Human Centered Design & Engineering

A student stands in front of a research poster, they are speaking to people off camera.

HCDE Research Showcase

Explore the latest HCDE research through lightning talks, posters, and demos. April 28, 2026 at the UW Club.

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Laura Forlano's headshot over a gold background with a grid pattern.

Distinguished Lecture with Laura Forlano

HCDE welcomes social scientist and design researcher Dr. Laura Forlano on May 11, 2026. Open to the public.

Lecture details

HCDE at CHI 2026

HCDE researchers contributed 22 papers to the 2026 ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), including two Best Paper Award and two Honorable Mentions.

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Closing the research–practice gap

Professor Gary Hsieh’s Prosocial Computing Group is building tools that make academic research easier for practitioners to use. From AI-powered design cards to short-form science videos, their work helps close the research–practice gap.

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Nadya Peek: Designing Automation

HCDE Associate Professor Nadya Peek is designing open, human-centered automation tools that help scientists run more reproducible, creative, and accessible experiments. Working with collaborators across engineering, science, and fabrication, her research focuses on building flexible automation systems that can be adapted to different labs, workflows, and research questions.

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Design Jam for Accessibility

In Autumn quarter, HCDE welcomed students for wearABLE Futures, a fast-paced design jam focused on the question: How might we make wearable technology more accessible to all humans? Industry mentors from Ipsos, Oura, Meta, Ralytics, and Microsoft’s Inclusive Tech Lab met with student teams, offering feedback and helping students connect their ideas to real-world feasibility and impact. 

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