Claire Lauer
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Phone: 480-828-3881
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Santa Catalina 240 P MESA, AZ 85287-0180
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Mail code: 2780Campus: Poly
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Claire Lauer is professor of technical communication and co-director of the user experience master’s program. Her most recent publications investigate how people read data visualizations and are susceptible to deceptive tactics used in graphs. She has also published on how to center user experience in the communication of scientific information to public audiences and is working on leveraging AI to connect people to information about water and drought.
She is the User Experience Architect for the $45M Arizona Water Innovation Initiative, helping the AWII team advance research-driven approaches to engagement, and providing guidance to project teams on how to create intuitive user experiences that encourage user adoption, retention, and action regarding water and drought in Arizona. She was also recently awarded two significant grants: a $2M grant from the National Science Foundation's Advanced Informal STEM Learning program (AISL) for the WaterSIMmersive project, which will develop a mixed-reality water sustainability game and museum exhibit that will be hosted by rural, urban, and tribal communities across the state of Arizona, and a 1.5M grant from the Arizona Board of Regents and ADEQ that will research effective environmental communication practices, especially with regard to how people process environmental data through visualizations and graphs.
She has published on the advantages and pitfalls of data-driven vs. manual qualitative language analysis research, how we use language to describe changes in technology-mediated text production, how technology impacts creative thinking and design, how to effectively teach design, and how the work of technical communicators has adapted within the ever-evolving technological workplace. She is the past chair of ACM’s Special Interest Group for the Design of Communication (SIGDOC) and served as the vice chair of operations on the SGB Executive Council of the Association for Computing Machinery.
Rajan, B, Carradini, S, and Lauer, C. (2024). The Arizona water chatbot: Helping residents navigate a water uncertain future one response at a time. Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Honolulu, HI. ACM.
Lauer, C. & Sanchez, C. (2023). What eye tracking can show us about how people are influenced by deceptive tactics in line graphs. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication 66.3, 220-235. DOI: 10.1109/TPC.2023.3290948.
Carradini, S., Lauer, C., and Nystrom, E. (2023). The potentials and pitfalls of computer visioning and machine learning methods for communication researchers. Proceedings of the 41st ACM International Conference on the Design of Communication, Orlando, FL. ACM.
Lauer, C. & O'Brien,* S. (2020). How people are influenced by deceptive tactics in everyday charts and graphs. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication 63.4, 327-340.
*This article was awarded the 2020 Rudolph J. Joenk, Jr. Best Paper award for IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
Lauer, C. (2020) Implementing a transactional design model to ensure the mindful development of public-facing science communication projects. Communication Design Quarterly 8.3, 4-15.
Brumberger, E. & Lauer, C. (2020). A day in the life: Personas of professional communicators at work. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication 50.3, 308-335.
Lauer, C. & Brumberger, E. (2019). Redefining writing for the responsive workplace. College Composition and Communication 70.4, 634-663.
Lauer, C. (2019). Cultivating mindfulness in the user experience of science communication. Proceedings of the 37th ACM International Conference on the Design of Communication, Portland, OR. ACM.
Lauer, C., Brumberger, E., & Beveridge, A. (2018). Hand collecting and coding versus data-driven methods in technical and professional communication research. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication 61.4, 389-408.
O’Brien*, S. & Lauer, C. (2018). Testing the susceptibility of users to deceptive data visualizations when paired with explanatory text. Proceedings of the 36th ACM International Conference on the Design of Communication, Milwaukee, WI. ACM. *Graduate student
Lauer, C. & Brumberger, E. (2017). Content Development as multimodal editing in the web 2.0 workplace. Proceedings of the 35th ACM International Conference on the Design of Communication. ACM. 1-9.
Brumberger, E. & Lauer, C. (2017). International faces of technical communication: An analysis of job postings in three markets. Technical Communication 64.4, 310-327.
Lauer, C. & Brumberger, Eva. (2016). Technical communication as user experience in a broadening industry landscape. Technical Communication 63.3, 248-264.
*This article was nominated for the 2018 CCCC award for best article in scientific and technical communication
Lauer, C. (2015). High tech invention: Examining the relationship between idea generation and technology in the document design process. Journal of Business and Technical Communication 29.4: 367-402.
*This article was nominated for the 2017 CCCC award for best article in scientific and technical communication
Brumberger, E., & Lauer, C. (2015). The evolution of technical communication: An analysis of industry job postings. Technical Communication 62.4, 224-243.
*This article was nominated for the 2016 CCCC award for best article in scientific and technical communication
Lauer, C. (2014) ‘Expertise with multi/modal/new/visual/digital media technologies desired’: Tracing composition’s evolving concept of textual production through an analysis of the past twenty years of MLA Job Information List advertisements. Computers and Composition 34, 60-75.
*This article was awarded the 2014 Ellen Nold Award for best article in computers and composition studies.
Blythe, S., Lauer, C. & Curran, P. (2014). Professional & technical communication in a Web 2.0 world: A report on a nationwide survey. Technical Communication Quarterly 23, 265-287.
Lauer, C., McCloud, M., and Blythe, S. (2013). Online survey design: A Janus-faced approach. Written Communication 30, 330-357.
Lauer, C. (2013) Technology and technical and professional communication through the lens of the MLA Job Information List 1990-2011. Programmatic Perspectives, 5. 4-33.
Lauer, C. (2013). Teaching visual communication online: Methods for a changing classroom. Designing Texts: Teaching Visual Communication. Eva Brumberger and Kathryn Norcut (Eds). New York: Baywood P. 117-142.
Lauer, C. (2013). Examining the effect of reflective assessment on the quality of visual design. Technical Communication Quarterly 22. 172-190.
Brumberger, E., Lauer, C., Northcut, K. (2013). Technological literacy in the visual communication classroom: Reconciling principles and practice for the whole communicator. Programmatic Perspectives 5.2, 171-196. Available at: http://www.cptsc.org/pp/vol5-2/brumbergeretal.pdf.
Lauer, C. (2012). What's in a Name?: The Anatomy of defining new/multi/modal/digital/media texts. Kairos 17.1. Available at: http://kairos.technorhetoric.net/17.1/inventio/lauer/index.html
Lauer, C. & Sanchez, C. (2011). Visuospatial thinking in the professional writing classroom. Journal of Business and Technical Communication 25, 184-218. *This article was nominated for the 2013 CCCC award for best article in scientific and technical communication
Lauer, C. (2009). Contending with terms: Multimodal and multimedia in the academic and public sphere. Computers and Composition 26.
Lauer, C. (2009). Constructing the self in/as thirdspace: New potentials for identity construction in the composition classroom. Composition Studies 37.2.
Identifying Impactful Environmental Communication and Engagement Practices. Arizona Board of Regents (1/2024-1/2027). $1,500,000. Role: Co-PI (11% REC)
WaterSIMmersive: Designing and assessing a mixed-reality water sustainability game and museum exhibit for communities in the Desert Southwest. National Science Foundation (8/2023 – 8/2027). $1,997,000. Role: PI (35% REC).
ASU Water Research - Water Moonshot. Virginia G. Piper Foundation. 5,000,000. Role: UX Architect (10% REC)
MassMine Advancement Grant for Sustainable Data-Driven Humanities Research. National Endowment for the HUmanities (9/2019 - 9/2021). $325,000. Role: Co-PI (15% REC)
DMUU: DCDC III: Transformational Solutions for Urban Water Sustainability Transitions in the Colorado River Basin. National Science Foundation (9/2015 – 8/2019). $4,500,000. Role: Senior Project Personnel (2% REC).
Writing in the Workplace: An investigation of job requirements and expectations for professional writers. CCCC (9/1/2015 - 8/31/2017). $10,000. Role: PI (50% REC).
Courses
2025 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
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TWC 593 | Applied Project |
TWC 593 | Applied Project |
UXP 101 | Intro to User Experience |
UXP 101 | Intro to User Experience |
TWC 592 | Research |
2024 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
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TWC 593 | Applied Project |
TWC 593 | Applied Project |
TWC 505 | Research in Tech and Appl Comm |
TWC 505 | Research in Tech and Appl Comm |
TWC 511 | Prin of Visual Communication |
TWC 511 | Prin of Visual Communication |
TWC 592 | Research |
2024 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
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TWC 505 | Research in Tech and Appl Comm |
HSE 592 | Research |
TWC 593 | Applied Project |
TWC 593 | Applied Project |
TWC 599 | Thesis |
TWC 599 | Thesis |
TWC 505 | Research in Tech and Appl Comm |
GIT 592 | Research |
TWC 544 | User Experience |
HSE 592 | Research |
2023 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
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TWC 444 | User Experience |
TWC 544 | User Experience |
HSE 592 | Research |
TWC 599 | Thesis |
TWC 599 | Thesis |
HSE 592 | Research |
TWC 314 | Data Visualiztn Tool & Techniq |
TWC 592 | Research |
TWC 499 | Individualized Instruction |
2023 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
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TWC 505 | Research in Tech and Appl Comm |
TWC 505 | Research in Tech and Appl Comm |
GIT 592 | Research |
TWC 544 | User Experience |
TWC 584 | Internship |
2022 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
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TWC 505 | Research in Tech and Appl Comm |
TWC 505 | Research in Tech and Appl Comm |
TWC 560 | Capstone |
TWC 560 | Capstone |
TWC 560 | Capstone |
2021 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
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TWC 505 | Research in Tech and Appl Comm |
TWC 505 | Research in Tech and Appl Comm |
TWC 544 | User Experience |
TWC 444 | User Experience |
TWC 590 | Reading and Conference |
HSE 560 | Capstone |
TWC 590 | Reading and Conference |
2021 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
TWC 505 | Research in Tech and Appl Comm |
TWC 505 | Research in Tech and Appl Comm |
GIT 560 | Capstone |
TWC 444 | User Experience |
TWC 544 | User Experience |
2020 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
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TWC 505 | Research in Tech and Appl Comm |
TWC 505 | Research in Tech and Appl Comm |
TWC 544 | User Experience |
TWC 444 | User Experience |
TWC 590 | Reading and Conference |
2020 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
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TWC 505 | Research in Tech and Appl Comm |
TWC 505 | Research in Tech and Appl Comm |
TWC 411 | Prin of Visual Communication |
TWC 511 | Prin of Visual Communication |
2019 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
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TWC 514 | Visualizing Data & Information |
TWC 514 | Visualizing Data & Information |
TWC 505 | Research in Tech and Appl Comm |
TWC 505 | Research in Tech and Appl Comm |