Faculty Directory
Maia Jacobs

Assistant Professor of Computer Science

Assistant Professor of Preventive Medicine

Contact

MUDD 2233 Tech Drive
3rd Floor
Evanston, IL 60208-3109

Email Maia Jacobs

Departments

Computer Science

Download CV

Education

Ph.D. Human Centered Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA

B.S. Industrial and Systems Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI

Research Interests

Maia L. Jacobs is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science, with a joint appointment in Preventive Medicine, where she directs the Northwestern Personalized Adaptive Technologies for Health (NUPath) Lab. Her research focuses on the design and evaluation of human-centered technologies that support decision-making, communication, and collaboration in complex sociotechnical systems, particularly in healthcare and community settings. Drawing on human–computer interaction and participatory design, she studies how predictive and data-driven tools can be shaped into interactive systems that meaningfully support people in real-world workflows.

A central theme of Jacobs’ work is supporting shared decision-making and reducing epistemic and emotional burdens for clinicians, patients, caregivers, and frontline workers. Her research includes collaborative decision support tools in oncology and pediatrics, adaptive interventions to prevent secondary traumatic stress among frontline workers, and conversational systems that improve communication across clinical and community contexts. Across these efforts, she emphasizes stakeholder engagement, equity, and implementation, partnering closely with health systems and community organizations to ensure technologies are trustworthy, actionable, and scalable.

Selected Publications