The Playful Health Technology Laboratory (PHT Lab) is an interdisciplinary research team affiliated with the School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems department at Northern Arizona University. The lab's mission is to design, Implement, and study human-computer interaction technologies that enhance the experience of improving or maintaining health among underserved populations with health disparities, including people with disabilities.

We are always looking for motivated students to join our group or to help out on projects. For questions about how to get involved with NAU PHT Lab, please email Jared Duval or stop by his office, located in the School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems (Building 90), room 206.

#HumanComputerInteraction#AssistiveTechnology#SeriousGames4Health#Play#DisabilityAdvocacy

Playful Health Technology Lab

Recent News

04.04.2026 Hunter: Demo'd and presented on SpokeIt and AutMotion at the First-Annual Flagstaff Science On The Square

04.01.2026 Shelby: Extended abstract titled "Empowering Engagement: Designing for Sustainable and Playful Community Crowdsensing" is accepted to ACM's Designing Interactive Systems Doctoral Consortium.

03.28.2026 Jared and Shelby: Workshop titled "Chasing Play Potentials for Innovative Mobile Crowdsensing" is accepted to ACM's Designing Interactive Systems conference.

03.24.2026 Shelby: User Testing an mHealth Behavioral Health App for Hopi/Tewa Youth During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Usability Study. Read the Paper.

02.19.2026 Hunter & Carly & Devin: Paper Accepted into CHI26 "Understanding Clinician Experiences with Game-Based Interventions for Autistic Children to Inform a Future Game Platform Focused on Improving Motor Skills ".

01.30.2026 Jared & Hunter: Hosted NAU's Second Global Game Jam! See the Games Here!

01.08.2026 Hunter: Student Teaching: "IMG 421 - 3D Game Engines"
11.21.2025 Hunter & Carly & Devin: Win Second place at EGRFest25 with AutMotion

11.17.2025 Shelby: Unveiling and Engaging with the Humans of Networking Research, published in HotNets. Read the Paper.

11.03.2025 Jared: NAU Immersive Media and Games Team Crowned the First-Ever AZ Game Cup Winner, beating ASU, UofA, GSU, and UAT.

10.27.2025 Alison: Co-Designing Culturally Grounded Mobile Health Games for Hypertension Management in Indigenous Communities, published in ASSETS.

Read the paper.

10.13.2025 Shelby: A Scenario-Based Design Pack for Exploring Multimodal Human-GenAI Relations, published in ICMI.

Read the paper.

10.3.2025 Taylen: Presented NetGauge Project at the 2025 American Indian Science and Engineering Society National Conference (AISES).

Read the Abstract.

6.2.2025 Hunter: Video Game-Based Intervention for physical/occupational therapy received the Maxwell-Lutz Community Impact Award.

6.1.2025 Jared: SpokeIt Patent Awarded

4.20.2025 Hunter: Became the President of the Game Design Club at NAU.

4.16.2025 Hunter: Video Game-Based Intervention for physical/occupational therapy received the Pheatt Family Research Award.

4.16.2025 Alison: ASSETS Full Paper for CardioCare Quest Accepted for Publication.

4.7.2025 Hunter & Carly & Cathy & Devin: Video Game-Based Intervention for Physical/Occupational Therapy received the Hooper Undergraduate Research Award.
3.17.2025 Hunter & Cathy: Took 5 members of the Game Design Club to the Game Developers Conference!

3.16.2025 Jared: Presents SpokeIt to RCMI Conference as SHERC Representative.

2.26.2025 Cathy: Game Design Club participated in judging for World Game Development Awards - Best Student Game.

2.20.2025 Jared: Publication on Gaze Entropy to measure focus and attention accepted for publication in ETRA.

2.25.2025 Cathy: Game Design Club announced the Playtester event – a chance for game developers to present their games to an audience, gather feedback, and refine their projects based on player input.

2.12.2025 Cathy: Became the Social Recruitment Event Chair for Game Design Club!

1.16.2025 Jared & Hunter: Hosted NAU's inaugural Global Game Jam

1.15.2025 Jared: Teaching Creative Strategies for Designing Interactive Media and History and Theory of Games

1.8.2025 Tochukwu: Abstract for RCMI Conference Accepted.

All News

Design Makes a Difference.

When designed well, technology can change the world.

Allyship is Paramount.

Disability is a natural and beautiful part of diversity—Let's listen and collaborate.

Play is Powerful.

We cannot be healthy or happy without play.

Our Agenda

Our research is grounded in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and explores the intersection of social computing, health, and play. To better understand the complex, intersecting dynamics at the heart of disability, technology, and healthcare, we forge interdisciplinary research teams and community partnerships to develop a more holistic understanding of how to address the long-standing barriers faced by populations of people with disabilities. When we think well about how and what we design, we have an opportunity to make technology that is a cost-effective, personalized, data-driven, connected, and motivating context for otherwise tedious and repetitive wellness routines. We employ Research through Design (RtD) to build and study systems that aim to improve the experience and effectiveness of meeting or maintaining health goals.

This agenda is challenging because:

Too many existing systems prioritize the medical model of healing over the lived experience of having a disability
Among disabled communities, there is a vast variety of needs, abilities, behaviors, attitudes, and contexts of use that often change over time—these are difficult to model and translate into systems
Measures of success are complicated by the interconnectedness of Wicked Problems, including healthcare, disability justice, and sociotechnical system limitations

Our Approach

Considering these challenges, our research has three approaches:

We draw from interdisciplinary fields, including the humanities, social sciences, and engineering to develop methods of inquiry and research agendas aimed at addressing authentic problems faced by people with disabilities
We design and develop technical probes that afford meaningful interactions and mechanics towards making therapy, rehabilitation, and healing more rewarding and effective
We innovate creative ways to utilize everyday, low-cost, reliable, and ubiquitous technology to gain insights into user behaviors as they relate to health, rehabilitation, and quality of life

Our approach to research is to build real systems and prototypes that address authentic problems and opportunities for engaging with the needs of people with disabilities. We believe that cross-discipline and cross-cultural collaborations hold the key to new perspectives, innovation, and high-quality research. We work in partnership with community members and stakeholders through community-based frameworks to serve as a conduit for reaching their goals—our research benefits from acknowledging the expertise of groups, both within and outside of academia.

We are particularly captivated by play and the potential for it to move us forward. Play affords a unique opportunity for studying how various populations appropriate tools and technology to serve their needs. We believe play contains qualities that are naturally healing and is a great vehicle for addressing society’s Wicked Problems because it enables us to explore outside current norms and barriers. Play is naturally iterative with ever-changing rules and possibilities—it provides an effective approach to conducting Research through Design.

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