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Seminar Series

January 13

HCI Seminar - Siddhartha Prasad - Lightweight Diagramming by Spatial Specification

Siddhartha Prasad
Brown University

Part Of

4:00P
- 5:00P

Location

32-D463
Add to Calendar 2026-01-13 16:00:00 2026-01-13 17:00:00 America/New_York HCI Seminar - Siddhartha Prasad - Lightweight Diagramming by Spatial Specification Abstract: Formal modeling tools such as Alloy enable users to incrementally define, explore, verify, and diagnose specifications for complex systems. A critical component of these tools is a visualizer that lets users graphically explore generated models. However, a default visualizer that knows nothing about the domain can be unhelpful and can even actively violate presentational and cognitive principles. At the other extreme, full-blown custom visualization requires significant effort as well as knowledge that a tool user might not possess. Custom visualizations can also exhibit bad (even silent) failures. The same needs and demands apply to programming languages, which are virtually never accompanied by data structure visualizers.We chart a middle ground between the extremes of default and fully-customizable visualization. We capture essential domain information for lightweight diagramming. To identify key elements of these diagrams, we ground the design in both cognitive science and in a corpus of custom visualizations. We distill from these sources a small set of orthogonal primitives, and use the primitives to guide a diagramming language.We show how to endow the diagramming language with a spatial semantics and prove that it enjoys key properties. We also show how it can be embedded into three very different languages: Python, Rust, and Pyret. We present a novel counterfactual debugging aid for diagramming errors, combining textual and visual output. We evaluate the language and system for expressiveness, performance, and diagnostic quality. We thus define a new point in the design space of diagramming: through a language that is lightweight, effective, and driven by cognitively sound principles.Bio:I am a PhD student in Computer Science at Brown University. My research takes a programming-languages approach to improving how people express intent and reason about program behavior, drawing on ideas from formal methods, human–computer interaction, and cognitive science. I am especially interested in how models of human cognition can inform the design of languages, semantics, and interactive tools for understanding complex computational structures.Previously, I was a software engineer at Microsoft, where I worked both on Windows and Azure. My research interests are informed by my time as an engineer. I have written code that doesn’t do what I want it to, and I want to spare everyone else the indignity.This talk will also be streamed over Zoom: https://mit.zoom.us/j/91952304653. TBD

December 09

HCI Seminar - Jeff Bigham - Revisiting 7 Grand Challenges in Accessibility

Jeff Bigham
Carnegie Mellon University

Part Of

4:00P
- 5:00P

Location

32-G882
Add to Calendar 2025-12-09 16:00:00 2025-12-09 17:00:00 America/New_York HCI Seminar - Jeff Bigham - Revisiting 7 Grand Challenges in Accessibility Abstract:Accessibility poses a range of deep technical challenges. At their core, many of these challenges require building systems that can perceive the world and interpret it well enough to communicate information through alternative modalities for people with disabilities. In this talk, I revisit several classic grand challenges in accessibility that I have worked on in my career - both to gauge how far we’ve come in light of rapid advances in AI, and also to reflect on the new challenges that are revealed once some of the old challenges are solved.Bio:I am an Associate Professor in the Human-Computer Interaction and Language Technologies Institutes in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, and the Director of Human-Centered Machine Learning at Apple. I build systems that advance how people can responsibly work with machine learning to do interesting and useful things. This has taken on a variety of focuses throughout my career – I have worked on applications in accessibility for disabilities, used crowdsourcing to power a wide variety of real-time systems, and most recently thought about how to design responsible and useful experiences using generative AI. Much of my work focuses on accessibility because I see the field as a window into the future, given that people with disabilities are often the earliest adopters of AI. I received my B.S.E degree in Computer Science from Princeton University in 2003, and received my Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Washington in 2009. I have received the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship (2014), the MIT Technology Review Top 35 Innovators Under 35 Award (2009), and the NSF CAREER Award (2012).This talk will also be streamed over Zoom: https://mit.zoom.us/j/96747264729. TBD

December 02

HCI Seminar - Lace Padilla - Seeing the Unknown: Advanced Techniques for Communicating Uncertainty in Data

Lace Padilla
Northeastern University

Part Of

4:00P
- 5:00P

Location

32-D463
Add to Calendar 2025-12-02 16:00:00 2025-12-02 17:00:00 America/New_York HCI Seminar - Lace Padilla - Seeing the Unknown: Advanced Techniques for Communicating Uncertainty in Data Abstract:We live in an uncertain world. From extreme weather hazards to pandemics, forecasters present uncertainty daily. Unfortunately, uncertainty is challenging for both the public and experts to understand, making the effective communication of scientific findings essential. Visualizations can help us interpret complex data by leveraging our visual system’s advanced pattern recognition, allowing us to process vast datasets efficiently. This talk covers cutting-edge uncertainty visualization techniques and cognitive processes that lead to misunderstandings of uncertain forecasts. We'll explore best practices in information visualization to help communicators understand how their choices shape audience perceptions, promoting accessible and ethical communication of future projections.Bio:Lace Padilla joined Northeastern University in 2023 as an Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Psychology. Her work sits at the intersection of information visualization, behavioral decision-making, and HCI.  Her research on uncertainty communication explores how to align data visualizations of future events with human decision-making capabilities. She has received numerous honors, including a Best Paper Award at IEEE VIS, the APA Early Career Award, the NSF CAREER Award, and the IEEE VGTC Significant New Researcher Award. She is also PI or Co-PI on multiple grants funded by NSF (#2122174, #2028374, #1810498, #2400471), NIH (#1R01AI188576-01), and the U.S. Department of Energy.This talk will also be streamed over Zoom: https://mit.zoom.us/j/91341611426. TBD

November 18

HCI Seminar - Ana Crisan - Do Humans Still Matter? Data Analysis and Visualization in the Era of Generative AI

Ana Crisan
University of Waterloo

Part Of

4:00P
- 5:00P

Location

32-D463
Add to Calendar 2025-11-18 16:00:00 2025-11-18 17:00:00 America/New_York HCI Seminar - Ana Crisan - Do Humans Still Matter? Data Analysis and Visualization in the Era of Generative AI Abstract:Generative AI agents are increasingly able to produce code that can analyze and visualize a myriad of datasets. With this potent automating capability, it’s worth asking whether humans offer much more than an oversight role - if that at all. In this talk, I will explore the capabilities of GenAI systems for data analysis, highlighting both opportunities and core limitations of this technology. I especially seek to highlight the user experience and friction inherent in human-AI interaction when conducting data analysis and how this can impact the design of analysis tools. I conclude by drawing attention to the hard problems in data analysis and how these can be a yard stick to measure AI progress and human insight. Bio:Anamaria (Ana) Crisan is an Assistant Professor in the Cheriton School of Computer Science at the University of Waterloo. Her interdisciplinary research integrates techniques and methodologies from artificial intelligence and human computer interaction to develop human-centered AI tools for data driven decision making.  Her research explores how visual and interactive interfaces can serve as a valuable medium for collaboration and information exchange between people and AI systems. Prior to joining the University of Waterloo, Ana held several industrial research appointments.  She was formerly a Lead Research Scientist at Tableau (2019 – 2024), a research scientist at the British Columbia Center for Disease Control (2013-2019), and Bioinformatician at Decipher Biosciences (2010-2013). Her award-winning research appears in top -tier venues of ACM (CHI, FAccT) and IEEE (Vis) in addition to highly ranked biomedical journals (Nature, Oxford Bioinformatics, PLOS).This talk will also be streamed over Zoom: https://mit.zoom.us/j/96808776848. TBD

November 04

HCI Seminar - Karthik Ramani - Hands, Bodies, and Machines: Reimagining Making and Learning Through Embodied Interaction

Karthik Ramani
Purdue University

Part Of

4:00P
- 5:00P

Location

32-G882
Add to Calendar 2025-11-04 16:00:00 2025-11-04 17:00:00 America/New_York HCI Seminar - Karthik Ramani - Hands, Bodies, and Machines: Reimagining Making and Learning Through Embodied Interaction Abstract:Across centuries, humans have learned and created through their hands and bodies—yet our computational tools have often abstracted away that embodied intelligence. My research reconnects the digital and the physical by designing systems where the body itself becomes the interface for authoring, learning, and fabrication.In the first theme, embodied authoring, projects such as GhostAR, CaptuAR, and VipO transform programming into a physical act—users “program by demonstration” through gestures, movement, and spatial context rather than code. These systems enable intuitive human–robot collaboration and allow non-programmers to rapidly create context-aware AR applications by performing rather than scripting workflows. In the second theme, embodied learning, systems like avaTTAR and PoVRTool leverage augmented and virtual reality to cultivate precision and procedural skill. avaTTAR enables users to master sports skills such as table tennis through digital-twin coaching and real-time, spatially aligned feedback. PoVRTool extends this embodied feedback paradigm to high-precision manufacturing, where users engage with virtual power tools that replicate real-world dynamics, ergonomics, and safety conditions. In the third theme, embodied making, projects like GestuAR, Handymate, and AdapTutAR explore how embodied interfaces can guide complex fabrication and machine-interaction tasks. AdapTutAR investigates tutoring presence in machine workshops, where tasks often require spatially and body-coordinated human–machine interactions. Finally AgentAR unifies these authoring tools using tool augmented agents. Together, these projects advance a vision of computing through doing—where making, learning, and programming are not abstract symbolic processes but embodied, spatially grounded experiences that unify mind, body, and machine to democratize skill, creativity, and expertise. Bio:Karthik Ramani is the Donald W. Feddersen Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University, with additional appointments in Electrical and Computer Engineering and a courtesy role in the College of Education. He leads the Convergence Design Lab, where his research brings AI into the physical world by blending human-centered AI with spatial intelligence to create immersive, real-time solutions for design, manufacturing, sports training, surgery, and hands-on learning. His work spans augmented spatial interactions, symbiotic human-AI collaboration, computational design thinking and prototyping, and scalable upskilling platforms for production. Using the lens of Physical AI, he develops systems that perceive, understand, and act in real environments—extending human capacity through embodied and intuitive interfaces. He has recently published in top-tier venues across computer vision (CVPR, ECCV, ICCV), human-computer interaction (ACM CHI, UIST), and AI (NIPS, ICLR), in addition to leading engineering design journals. He co-founded VizSeek, the world’s first commercial shape-based search engine for mechanical parts, and ZeroUI, a CES-awarded robotics startup. His educational innovations include Purdue’s Toy Design and Product-Process-Business Model Design courses. He was a visiting professor at Stanford University and Oxford University and a research fellow at PARC (formerly Xerox PARC). He earned his B.Tech from IIT Madras, M.S. from The Ohio State University, and Ph.D. from Stanford—all in Mechanical Engineering. He currently also serves as coach of Purdue’s Table Tennis team, where research meets passion— in the emerging domain of Athletic AI.This talk will also be streamed over Zoom: https://mit.zoom.us/j/96684895383. TBD

October 28

HCI Seminar - Liz Rodwell - Designing Beyond the Uncanny: The Human Work of AI Conversation Design

Liz Rodwell
University of Houston

Part Of

4:00P
- 5:00P

Location

32-G882
Add to Calendar 2025-10-28 16:00:00 2025-10-28 17:00:00 America/New_York HCI Seminar - Liz Rodwell - Designing Beyond the Uncanny: The Human Work of AI Conversation Design Abstract:This talk draws on ethnographic research in Tokyo and international interviews with conversation designers and UX professionals to examine how artificial intelligence systems are shaped at the intersection of code, culture, and gender. While engineers often frame conversational AI as a technical problem, designers foreground the cultural and emotional dimensions of human interaction. These negotiations come into sharp relief in the design of embodied conversational agents, where questions of gender and embodiment influence not only usability but also harassment, stereotyping, and trust. By tracing workplace debates over avatar appearance, conversational pacing, and design equity, I argue that UX professionals play a pivotal role in mediating between technical constraints and humanistic concerns. This work highlights how gendered assumptions are reproduced or resisted within AI systems, and why user experience must remain central to the future of conversational AI.Bio:Dr. Elizabeth Rodwell is Associate Professor of Digital Media at the University of Houston, where she directs the User Experience program and UX Lab. Her interdisciplinary research examines the intersection of technology and society, with a focus on the human role in technology design. Her recent monograph, Push the Button: Interactive Television and Collaborative Journalism in Japan (Duke University Press, 2024), explores how media professionals respond to technological change, censorship, and misinformation.Dr. Rodwell is currently conducting fieldwork among designers who shape the voices of conversational AI. She has received funding from the National Science Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, Fulbright, and Social Science Research Council.Dr. Rodwell's talk is co-sponsored by WGS. It will also be streamed over Zoom: https://mit.zoom.us/j/98202590975. TBD

October 14

HCI Seminar - Parastoo Abtahi - From Perceptual Illusions to Beyond-Real Interactions in Extended Reality

Parastoo Abtahi
Princeton University

Part Of

4:00P
- 5:00P

Location

32-D463
Add to Calendar 2025-10-14 16:00:00 2025-10-14 17:00:00 America/New_York HCI Seminar - Parastoo Abtahi - From Perceptual Illusions to Beyond-Real Interactions in Extended Reality Abstract:Advances in audiovisual rendering have led to the commercialization of virtual reality (VR); however, haptic technology has not kept up with these advances. While haptic devices aim to bridge this gap by simulating the sensation of touch, many hardware limitations make realistic touch interactions in VR challenging. In my research, I explore how, by understanding human perception, we can design interactions that not only overcome the current limitations of VR hardware but also extend our abilities beyond what is possible in the real world.In the first part of this talk, I will present my work on redirection illusions that leverage the limits of human perception to improve the perceived performance of encountered-type haptic devices in VR, such as the position accuracy of drones and the resolution of shape displays. In the second part, I will present a framework I have developed through the lens of sensorimotor control theory to argue for the exploration and evaluation of VR interactions that go beyond mimicking reality—what I call beyond-real interactions. Finally, I will share recent work from my group extending these interactions from virtual environments into physical spaces using augmented reality (AR) and robots. Bio:Parastoo Abtahi is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Princeton University. She leads Princeton’s Situated Interactions Lab (Ψ Lab), which explores virtual and augmented reality interactions grounded in human perception and cognition. Before joining Princeton, Parastoo was a visiting research scientist at Meta Reality Labs Research. She received her PhD in Computer Science from Stanford University, where she was a Gerald J. Lieberman Fellow, and her bachelor’s degree in Engineering Science and Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Toronto. Parastoo’s work has been recognized with a Google Research Scholar Award and best paper and honorable mention awards at top human-computer interaction venues, such as ACM CHI and UIST.This talk will also be streamed over Zoom: https://mit.zoom.us/j/99397568751. TBD

October 07

HCI Seminar - Sarah Chasins - Domain Experts and the Future of Programming

Sarah Chasins
University of California, Berkeley

Part Of

4:00P
- 5:00P

Location

32-D463
Add to Calendar 2025-10-07 16:00:00 2025-10-07 17:00:00 America/New_York HCI Seminar - Sarah Chasins - Domain Experts and the Future of Programming Abstract:Programs that shape our daily lives---setting price thresholds for housing voucher programs, the data analysis behind the next medical breakthrough---are being written by non-programmers.  A bug in these settings isn't just about server downtime; bugs harm whole communities.  With programs only a chat away, code feels more accessible to more populations than ever before.  Whether this trend results in more harm or good will come down to one question: How well do programming tools support real domain experts in producing correct programs?This talk will cover how my lab invents programming tools that make domain experts more capable and their programs more correct.  We'll also chat about why the PL work happening right now will determine whether the next generation sees programming as a path to a more informed and evidence-driven society---or just a way to get wrong answers faster.Bio:Sarah E. Chasins is an Assistant Professor at UC Berkeley EECS. Her research focuses on programming languages and program synthesis. She's especially interested in work that brings together programming systems, HCI, and data science. Much of her work is shaped by collaborations with scientists, social scientists, and other non-traditional programmers. She is a Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator.This talk will also be streamed over Zoom: https://mit.zoom.us/j/96276115091. TBD