Cindy Kim-Ngan Lam

Cindy Kim-Ngân Lam

User Experience Researcher

About

Hello! I am a qualitative product and user experience researcher with a background in Learning Sciences, Technology Design, Education, and Cognitive Science. I have 8+ years of experience leading primary research and translating insights cross-functionally to inform product decisions and strategy. I am passionate about leveraging research to create transformative technologies that drive innovation and equity.

I currently work at Meta as a User Experience Researcher on the Instagram Business Experiences team, where I lead consumer-facing research informing strategy and product decisions on how Creators and Businesses monetize Instagram profile. Before that, I was a UX Researcher at Google (via Adecco), where I contributed impactful and formative research to the Google Travel and Google Classroom teams.

I graduated with my Ph.D. from the Stanford Graduate School of Education, specialized in Learning Sciences and Technology Design (LSTD) and Developmental and Psychological Sciences Program (DAPS). My dissertation research used mixed methods to examine the role of technology in children’s learning, specifically how online communities create social opportunities that lead to interest and engagement in reading.

In my free time, I love creating digital art, playing ukulele, and dancing Lindy Hop! I have performed with dance groups such as the Get Down Performance Team, Bayside Jam, the Mischievous Ladies.

Selected Research

families’ distance learning during the covid-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic caused school closures, leading to an abrupt shift to distance learning from home. This study used dscout, a remote diary study platform, to understand families’ experiences through mixed methods such as surveys and diary entries. Analyses have identified not only families’ challenges and concerns, but also unexpected benefits, as well as the ways they have innovated and adapted for learning at home.

Social digital tools for reading engagement

Social technologies, such as online reading communities, enable new ways for users to learn and engage. This study examined that phenomenon using mixed methods including: social network analysis, cluster analysis, qualitative interviewing and observation. The mixed methods approach uncovered multifaceted insights on how elementary-aged learners can use technology to socially engage around reading.

equitable technology for interest-driven reading

Educational technology can offer extraordinary opportunities to change learning, but it can also contribute to existing inequities. This study collaborated with school district partners to investigate what technologies equitably support reading and how. Through qualitative interviews, this research investigated the roles of pedagogy, technology access, and family involvement in supporting equitable, interest-driven reading.

Resume available upon request.