Dr. Julie Kientz
juliekientz.bsky.social
Dr. Julie Kientz
@juliekientz.bsky.social
Professor and Chair at @uw-hcde.bsky.social; Human-Computer Interaction researcher studying tech for health, education, & families; Academic mama. Views are my own.
Reposted by Dr. Julie Kientz
I’m giving a free/public talk this Tues in Seattle about how US government investment in science laid the foundations for the field of human-computer interaction and how that field (and investment) connects to so many of the innovations that we take for granted, as well as the future of AI.
Seattle! We're joining the Summer of Science with our first teach-in. Join us at Obec brewing and meet Dr. @katestarbird.bsky.social
1/
September 20, 2025 at 8:29 PM
At @hcde.uw.edu, we will be hiring an Assistant or Associate Teaching Professor this coming year! Timing wise, we are hiring for a Sept. 2026 start date, but could be sooner.

We are looking forward to welcoming a new colleague!

Learn more and apply at apply.interfolio.com/171881
Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com
September 10, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Reposted by Dr. Julie Kientz
1. Federal funding for research promotes tech, biomedical, and scientific discovery in the US, and provides training for the sci/tech workforce that has brought immeasurable wealth to the US over the past 75 years.

Today's executive order includes a provision that will obliterate both functions.
Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and to improve the process of Federal
www.whitehouse.gov
August 8, 2025 at 1:13 AM
Reposted by Dr. Julie Kientz
If anyone is curious about the current list of search terms being used by right wing activist organizations to harass university professors, here's a public records request I received today from Mike Howell of the Heritage Foundation. Not intimidating or meant to curtail by my speech at all, right?
August 6, 2025 at 10:03 PM
Excited about this upcoming #CHIPLAY2025 paper led by @nishadevasia.bsky.social on people’s meaningful experiences with games!
It's probably early to be posting for #CHIPLAY2025, but I'm excited about this paper! arxiv.org/pdf/2507.18084 tl;dr Players sometimes have very personally meaningful or eudaimonic gaming experiences and we investigated what kinds of effects people reported those experiences had on their lives.
arxiv.org
August 5, 2025 at 1:58 AM
Reposted by Dr. Julie Kientz
We got a visit from @seattletimes.com on Monday at KidsTeam. You can try Aayushi Dangol's AI Puzzlers for yourself!

@hcde.uw.edu @ischool.uw.edu @juliekientz.bsky.social @jasoncyip.bsky.social
July 24, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Reposted by Dr. Julie Kientz
BREAKING: Scientists are staging a “science fair” in the lobby of a Congressional building to tell elected officials about the critical knowledge the US will lose because their research grants have been canceled.
July 8, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Reposted by Dr. Julie Kientz
MAGA is more than a political movement—it’s a symbolic system that answers dislocation with identity, confusion with clarity, and loss with belonging. If we want to push back, we need more than critique. We need a new story—and the civic infrastructure to support it.
Between Stories: Understanding MAGA, Rebuilding Democracy
To counter authoritarianism, we need more than critique—we need a shared narrative and civic infrastructure grounded in belonging, dignity, and care.
jamesbgreenberg.substack.com
June 20, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Reposted by Dr. Julie Kientz
The failure of the National Academy of Sciences USA to make a clear and unequivocal statement about the disastrous Trump administration science policies — it lets all of us down and dooms them to eventual irrelevance.
US science is being wrecked, and its leadership is fighting the last war
Facing an extreme budget, the National Academies hosted an event that ignored it.
arstechnica.com
June 5, 2025 at 4:19 AM
Super proud of @nishadevasia.bsky.social for leading the research for this #DIS2025 paper!
I'll be at #DIS2025 presenting some findings from my first ever project as a PhD student (a labor of love heavily inspired by my own experiences): "Partnership through Play: Investigating How Long-Distance Couples Use Digital Games to Facilitate Intimacy" (arxiv.org/pdf/2505.09509) (details in🧵)
arxiv.org
June 4, 2025 at 3:44 AM
If you want to see the planned impact on science with the proposed National Science Foundation cuts, this table in particular demonstrates it most devastatingly. Going from 330,000 people to 90,000 people involved in NSF activities. #SaveNSF

From: nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/00-NSF...
May 31, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Reposted by Dr. Julie Kientz
Offshore wind and marine energy can boost energy security and economic revitalization along our coastlines.
HCDE’s Shana Hirsch leads research that centers community voices in the development of this emerging industry, but recent cuts to federal funding put this community-driven research at risk.
HCDE impact: Advancing renewable marine energy to strengthen coastal communities
Renewable marine energy—power generated from ocean waves and tides—could play a big role in boosting coastal economies and reducing US dependence on fossil fuels. HCDE Assistant Research Professor Sha...
www.hcde.washington.edu
May 23, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Reposted by Dr. Julie Kientz
I’m hoping that there will be some rapid action to get legal support to the PhD students who have had their NSF GRFP (fellowships) terminated in the Trump regime’s latest attacks on academia.
I'm a current Harvard graduate student and I found out today that I had my NSF GRFP terminated without notification. I was awarded this individual research fellowship before even choosing Harvard as my graduate school
May 23, 2025 at 2:47 AM
Reposted by Dr. Julie Kientz
💯
May 20, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Reposted by Dr. Julie Kientz
say it again:

4 million people work in higher ed, the largest employer in 10 states, second largest employer in 10 more, and in 60 of the 100 biggest cities

ROI for NIH and NSF for local economies is conservatively 4x, often close to 10x

demolishing higher education is economic sabotage
There is a false dichotomy drawn between "the ivory tower" and "the real world," and I'm here to report that in a post-industrial society, your real-world economy absolutely hinges on the university.

University towns are factory towns. Universities drive economic activity, not the other way around.
May 18, 2025 at 1:45 PM
ProPublica continues to earn my monthly workplace giving donation. I encourage you to support their journalism as well.
THREAD: We recently heard that the Trump administration was leaning on the government of Gambia to help Elon Musk. For weeks, our team made phone calls, wrote letters and knocked on folks’ doors to try to confirm it. But we were stuck.

So our reporters got on a plane to Banjul. 1/
May 16, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Reposted by Dr. Julie Kientz
Yes! We have to move the needle on public perception of science. Scientists can share their story in a LOCAL HOMETOWN PAPER op-ed, published June 16! #McClintockLetters #SciComm

Share how we serve the public with fed dollars, & insights into fed funded research. tinyurl.com/McClintockLetters
May 13, 2025 at 9:19 PM
Happy Birthday, #NSF. Thank you for all you’ve done for promoting science and innovation for the betterment of society. #SaveNSF
On the NSF's 75th:

“‘NSF investments have driven groundbreaking innovations, from the internet and LASIK eye surgery to the first image of a black hole... The foundation has also played a key role in the work of 268 Nobel Prize laureates, helping to shape many of their landmark achievements.’”
Time to Save the National Science Foundation, 75 Years and Thriving
The National Science Foundation marks its 75th anniversary today, May 10th 2025. Rather than celebrate, it's time to save it.
joshuasweitz.substack.com
May 10, 2025 at 8:36 PM
Reposted by Dr. Julie Kientz
On the NSF's 75th:

“‘NSF investments have driven groundbreaking innovations, from the internet and LASIK eye surgery to the first image of a black hole... The foundation has also played a key role in the work of 268 Nobel Prize laureates, helping to shape many of their landmark achievements.’”
Time to Save the National Science Foundation, 75 Years and Thriving
The National Science Foundation marks its 75th anniversary today, May 10th 2025. Rather than celebrate, it's time to save it.
joshuasweitz.substack.com
May 10, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Reposted by Dr. Julie Kientz
🧪 Ranking member Lofgren and 11 other House dems sent a fiery 7-page letter to acting NSF director today

"The cancelation of these awards suggests instead that NSF is willing to apply political censorship of awards under direction from President Trump and the DOGE teenagers"

Share widely #SaveNSF
democrats-science.house.gov
May 9, 2025 at 1:00 AM
Uggghh… more harmful and destructive shenanigans going down at #NSF
Exclusive: National Science Foundation staff were told today that the agency’s 37 divisions—across all eight directorates—are being abolished and the number of programs within those divisions will be drastically reduced.
Exclusive: NSF faces radical shake-up as officials abolish its 37 divisions
Changes seen as a response to presidential directives on what research to fund
scim.ag
May 9, 2025 at 12:25 AM
Reposted by Dr. Julie Kientz
Thinking about devastating cuts to NSF: US gov-funded science has been the engine upon which most of the tech wealth was generated. But the oligarchs (currently hoarding much of that $) think it’s their own brilliance & not the accident of standing close to the scientific engine that made them rich.
May 4, 2025 at 5:47 PM
This absolutely. I definitely would not have gone into research if I hadn’t been supported first by an #NSF REU program as an undergrad and then an #NSF graduate fellowship. I didn’t even know what research was or how one got into it until I participated in an REU program.
But really, I think the primary takeaway is this--

NSF grants enable a lot of people to become scientists who otherwise wouldn't financially be able to handle it.

And that's really important. (fin)
May 4, 2025 at 6:35 PM
The bloodbath against science and universities continues to be devastating. Scientists have invested many hours into writing and reviewing these grants. Many CAREER awards have been included in these terminations, which often represent our brightest junior researchers.
NEW: Starting May 5, NSF will implement an across-the-board 15% indirect cost rate (mirroring policies at DOE, NIH)

Also, NSF staff expect 341 additional terminations today, bringing the total number of terminations to ~1,380.
May 2, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Reposted by Dr. Julie Kientz
UPDATE: We have data on >1000 terminated #NSF grants at grant-watch.us. Thanks to all who have been contributing data the past few days.

We've also added a "Reports" section with some analyses. For NSF, we see that the STEM education directorate has been absolutely pummeled.
April 30, 2025 at 10:49 PM