Human Centered Design & Engineering

Video: How kids play with AI toys

UW researchers, including HCDE PhD students Aayushi Dangol and Meghna Gupta, studied how children interact with AI-powered toys, finding reactions that ranged from curiosity and delight to frustration and antagonism. The research offers an early look at how generative AI may be changing children’s relationships with toys.

HCDE + Rainier Valley Food Bank

A year-long partnership with Rainier Valley Food Bank gave HCDE students the opportunity to apply their skills in a community setting, helping the organization improve the client experience, strengthen outreach, and better understand the people it serves.

Meet new HCDE Professor Emily Tseng

Assistant Professor Emily Tseng joined the HCDE faculty in Spring 2026, bringing expertise in digital safety and the human impacts of emerging technologies. Learn about the path that brought her to UW, the research questions she's exploring, and what she's looking forward to as she joins the HCDE community.

Mobility Washington 2050 visualizations

HCDE researchers helped create Mobility Washington 2050, a new interactive platform from UW's Mobility Innovation Center that makes complex transportation and infrastructure data easier to understand. Using human-centered design methods, the team transformed decades of planning data into an interactive resource that anyone can use to better understand Washington's transportation future.