By Yubo Zhao, HCDE Master's student
November 2023
This October, I attended my first-ever academic conference in the field of Human-Computer Interaction at the ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology 2023 (UIST), and I was selected to participate the Student Innovation Contest along with nine other teams where I presented my demo work “Narratron: Collaborative Writing and Shadow-playing of Children Stories with Large Language Models”. This year’s UIST Student Innovation Contest featured the topic of human-centered AI and asked contestants to prototype novel applications of large language models. Our demo desk enabled me to connect with many experts from industry and academia and sparked insightful discussions around the project’s technical architecture, behavioral feedback, and societal impacts.
In addition to great panel talks, UIST 23 offered a remarkable opportunity to have direct conversation with presenters and to play their project prototypes in conference demo session. It was extremely astonishing to engage in dialogue with inspiring minds in such an interactive form. I’m profoundly thankful for the generous support of HCDE Graduate Travel Funds that provides this opportunity for me to enrich my professional growth, and I’m looking forward to delving further into the world of academia in the future.
Give to support HCDE student travel
The Mary B. Coney Endowed Fund, named in honor of Emeritus Professor Mary Coney, supports HCDE students by funding costs associated with travel to conferences and international workshops. Your support of this fund enriches the HCDE student experience and enhances HCDE's influence in the field.