by Brian Whitehead | Special to the Courier

Chau Vu is the first student from Pomona College to receive a Computing Research Association Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award — the highest honor for an undergraduate involved in computer science research.

Vu, a senior computer science major and native of Hanoi, Vietnam, was one of eight students from across the country to be recognized last month for their excellence in research. She was the only recipient from a liberal arts college.

Vu’s prize comes with financial assistance of up to $1,500 to attend a research conference of her choice.

“Computer science is a very applied subject, but I enjoy the challenge of both deep thinking and building real systems because they complement each other,” Vu said. “I always want to maintain the balance of building something that’s cool and creative but also grounded in real users’ needs.”

Alexandra Papoutsaki, associate professor of computer science, described Vu as “one of those rare students who has both very strong technical skills and very strong insight into human-centered questions.” She can talk to people to analyze data, Papoutsaki said, and write compelling narratives. “Human-computer interaction” is not just about building something, the professor said, “but being able to tell a story around it. Her skills are at the level of a third-year Ph.D. student.”

Vu published two award-winning articles last year and traveled to Korea and Japan to present her work.

Her co-authored paper with Jingyi Li, assistant professor of computer science —“Computational Scaffolding of Composition, Value, and Color for Disciplined Drawing” — earned best paper (top 1%) at the 2025 Association of Computing Machinery Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology.

Her co-authored paper with Papoutsaki — “Understanding Temporality of Reflection in Personal Informatics through Baby Tracking” — received honorable mention best paper (top 5%) at ACM CHI 2025.

Both conferences — USIT and CHI — are regarded as leading international research venues in the human-computer interaction field.

“I always knew I wanted to get into research,” Vu said. “I was very active in reaching out to professors, and they were amazing. They always support me. They are great advisors and great teachers who encourage me to try more.”

Vu interned at Microsoft last summer and worked on improving industry-scale graphics features for real-world applications.

While she recently received an offer to work in New York City as a software engineer, she’s in the process of applying to graduate school. With her experience and skills, Papoutsaki said he’s confident Vu can become a “phenomenal” researcher or a top professor if she wants to enter academia.

“Ideally, I want to do research at the intersection of computer science and human-AI interaction,” Vu said. “The more I do this kind of work and get recognized, the more motivated I am to continue doing research.”