Beatrice Li

About

Beatrice Li is a Ph.D. candidate in Systems Engineering working in Dr. Arsalan Heydarian’s BRAin Lab and a resident of the University of Virginia’s Link Lab — a multidisciplinary research center focused on Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS). A Wahoo through and through, Beatrice has been part of the Systems Engineering program at UVA since her undergraduate years.

Her research explores how people perceive and engage with smart technologies as they become increasingly integrated into our infrastructure systems. Beatrice focuses on understanding user privacy perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors within smart buildings and the Internet of Things (IoT). By incorporating psychological and social science theories into engineering design, she seeks to promote more human-centered, privacy-aware approaches to the development and deployment of intelligent environments.

Currently, Beatrice is developing a virtual reality (VR) model of the Link Lab to study human-building interactions in immersive, controlled settings. This work aims to bridge the gap between human factors research and the design of responsive, privacy-conscious built environments.

Education

B.Sc. Systems and Information Engineering, University of Virginia, 2021

M.E. Systems and Information Engineering, University of Virginia, 2023