Northeastern University | United States
Mahsa Nasri is a Doctoral Researcher specializing in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and User Experience (UX) with over five years of experience investigating human behavior, usability, and interaction design across emerging technologies. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Design and Media at Northeastern University (expected December 2026), where she serves as a Research Assistant on an NSF-funded project focused on integrating extended reality (XR), biometrics, and user-centered adaptive systems. Mahsa’s expertise spans mixed-methods user research, experimental design, participatory design, and both qualitative and quantitative data analysis, with hands-on experience conducting user studies across computer games, mobile applications, and immersive XR environments. Her work includes co-designing and evaluating ArticuMotion, a gamified mobile application developed with speech-language pathologists to support motor speech disorder assessment in children, where she applied iterative prototyping, usability testing, and cross-functional collaboration to unify clinical, engineering, and UX perspectives. She has also contributed to research on cognitive and behavioral measurement within VR, including eye-tracking-based cognitive load assessment in training environments and the development of VR apprenticeship training for advanced manufacturing. Prior to her doctoral studies, Mahsa worked as a VR/AR Developer and Researcher at the University of Isfahan’s Center of Entertainment Industry, where she designed VR applications focused on accessibility, emotional engagement, and therapeutic support—including a VR experience for women with multiple sclerosis and haptic interaction systems for counseling simulations—while also leading user evaluations to assess usability, engagement, and emotional response. Earlier in her career, she gained technical engineering experience in automation and embedded systems through an internship involving PLC and microcontroller development. With a multidisciplinary foundation bridging engineering, design, and human-centered research, Mahsa brings a unique perspective to the design and evaluation of interactive technologies, particularly those that leverage XR and biometric data to enhance learning, healthcare, and accessibility. She is passionate about advancing user-centered adaptive systems and creating immersive technologies that are effective, inclusive, and grounded in real human needs.
Featured Publications
Nasri, M., Alsebayel, G., Myers, C., Troiano, G., Hatamimajoumerd, E., Ostadabbas, S., Allison, K., & Harteveld, C. (2024). ArticuMotion: Towards assessing motor speech disorders via gamification.
Nasri, M., Kosa, M., Chukoskie, L., Moghaddam, M., & Harteveld, C. (2024). Exploring eye tracking to detect cognitive load in complex virtual reality training. Workshop paper accepted at IEEE ISMAR 2024.
Nasri, M., Narayan, U., Sonbudak, M. F., Simonson, A., Chiu, M., Donati, J., Sivak, M., Kosa, M., & Harteveld, C. (2024). Designing a virtual reality training apprenticeship for cold spray advancedmanufacturing.
Poster accepted at IEEE ISMAR 2024.