About

Casper Harteveld is an affiliated faculty member in the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering departments at Northeastern University College of Engineering. His research focuses on human-technology integration, with notable projects including accelerating skill acquisition in complex psychomotor tasks through an intelligent extended reality tutoring system. He has been involved in collaborative research efforts addressing pharmaceutical supply chain issues and developing advanced information infrastructure for better decision making in supply chains. Harteveld has contributed to various interdisciplinary research initiatives and has been recognized through multiple NSF grants, including a $750,000 award for research on intelligent tutoring systems and a $100,000 NSF RAPID grant for monitoring pharmaceutical supply chains. His work is presented at prominent conferences such as ACM CHI, and he collaborates with colleagues across different departments to advance research in human-computer interaction and engineering education.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Artificial Intelligence
• Sociology
• Human–computer interaction
• Psychology
• Engineering
• Management science
• Social psychology
• Cognitive science
• Business

Selected publications

• Exploring the Effects of a Clinical VR Rehabilitation System Post-Knee Surgery: A 14-Week Autoethnographic Study

  2026-03-21

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Bridging Pedagogy and Play: Introducing a Language Mapping Interface for Human-AI Co-Creation in Educational Game Design

  2026-04-13

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Educational games can foster critical thinking, problem-solving, and motivation, yet instructors often find it difficult to design games that reliably achieve specific learning outcomes. Existing authoring environments reduce the need for programming expertise, but they do not eliminate the underlying challenges of educational game design, and they can leave non-expert designers reliant on opaque suggestions from AI systems. We designed a controlled natural language framework-based web tool that positions language as the primary interface for LLM-assisted educational game design. In the tool, users and an LLM assistant collaboratively develop a structured language that maps pedagogy to gameplay through four linked components. We argue that, by making pedagogical intent explicit and editable in the interface, the tool has the potential to lower design barriers for non-expert designers, preserves human agency in critical decisions, and enables alignment and reflections between pedagogy and gameplay during and after co-creation.

  PublisherDOI

• "Words are not enough": Examining Emotional Support by Conversational AI for Caregivers

  Kent Academic Repository (University of Kent) · 2026-02-03

  articleOpen access

  Caregivers often experience emotional difficulties and social isolation due to their demanding caregiving duties. Conversational AI has the potential to provide emotional support, yet it lacks effective emotional-regulation support. In this study, we conducted focus groups and semi-structured interviews with mental health professionals and caregivers (n = 17) to explore the potential benefits, challenges, and concerns of users on the applications of conversational AI for caregivers’ emotional support. Our findings suggest that, while current text-based conversational AI is deemed valuable for emotional support, there is a desire to have a more empathic AI, an AI that actively listens, takes cultural, religious, and linguistic context into consideration; and makes humans feel heard. We examined the dimensions of empathic AI in mental health, from authenticity and trust to over-reliance, misuse, and even exacerbating mental health problems, and how this can potentially be addressed to improve caregivers’ well-being.

  OA PDF

• "Words are not enough": Examining Emotional Support by Conversational AI for Caregivers

  2026-04-13 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Caregivers often experience emotional difficulties and social isolation due to their demanding caregiving duties. Conversational AI has the potential to provide emotional support, yet it lacks effective emotional-regulation support. In this study, we conducted focus groups and semi-structured interviews with mental health professionals and caregivers (n = 17) to explore the potential benefits, challenges, and concerns of users on the applications of conversational AI for caregivers’ emotional support. Our findings suggest that, while current text-based conversational AI is deemed valuable for emotional support, there is a desire to have a more empathic AI, an AI that actively listens, takes cultural, religious, and linguistic context into consideration; and makes humans feel heard. We examined the dimensions of empathic AI in mental health, from authenticity and trust to over-reliance, misuse, and even exacerbating mental health problems, and how this can potentially be addressed to improve caregivers’ well-being.

  PublisherDOI

• Conversational Successes and Breakdowns in Everyday Smart Glasses Use

  ArXiv.org · 2026-02-25

  articleOpen access

  Non-Display Smart Glasses hold the potential to support everyday activities by combining continuous environmental sensing with voice-only interaction powered by large language models (LLMs). Understanding how conversational successes and breakdowns arise in everyday contexts can better inform the design of future voice-only interfaces. To investigate this, we conducted a month-long collaborative autoethnography (n=2) to identify patterns of successes and breakdowns when using such devices. We then compare these patterns with prior findings on voice-only interactions to highlight the unique affordances and opportunities offered by non-display smart glasses.

  PublisherOA PDF

• AI, Aging Well, and Accessible Digital Games: The Supplemental Role of AI in Accessible Game Design for Older Adults

  The Gerontologist · 2026-04-23

  articleOpen access

  As the population continues to age, and gaming continues to grow as a hobby for older people, heterogeneity among older adult gamers is increasing. We argue that traditional game-based accessibility features, like simplified input schemes, redundant information channels, and increased legibility of digital user interfaces, are limited in the face of this heterogeneity. This is because such features affect all older adult players and therefore are designed generically. We introduce artificial intelligence-although it has its own limitations and ethical concerns-as a method of creating player-based accessibility features, given the adaptive nature of the technology. These features may help to address unique assemblage of accessibility needs that may accumulate through age. We argue that existing AI technologies can build upon extant accessibility design techniques to improve digital games accessibility for heterogenous older adults. We adopt insights from gerontology, human-computer interaction, and disability studies into the digital game design discourse for older adults, and we contribute insight that guides the integration of player-based accessibility features to supplement game-based counterparts. The accessibility of digital games for heterogenous older adults is paramount, as the medium offers short-term social, emotional, psychological, cognitive, and physical benefits that support the long-term goal of aging well.

  PublisherDOI

• My Body, Their Business: User Perspectives on Commercial Data Practices in FemTech mHealth Apps

  2026-04-13 · 2 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  FemTech, including apps for fertility, menstruation, and menopause, increasingly shapes how users manage intimate aspects of their health. Yet these apps are often built on opaque commercial models, raising ethical concerns about consent, privacy, and misuse of sensitive health data. While prior work has documented these risks, less is known about how users perceive and negotiate commercial data practices in FemTech apps. We conducted an online survey with 187 participants, combining factorial vignettes with provotypes— interface prototypes designed to provoke reflection— to examine user boundaries and discomforts around FemTech data collection and commercial use. Participants drew sharp distinctions across data types, resisting peripheral data collection and pervasive tracking. Commercial practices were often judged conditionally: tolerated only when functionally relevant. Notably, our provotypes, even under exaggerated transparency, elicited more forgiving responses to commercial practices compared to brief text descriptions in the vignettes. We discuss implications for designing transparent, accountable, and user-aligned FemTech.

  PublisherDOI

• Conversational Successes and Breakdowns in Everyday Smart Glasses Use

  2026-04-13

  articleOpen access

  Non-Display Smart Glasses hold the potential to support everyday activities by combining continuous environmental sensing with voice-only interaction powered by large language models (LLMs). Understanding how conversational successes and breakdowns arise in everyday contexts can better inform the design of future voice-only interfaces. To investigate this, we conducted a month-long collaborative autoethnography (n=2) to identify patterns of successes and breakdowns when using such devices. We then compare these patterns with prior findings on voice-only interactions to highlight the unique affordances and opportunities offered by non-display smart glasses.

  PublisherDOI

• Bridging Pedagogy and Play: Introducing a Language Mapping Interface for Human-AI Co-Creation in Educational Game Design

  arXiv (Cornell University) · 2026-03-04

  preprintOpen accessSenior author

  Educational games can foster critical thinking, problem-solving, and motivation, yet instructors often find it difficult to design games that reliably achieve specific learning outcomes. Existing authoring environments reduce the need for programming expertise, but they do not eliminate the underlying challenges of educational game design, and they can leave non-expert designers reliant on opaque suggestions from AI systems. We designed a controlled natural language framework-based web tool that positions language as the primary interface for LLM-assisted educational game design. In the tool, users and an LLM assistant collaboratively develop a structured language that maps pedagogy to gameplay through four linked components. We argue that, by making pedagogical intent explicit and editable in the interface, the tool has the potential to lower design barriers for non-expert designers, preserves human agency in critical decisions, and enables alignment and reflections between pedagogy and gameplay during and after co-creation.

  PublisherDOI

• “It Depends”: Re-Authoring Play Through Clinical Reasoning in Wearable AR Rehab Games

  2026-04-13 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Augmented reality (AR) games hold promise for rehabilitation, yet most remain confined to laboratory studies with limited clinical uptake. Recent advances in spatial computing, especially lightweight, glasses-form-factor AR, create a timely opportunity to embed rehabilitative play into clinical practice and daily contexts. To investigate this potential, we systematically reviewed 132 applications and conducted playtesting with 14 licensed physical therapists. Our analysis revealed three ways therapists re-authored AR games: co-authored play (reshaping movements, progressions, and difficulty), situated play (adapting across specialties, conditions, and contexts), and dual play (mediating both physical recovery and psychological support). We reframe therapists’ frequent phrase—“It depends”—as a generative design principle. This study contributes a clinical reasoning–based framework and design principles and guidelines for creating personalized, situated forms of play that align with therapists’ everyday workflows and inform future lab-to-clinic translation.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• EXP: Collaborative Research: Empowering Learners to Conduct Experiments

  NSF · $368k · 2017–2020

• Collaborative Research: Scaling Up the Use of Mixed Reality in Civil Engineering Education

  NSF · $1.3M · 2019–2025

• Designing Inclusive Computational Thinking Metrics to Broaden Participation in Computer Science

  NSF · $500k · 2021–2026

• Pathways: GrACE: A Procedurally Generated Puzzle Game to Stimulate Mindful and Collaborative Informal Learning to Transform Computer Science Education

  NSF · $289k · 2014–2018

Frequent coauthors

• Victoria Bennett

  73 shared

• Tarek Abdoun

  Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

  72 shared

• Yevgeniya V. Zastavker

  Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering

  54 shared

• Ryan Carkin

  Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering

  32 shared

• Alyssa Richtarek

  Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering

  32 shared

• Flora McMartin

  23 shared

• Xenia Wirth

  21 shared

• Kejun Wen

  Jackson State University

  21 shared

Education

• PhD, Technology, Policy & Management

  Delft University of Technology

  2012

• MS in Systems Engineering, Public Policy and Management

  Delft University of Technology

  2007

• BS in Psychology, Psychology

  Leiden University

  2006

• BS in Systems Engineering, Public Policy and Management, Technology, Policy & Management

  Delft University of Technology

  2006

Awards & honors

• NSF grant for Accelerating Skill Acquisition in Complex Psyc…
• NSF grant for Designing an Improved Information Infrastructu…
• NSF RAPID grant for Rapid Monitoring and Assessment of Criti…
• NSF CRISP grant for Improved Resiliency