Zhuoran (Elara) Liu

I am Elara Liu, a second-year M.S. student in Computer Science at Northwestern University, advised by Haoqi Zhang and Karan Ahuja. I previously earned dual B.S. degrees in Computer Science and Informatics from UC Irvine. I build end-to-end interactive systems across interfaces, data pipelines, and evaluation, with an emphasis on human issues, user context, and real-world constraints.

My research sits at the intersection of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Health Informatics, and Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW). I study how human-centered intelligent systems can support collaborative decision-making in everyday health, especially when information is partial, values are contested, and stakes are high. My work focuses on making agentic AI systems more transparent and value-aligned, helping patients and clinicians develop shared understanding from fragmented perspectives, and reducing the cognitive load of health technologies for users with diverse needs and levels of literacy.

Across my work, I use mixed methods to design systems that support, rather than burden, vulnerable stakeholders. I will join Emory University as a Ph.D. student in Computer Science and Informatics in Fall 2026.