chunk of my childhood swimming and playing in water, but have never thought about incorporating it into an exercise routine until recently. I've been swimming freestyle for about two months now, and I always feel like I can eat a meal made for 10 people after. It's amazing.

current projects

  • user interaction design for interactive user personalization

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last updated 2/22/26 • don't forget to say hi!