Thyra Rauch Thyra, who has been at IBM for 30+ years, currently works on commerce applications in the procurements and supply chain space and is the UX Researcher for that area. Previously, she worked in a variety of areas including the search and analytics teams. One of her growing areas of interest is AI/Cognitive where she is looking for ways to improve the user experience with interfaces using those technologies.
Thyra uses a variety of research methodologies in her work including interviews, surveys, and contextual inquiries. She has conducted a variety of usability evaluations, in a variety of locations, using a variety of protocols, both for formative and summative purposes, most of them being either done remotely or in a variety of different locations. She has been working with Agile teams for over 10 years and works actively to apply UX principles in an “agile” way.
She has co-taught classes on HCI in the Master’s program at BSU, mentors UX practitioners new to user research and evaluation, and has co-taught tutorials/courses on usability testing and moderation and on Agile UX at UXPA in past years, and also conducted sessions on Agile and ethnography.
Thyra has been an active member of UXPA since 1992. She has served in some aspect on the Conference Committee most every year, including serving as conference co-chair in 1998-1999. From 1999-2008, she served on the Board of Directors in a variety of roles, culminating in her tenure as President from 2006-2007. Previously, she was active in SigCHI, serving as President of a local chapter.
Thyra has a BA in Psychology from Wake Forest, an MA in Psychology from William and Mary, and a Ph.D. in experimental psychology from NC State.