Yuna Watanabe

Biography

Yuna Watanabe is a doctoral student in the Khoury College of Computer Sciences at Northeastern University, based in Boston. She is advised by Matthew Goodwin. 

Watanabe joined Khoury College in 2023 after a series of research projects dealing with physiological symptoms, and after showcasing this work at ACM CHI and MUM. These projects demonstrated to her that information technologies can change people’s emotions and behaviors. This insight, married with her longstanding interest in supporting people with autism, led her to Khoury College’s personal health informatics program, the Computational Behavioral Science Laboratory, and Goodwin, an expert in the field. Within that lab, she enjoys working with patients and interdisciplinary teams. 

Watanabe researches technologically based ways to help people with autism regulate their emotions effectively — something they can sometimes struggle to do, and which can lead to them hurting themselves or others if they lack appropriate support. Her work has been recognized with the Heiwa Nakajima Scholarship for Foreign Students. 

In her free time, Watanabe enjoys cooking, baking, and working out. She has also played the piano for more than a decade.