Human-centered AI · Youth identity · Digital health equity
Centering human connection at the center of AI
I’m a social worker turned human-centered AI researcher. I study how AI mediates the ways youth relate to themselves and one another, with a focus on sexual health and LGBTQ+ teens’ identity development
Postdoctoral Fellow
Teen Health Lab @ Northwestern University
Director of Research
All Tomorrows Institute
Research
I see social work as the art and science of human relationships. I bring that lens to AI, asking what these tools do to the relationships young people have with themselves, their communities, and the systems around them.
01
AI and Self-Understanding
How LGBTQ+ teens turn to AI to make sense of sexual orientation and gender identity, and what gets flattened when a tool hands over a label instead of letting a person work it out.
02
Human connection in the age of AI
When technology helps or gets in the way of connection, and the conditions that keep teens turning to people, not chatbots, for their relational needs.
03
Participatory, equitable technology
Co-designing digital health tools with youth, and using storytelling and participatory design to imagine more equitable technology futures.
Selected Work
All Tomorrows Institute
[DEFINE]: Our AI Futures
A public archive and documentary of stories, art, music, writing and video from US young adults (18–24) about how AI is shaping their lives and communities. Run by AI4ALL with the All Tomorrows Institute; I co-wrote the grant, funded by the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation.
Featured Interview: The Rithm Project
“It’s there when people aren’t”
My research on what LGBTQ+ young people are finding in AI, where they draw the line, and why trusted people still matter more than any chatbot.
Selected Publications
“Enhancing LGBTQ+ Inclusivity in an AI-Powered Sexual Health Chatbot: User-Centered Design Approach Through a Nonprofit and Academic Partnership” [link]
Liem WW, Casline E, Lorenzo J, Gordon JD, Alvarado Avila A, Taylor A, Levitz N, O'Keefe MC, Shum K, Macapagal K. Journal of Medical Internet Research 28:e78621.
I worked with Planned Parenthood to engage our council of 30 LGBTQ+ teens to evaluate and identify ways to make their sex ed chatbot, Roo, more LGBTQ+ inclusive.
“A Scoping Review of Queer Health and Well-Being Technology Research” [link]
Liang CA, Liem WW, Delmonaco D, Berry ABL, Haimson OL, Macapagal K, Munson SA. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction 10(6, CSCW):CSCW046.
Combing through research on queer health technologies, we found that most tools focus on individual behavior, and we laid out a framework and research agenda that pushes the field toward community and structural change.
About
I live between worlds, working across academia, nonprofits, and civil society tech organizations. At Northwestern, I study how queer teens use AI for health and identity questions. At the All Tomorrows Institute, I lead research that uses storytelling and participatory design to imagine more equitable tech futures.
I also worked as a systems design and UX research consultant focusing on responsible AI and AI transparency development. My clients were Google, Meta, LinkedIn, to name a few.
My research goal is to help understand the key ingredients needed to strengthen human connection in this era of AI.
Education
PhD, Social Sciences and Health
Northwestern University
MSW, Social System Design
Washington University in St. Louis
BA, Sociology
University of British Columbia