Alexandra To
Associate Professor, Jointly Appointed with College of Arts, Media and Design
Biography
Alexandra To is an associate professor (with tenure) in the Khoury College of Computer Sciences and the College of Arts, Media and Design at Northeastern University, based in Oakland.
To focuses on human–computer interaction, particularly on centering and uplifting marginalized people through computing and tech. She is interested not just in inclusion, but in how marginalized people can flourish and use tech to access joy, play, and justice. This research requires plenty of collaboration and ongoing learning, which keeps To engaged and on her toes. To has received a host of awards and recognitions for this work, including an NSF CAREER Award; a CSCW Recognition for Contribution to Diversity and Inclusion; and Best Paper awards at ACM’s CHI, UIST, DIS, CSCW, and FDG conferences .
At Northeastern, where she has researched and taught since 2020, To teaches foundational courses in human–computer interaction, and has earned a Recognition for Teaching Excellence from Khoury College. Students often take her courses after a long series of deeply technical classes, and she enjoys guiding them in their reflections about who their technology is for and why. To particularly loves to pursue a disparate collection of research projects, both those born of her own passions and those put forth by her student collaborators.
In her free time, To enjoys tabletop roleplaying games, fantasy video games, cooking, and tarot.
Recent publications
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“What if England Actually Sucked at Colonizing?”: Challenges, Opportunities, and Approaches to Engaging Race in Game Design
Citation: Bethany Miatta Turay, Gianna Williams, Dylan Dinio, Natalie Chen, Triston Wong, Alexandra To. (2026). "What if England Actually Sucked at Colonizing?": Challenges, Opportunities, and Approaches to Engaging Race in Game Design Creativity & Cognition, 745-757. https://doi.org/10.1145/3803784.3807541 -
“You Are the Visuals, Baby”: Sonic Speculation and Interactive Afrofutures in Black Femme Musical Performance
Citation: Angela D. R. Smith, Gabriella Thompson, Bethany Miatta Turay, Alexandra To. (2026). "You Are the Visuals, Baby": Sonic Speculation and Interactive Afrofutures in Black Femme Musical Performance DIS, 1593-1607. https://doi.org/10.1145/3800645.3812792 -
Hike Your Own Hike: Noticing Through Iterative Physical Disorientation
Citation: Yuxi Wu, Alexandra To. (2026). Hike Your Own Hike: Noticing Through Iterative Physical Disorientation DIS, 1451-1463. https://doi.org/10.1145/3800645.3812833 -
“I can take what I want and adapt as needed”: BIPOC Identity Making and Resistance Through Internet Aesthetics on TikTok
Citation: Natalie Chen, Gianna Williams, Alexandra To, Michael Ann DeVito. (2026). "I can take what I want and adapt as needed": BIPOC Identity Making and Resistance Through Internet Aesthetics on TikTok CHI, 211:1-211:17. https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3790948 -
Learning Ecological Justice and Game Design by Creating Culturally Relevant Digital Transformational Games
Citation: Jailyn Zabala, Dexter Delandro, Clifford Lee, Alexandra To. (2026). Learning Ecological Justice and Game Design by Creating Culturally Relevant Digital Transformational Games CHI, 592:1-592:14. https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3790789 -
What do you mean by “Hood” Prom? : Joyful Narratives Shown Through The Eyes of Black Teens on TikTok
Citation: Gianna Williams, Soni Rusagara, Alexandra To. (2026). What do you mean by "Hood" Prom? : Joyful Narratives Shown Through The Eyes of Black Teens on TikTok ACM Trans. Soc. Comput., 9, 6:1-6:30. https://doi.org/10.1145/3797821 -
Alternative Technology Consumption Under Capitalism
Citation: Yuxi Wu, Beatriz Palacios Abad, Vishal Sharma, Hanlin Li , Alexandra To. (2025). Alternative Technology Consumption Under Capitalism CSCW Companion, 78-80. https://doi.org/10.1145/3715070.3748279 -
Constructing a Community of Play: Black Sims Players and Game Modding
Citation: Angela D. R. Smith, Gianna Williams, Gabriella Thompson, Alexandra To. (2025). Constructing a Community of Play: Black Sims Players and Game Modding Proc. ACM Hum. Comput. Interact., 9, 385-414. https://doi.org/10.1145/3748609 -
“I want to let them in”: Exploring Critical Consciousness Development through Roleplay and Reflection in “Papers, Please”
Citation: Bethany Miatta Turay, Alesandra Baca-Vázquez, Alexandra To, Angela D. R. Smith. (2025). "I want to let them in": Exploring Critical Consciousness Development through Roleplay and Reflection in "Papers, Please" FDG, 41:1-41:13. https://doi.org/10.1145/3723498.3723797 -
Cultivating Community and Creating Safe Spaces: Exploring A Design Toolkit for the Learned Values of Students of Color
Citation: Dilruba Showkat, Laveda Chan, Christopher Brooks, Devina Raithatha, Alexandra To. (2025). Cultivating Community and Creating Safe Spaces: Exploring A Design Toolkit for the Learned Values of Students of Color Proc. ACM Hum. Comput. Interact., 9, 1-28. https://doi.org/10.1145/3710905 -
Why Can’t Black Women Just Be?: Black Femme Content Creators Navigating Algorithmic Monoliths
Citation: Gianna Williams, Natalie Chen, Michael Ann DeVito, Alexandra To. (2025). Why Can't Black Women Just Be?: Black Femme Content Creators Navigating Algorithmic Monoliths CHI, 108:1-108:14. https://doi.org/10.1145/3706598.3713842 -
Data Enrichment Work and AI Labor in Latin America and the Caribbean
Citation: Gianna Williams, Maya De Los Santos, Alexandra To, Saiph Savage. (2025). Data Enrichment Work and AI Labor in Latin America and the Caribbean CoRR, abs/2501.06981. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2501.06981 -
Envisioning New Futures of Positive Social Technology: Beyond Paradigms of Fixing, Protecting, and Preventing
Citation: JaeWon Kim, Lindsay Popowski, Anna Fang, Cassidy Pyle, Guo Freeman, Ryan M. Kelly, Angela Y. Lee, Fannie Liu, Angela D. R. Smith, Alexandra To, Amy X. Zhang. (2024). Envisioning New Futures of Positive Social Technology: Beyond Paradigms of Fixing, Protecting, and Preventing CoRR, abs/2407.17579. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2407.17579 -
Queer TTRPGs’ Visibility, Safety, and Allegory as Resistance
Citation: Jailyn Zabala, Josie Zvelebilova, Alexandra To. (2024). Queer TTRPGs' Visibility, Safety, and Allegory as Resistance FDG, 30. https://doi.org/10.1145/3649921.3650022 -
An Exploration of Learned Values Through Lived Experiences to Design for BIPOC Students’ Flourishing
Citation: Laveda Chan, Dilruba Showkat, Alexandra To. (2024). An Exploration of Learned Values Through Lived Experiences to Design for BIPOC Students' Flourishing CHI Extended Abstracts, 43:1-43:7. https://doi.org/10.1145/3613905.3650899 -
Alienated Serendipity and Reflective Failure: Exploring Queer Game Mechanics and Queerness in Games via Queer Temporality
Citation: Matthew Hantsbarger, Giovanni Maria Troiano, Alexandra To, Casper Harteveld. (2022). Alienated Serendipity and Reflective Failure: Exploring Queer Game Mechanics and Queerness in Games via Queer Temporality Proc. ACM Hum. Comput. Interact., 6, 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1145/3549484 -
Interactive Fiction Provotypes for Coping with Interpersonal Racism
Citation: Alexandra To, Hillary Carey, Riya Shrivastava, Jessica Hammer, Geoff Kaufman. (2022). Interactive Fiction Provotypes for Coping with Interpersonal Racism CHI, 453:1-453:14. https://doi.org/10.1145/3491102.3502044 -
Collecting and Reporting Race and Ethnicity Data in HCI
Citation: Yiqun T. Chen, Angela D. R. Smith, Katharina Reinecke, Alexandra To. (2022). Collecting and Reporting Race and Ethnicity Data in HCI CHI Extended Abstracts, 327:1-327:8. https://doi.org/10.1145/3491101.3519685 -
Discovering intersectionality: part 2: reclaiming our time
Citation: Jakita Owensby Thomas, Neha Kumar, Alexandra To, Quincy Brown, Yolanda A. Rankin. (2021). Discovering intersectionality: part 2: reclaiming our time Interactions, 28, 72-75. https://doi.org/10.1145/3468783 -
Discovering intersectionality part I: researcher interrupted
Citation: Quincy Brown, Neha Kumar, Jakita Owensby Thomas, Alexandra To, Yolanda A. Rankin. (2021). Discovering intersectionality part I: researcher interrupted Interactions, 28, 73-77. https://doi.org/10.1145/3457869 -
“It’s Complicated”: Negotiating Accessibility and (Mis)Representation in Image Descriptions of Race, Gender, and Disability
Citation: Bennett, C. L., Gleason, C., Scheurman, M. K., Bigham, J. P., Guo, A., & To, A. (2021). “It’s Complicated”: Negotiating Accessibility and (Mis) Representation in Image Descriptions of Race, Gender, and Disability. -
“They Just Don’t Get It”: Towards Social Technologies for Coping with Interpersonal Racism
Citation: To, A., Sweeney, W., Hammer, J., & Kaufman, G. (2020). " They Just Don't Get It": Towards Social Technologies for Coping with Interpersonal Racism. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 4(CSCW1), 1-29. -
Critical Race Theory for HCI
Citation: Ogbonnaya-Ogburu, I. F., Smith, A. D., To, A., & Toyama, K. (2020, April). Critical race theory for HCI. In Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-16). -
Character Diversity in Digital and Non-Digital Games
Citation: To, A., McDonald, J., Holmes, J., Kaufman, G., & Hammer, J. (2018). Character diversity in digital and non-digital games. Transactions of the Digital Games Research Association, 4(1).
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