The University of Washington's Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering presents:
2026 HCDE Capstone Showcase
Wednesday, June 3
4 - 6 p.m.
UW Husky Union Building, Ballroom
Explore more than 50 projects from Human Centered Design & Engineering students tackling real-world challenges in healthcare, AI, transportation, education, accessibility, entertainment, sustainability, and more.
HCDE Capstone projects combine human-centered research, design, engineering, and strategy to address complex real-world problems. Students spend months working with organizations and communities to develop solutions grounded in usability, accessibility, ethics, and human needs.
Developed in collaboration with organizations like Amazon, Microsoft, Uber, Google Cloud, Sony, Fred Hutch, Sound Transit, Bloodworks Northwest, and UW partners, these projects showcase how HCDE students design technologies and systems centered around human needs. Attendees can meet student teams, try interactive demos, and connect with the broader HCDE community.
Drop in, explore projects, and connect with the HCDE community.
50+ student capstone projects
200+ HCDE students participating
40+ industry and community sponsors
Project topics include:
Computing, data, and digital technologies
- AI-powered therapy supervision
- Agent-driven Google Cloud documentation
- Personal memory infrastructure for AI agents
- Voice cloning with interpretability controls
Infrastructure, society, and community
- School streets and safer communities
- Rainier Valley Food Bank outreach strategies
- Reimagining accessibility for King County Parks
- Transportation choices for healthier cities
Health and medicine
- AI-guided mental health support
- Accessible healthcare experiences
- Community-centered blood donation
- Human-centered medical systems and workflows
Entertainment
- AI-enhanced sports viewing
- EA second-screen gaming experiences
- Museum and digital gallery experiences
- Streaming and watch-party redesigns
Questions?
Contact Melissa Ewing, HCDE Outreach Manager, at mewing3@uw.edu.