News

Wed, 05/01/2024

Working with teens, UW researchers, including HCDE's Elin Björling and Jennifer Sonney from UW Nursing, have designed RESeT: a snowy virtual world with six activities intended to improve mood. In a 3-week study of 44 Seattle-area teens, researchers found that most used the technology about twice a week without being prompted and reported lower stress levels after using the environment.

Wed, 05/01/2024

UW HCDE has strong presence at the 2024 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), the premier international conference on Human-Computer Interaction. HCDE researchers contributed to 20 papers, including one selected for the Best Paper Award recognition and two selected for Best Paper Honorable Mention recognition.

Tue, 04/30/2024

Human Centered Design & Engineering students Sourojit Ghosh and Austin Lee are named to the 2024 cohort of the Husky 100. This program annually recognizes 100 students across the UW's three campuses for making the most of their time at UW through their work and extracurricular achievements.

Mon, 04/15/2024

Robots are increasingly becoming a part of our daily lives at home, at work, and even in public spaces. But do people want to interact with them? Are they addressing real human needs? In a new course on Human-Robot Interaction, Dr. Elin Björling led HCDE graduate students to discover new use cases for social robots that can address modern challenges.

Sun, 03/24/2024

HCDE Associate Professor Kate Starbird appeared in a segment of 60 minutes that aired on March 24, 2024, about the right of free speech on social media platforms—an issue currently under discussion by the US Supreme Court.

Fri, 03/01/2024

HCDE Assistant Professor Nadya Peek has received a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program Award from the National Science Foundation. The five-year, over $700,000 grant will support Peek and students in her lab, Machine Agency, in revolutionizing how we approach small-scale automation across the digital/physical divide. 

Thu, 02/29/2024

HCDE Professor and Chair Julie Kientz is joining the esteemed ranks of the SIGCHI Academy, and Associate Professor Kate Starbird receives the prestigious 2024 SIGCHI Social Impact Award. These awards celebrate their remarkable contributions to Human-Computer Interaction, recognizing their excellence in research, teaching, practice, and service. 

Tue, 02/27/2024

Melissa Ewing and Meghan Oxley, staff in the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering, were nominated for the 2024 UW Distinguished Staff Award in the category of impact, recognizing them for their exemplary contributions to the department and University.

Thu, 02/22/2024

Judy Ramey, one of HCDE’s founding faculty members and former department chair, has written a libretto for an opera titled Valparaiso, a chamber opera set in a retirement home that "explores the humor and pain, the love and loss, of four residents as they navigate the changes and challenges of advancing age." Ramey and composer Steven Luksan will debut Valparaiso at Seattle’s Horizon House in March 2024, with additional performances planned in the spring and summer.

Tue, 01/23/2024

HCDE and Allen School professors Sucheta Ghoshal, Daniela Rosner, and Vikram Iyer have been awarded a new $1.66 million grant from the National Science Foundation to explore community-based integration of smart technologies into black diasporic agriculture practices.
Collaborating with diasporic farming communities in the Seattle area and beyond, the researchers will study how AI impacts diasporic urban farming and how the co-development of AI-based tools shapes diasporic knowledge.