About

Hello! My name is Julia Arthur, and I am a fourth year PhD student at the University of Colorado, Boulder. I am co-advised by Dr. Amy Voida and Dr. Bryan Semaan. My research is focused on infrastructure and how it supports organizing, precarity and transition for migrants, information gathering, and community building and resilience practices. You can read about my current projects here. I am currently working on activist infrastructures, migration, and ongoing precarity in research contexts using qualitative, mixed-methods approaches.

Before starting at CU, I worked primarily at nonprofits and technology startups. My career included working with people with disabilities to find gainful employment, J-1 visa sponsorship to the United States, insurance technology, and creative tools. Prior to that, I received a dual undergraduate degree in International Affairs and Spanish/Portuguese.

In my free time, you can find me trail running, playing rugby, gravel biking, or reading! Feel free to reach out about any of the topics above!

Graduate Application Assistance

As a second-career graduate student, I completely understand how difficult it is to feel confident applying to grad school at any stage of life, especially after time away. I would be happy to read/review materials, talk about careers or graduate life, or share my own materials!

Updates

October 2025: I attended CSCW in Bergen, Norway!

Fall 2025: My first CSCW paper got accepted into CSCW 2027! The title of the paper is Mediating Infrastructural Competence: How Organizations Support Migrants’ Hierarchy of Needs. I’ll see you in Salt Lake!

November 2024: I attended CSCW 2024 in San Jose, Costa Rica!

August 2024: My advisors were awarded an NSF IIS-HCC Medium grant to fund mine and my colleagues work on migration in the US!

May 2024: I attended my first conference this year - CHI 2024!

March 2024: Our paper was accepted at SIGCSE 2024 and was presented by Dr. Lecia Barker! You can read more about the paper here.

Spring 2023: After starting my Master’s degree at CU, I recently found out that I received an offer to continue into the PhD here at CU in the Information Science department! I will be coadvised by Dr. Amy Voida and Dr. Bryan Semaan. I am thrilled to continue my academic journey here!