Greetings, I'm Laura Beth Fulton!

I create products to improve social connection. As a Human Factors Researcher, I advocate for user experiences which include physical wear and tactile interactions along with digital experiences. My research is highly collaborative and I partner closely with stakeholders to drive insights and designs that deliver intuitive, useful, and accesible experiences. My domain is hardware research and forms of multi-modal interaction (gaming, music, visuals). I earned my Masters in Human-Computer Interaction at Carnegie Mellon Logo.

I am currently applying my expertise as a UX Researcher at Google on the Wearables Design Team.

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Prior to my work at Google, I have 4 years of experience in Product through various roles (often aligning User Research and Product KPIs). I worked with engineers and designers on research for gaming technology at EA, explored understanding and voice design at  Apple , and impacted IoT and hardware device products at   Microsoft .

I'm a researcher at heart, and I discovered Product and UX Research through my love of the scientific method. I have authored journal publications, earned a United States Patent, and presented at national and international conferences and competitions.

I am also a proud advocate for women in STEM. I am a reviewer for Grace Hopper, IEEE Women in Engineering volunteer, and judge for regional science fairs. An inititive I am proud of is connecting young girls to mentors. I have over 10 years of experience advocating for women in STEM; this includes sharing tech with girls and underrepresented students as a Microsoft YouthSpark Ambassador and co-founding "She Innovates," an all female hackathon at the University of Pittsburgh.

Corporate Experience


// Currently at Google [2020 - Present]: Human Factors Design Researcher
Mixed methods researcher of physical and digital experiences.
Launched products my research has impacted include the Pixel Buds A-Series. //

Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methods
Research Strategy
Storytelling: Presentations, Videos, Infographics
Foundational Study Design
Vendor Communication
Heuristic Reviews
Human 3D Modeling
Anthropometrics
Semi-structured interviews
Survey Design
Usability Study Design
Mentorship
Executive Design Recommendations


Product Manager for Game Creation
 Conducted research with Development Directors, prioritized models, and defined metrics for new game technology.

Contextual Interviews
Metrics + Data Analytics
Roadmap Planning
Test Plan Specs.
A/B Testing
Communication


Engineering Program Manager Intern
Created mock-ups, voice-interaction user-flows, and produced data-driven insights to improve Siri, Apple's Voice Assistant.

Competitive Analysis
Voice Interaction
User Flows
Design Experiments
Quantitative Data Analytics
Mock-Ups


Hardware Product Design Intern
 Designed simulations to ensure quality for the Surface Slim pen to accompany the Surface Duo. Traveled to China to assist EV build.

CAD 3D Modeling
GD&T
Failure Analysis
Design for Manufacturing (DFM)
Fixture Design
Statistical Analysis
Mechanical Testing


Project Mngt. & Software Engr. Intern
Developed and open sourced code for running Windows 10 Apps on Raspberry Pi. Published instructions and demo to Windows Community.

Requirements + Specs.
Integration: Touch + Display
Code Development (C++)
Testing
App Development
Open Source Documentation

Select Research



NSF Summer Research Fellow
 Advanced nanophysics research on nanopore material relevant to DNA sequencing and encoding information. Contribued to published work as author in ACS Nano and APS Journal. Presented as Plenary Speaker at Harvard's National Collegiate Research Conference (NCRC).

Blender 3D Modeling
Nanofabrication
Experiment Design
Lab Testing
Data Analysis
Technical Writing
Scientific Presentation


Invited Researcher
Conducted research to improve Rosetta Commons software (C++, Python) for canonical antibody prediction. Relevant for drug design and identifying onset of genetic mutation.

Biocomputing
Predictive Protein Modeling
Writing Tests
Open Source Documentation

Recent Projects



Lucid Drums VR
 Built a VR Game which leverages hand-tracking and automatic beat recognition. Team won grand prize for “Most Creative Hack” out of 197 projects.

Virtual Reality
UI/UX Design
Asset Creation
Animations
Game Development
Demo Playtesting


Getting Playful with Explainable AI Visualization
 Computer vision game designed to help people learn about image recognition. First authored ACM CHI paper.

Computer Vision
UI/UX Design
Heuristic Evaluation
Data Collection
User Playtesting
Project Management


Assistant to Remember Family Recipies
Envisioned the Familiar Recipe Google Assistant skill to capture recipes, along with memories associated with them, in a dynamic form. Incorporated accompanying visuals through screen and wearable interface design.

Voice User Interface (VUI)
Scenario Modeling
Script Design
Wearable Watch Interfaces
Database Recall / Memory Storage


NewsFeel for Curated Conversation
 Facilitated research studies and designed NewsFeel, an app to reduce cognitive load in finding diverse news and encourage empathy in discussion.

Mobile-First Design
Competitive Analysis
Storyboarding
Usability Testing
Rapid Prototyping
Empathy Mapping
Experiment Design
Focus Group Studies


Design for Pitbull Fostering
Led service design research and created mobile-first prototypes for redesign of fostering application for local Pittsburgh NPO.

User Research
Customer Journey Mapping
Guerrilla Research
Personas
Speed Dating
Rapid Prototyping


IoT AI to Help Kids with Autism
Used facial recognition to detect emotion and lead a team to help therapists coach children with autism.

Rapid Development
UX Design
Integration: Hardware + Software
User Research
Conversation Design