Joe Breda
About Me
I am a final year PhD student advised by Shwetak Patel in the Ubiquitous Computing Lab at the University of Washington Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineer.
My research focuses on human-centric sensing and applied artificial intelligence to enhance health, sustainability, and societal well-being.
This includes leveraging or repurposing ubiquitous technology platforms like smartphones and wearables for new applications in health and environmental sensing and developing AI systems to infer new insights from existing data sources. My work bridges fundamental AI research with translational research, advancing commodity and ubiquitous technology for societal impact. Some example applications I am most excited about include disease prevention, promoting sustainable and healthy behavior, context-aware AI agents, and urbanism.
More recently, I have been in the research sandbox with AI agents as a new ubiqutious platform to enhance human-AI collaboration by developing AI that leverages context from sensor data to solicit human feedback automatically.
Recent News
- Two papers on improving navigation platforms for active transportation accepted to CHI 2025!
- FeverPhone won Distinguished Paper Award at Ubicomp 2024!
- Spent the summer of 2024 deploying smart bicycle sensors in Seattle.
- Thailand Rideshare Study Published in CSCW 2024!
- Traveled to the NIH in DC to conduct a clinical trials, October 2023.
- Traveled to Cancun to present FeverPhone at Ubicomp 2023.
- Traveled to Germany for the 10th Heidelberg Laureate Forum!
- Traveled to Thailand again to deploy mobile AQI sensors with motorcycle drivers, July 2023.
- FeverPhone Published in IMWUT 2023!
- Traveled to Thailand to conduct qualitative interviews wtih rideshare drivers, August 2022.
- Left my Student Researcher Position at Google, August 2022.
- Spent Summer 2022 part-time at Google and part-time conducting a clinical trial for FeverPhone at UW Northwest Hospital.
Research Approach
My core expertise is in developing applied AI and human-centric sensing systems. However, the societal applications I work with often call for longitudinal deployment studies, collecting specialized datasets, and human evaluation. This participation in data collection and interaction with end-users informs how I approach AI development, and my expertise in AI development informs the types of sensing systems I build.
While I typically build passive and scalable sensing systems by leveraging sensors already built into ubiquitous devices like smartphones and wearables, thanks to my inspiring labmates, I have also explored building custom hardware for novel interaction.
Notable Experiences
I have collaborated with a variety of stakeholders and instutitions including: the National Institute of Health (NIH), UW Medicine Emergency Department, and local cycling and pedestrian activist organizations to deploy novel personal health and environmental sensing systems.
Previously, I was a Student Researcher at Google Research where I worked on geospatial deep learning models for forecasting driver safety to improve Google Maps.
I have also traveled to Bangkok and Chiang Mai Thailand to conduct a qualitative study and follow up mobile sensor deployment to understand the experience of gig-workers in relation to severe pollution exposure.
I also founded and lead the Allen School Graduate Entrepreneurship Club and helped start the CS4Env cross-department collaborative initiative.
Personal Interests
Outside of research, I like to make CGI posters, compose and produce electronic music, play guitar, and take photos. I am particulary inspired by ambience, harsh noise, procedurally generated art, and the design of everyday things. I also like to boulder, bike, write, and spend time in public.
Publications
ProxiCycle: Passively Mapping Cyclist Safety Using Smart Handlebars for Near-Miss Detection
Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), 2025
NightLight: A smartphone middleware application for passively mapping nighttime sidewalk light data for improved pedestrian routing
Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), 2025
* Indicates equal contribution
Exploring and characterizing large language models for embedded system development and debugging
Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI LBW 2024 [PDF]
Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction (CSCW), 2024 [PDF]
* Indicates equal contribution
Thermal Earring: Low-power Wireless Earring for Longitudinal Earlobe Temperature Sensing
Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies (IMWUT), 2024 [PDF]
Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies (IMWUT), 2023 [PDF]
Won Distinguished Paper Award at Ubicomp 2024
Understanding People's Concerns and Attitudes Towards Smart Cities
Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), 2023 [PDF]
Passively Sensing SARS-CoV-2 RNA in Public Transit Buses
Science of the Total Environment, 2022 [PDF]
Phone-based ambient temperature sensing using opportunistic crowdsensing and machine learning
Sustainable Computing: Informatics and Systems, 2021 [PDF]
Hanging Gardens of Babylon: Reframing Urban Agriculture as an Opportunity for Social Engagement
Self-Sustainable CHI'20 [PDF]
Hot or Not: Leveraging Mobile Devices for Ubiquitous Temperature Sensing
BuildSys'19 [PDF]
Staring at the Sun: A Physical Black-box Solar Performance Model
BuildSys'18 [PDF]
Fancy That: Measuring Electricity Grid Voltage Using a Phone and a Fan
COMPASS'18 [PDF]
