About

Hello, and welcome to my portfolio. I’m Heather Thach, a Ph.D. candidate in Information Science and Learning Technologies at the University of Missouri, where I also completed a Graduate Certificate in User Experience and Usability. I earned my M.Ed. in Learning, Design, and Technology from the University of Georgia in 2019.

My research examines executive function and self-regulation in academic and information contexts, particularly among neurodivergent learners. I investigate how cognitive load, task demands, and motivation shape strategies and decisions when people interact with information and emerging technologies such as generative AI. Grounded in cognitive psychology, information science, and human-computer interaction, my work takes a critical approach to technology and disability, drawing on the neurodiversity paradigm and critical disability studies to examine how systems can support or constrain diverse ways of thinking, learning, and interacting.

I integrate theories of executive function, cognitive load, and motivation with perspectives on information behavior, accessibility, and technology design to inform more inclusive and cognitively supportive environments.

“The more radical the person is, the more fully he or she enters into reality so that, knowing it better, he or she can transform it. This individual is not afraid to confront, to listen, to see the world unveiled. This person is not afraid to meet the people or to enter into a dialogue with them. This person does not consider himself or herself the proprietor of history or of all people, or the liberator of the oppressed; but he or she does commit himself or herself, within history, to fight at their side.”

- Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed