I'm Kaia Newman, a second year Ph.D. student in Software Engineering in the Software & Societal Systems department at Carnegie Mellon University. I'm advised by Andrew Begel, and thus am a part of the VariAbility lab.

My research is on human factors of software engineering, including accessibility for neurodivergent developers, program comprehension (especially with sensors or neuroimaging), developer sense-making, and developer wellbeing and efficacy. I also like to dabble in things I have no current business with -- right now, a bit of program analysis.

I completed my undergraduate degree in Computer Science at the University of Michigan. In my free time, I enjoy written communication, watching the reality TV show Survivor, doing crosswords, running, playing Magic: The Gathering, and reading. I use any pronouns.

• April 4th, 2024: I received the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship! Thank you to everyone who supported me along the way. You can view my statements here: (Personal Statement, Research Proposal).


• March 5th, 2024: I gave a guest lecture and discussion on qualitative methods and my experiences in academia at Bowdoin College in CSCI 3500!


• February 27th, 2024: Our paper, "Causal Relationships and Programming Outcomes: A Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Experiment," received an ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Award! This paper was an involved, risky, collaborative project, so it is wonderful to see it recognized.


• January 29th, 2024: I received travel funding for the Student Mentorship Workshop (SMeW) at ICSE 2024!

• Conference: Hammad Ahmad, Madeline Endres, Kaia Newman, Priscila Santiesteban, Emma Shedden, Westley Weimer. Causal Relationships and Programming Outcomes: A Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Experiment. International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE), 2024. (distinguished paper award)


• Conference: Kaia Newman, Madeline Endres, Westley Weimer, Brittany Johnson. From Organizations to Individuals: Psychoactive Substance Use By Professional Programmers. International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE), 2023.

Curiosity killed the cat; satisfaction brought it back.