News
Wed, 10/15/2025
Professor Sean Munson and collaborators recognized with a 10-year impact award at UbiComp 2025
A 2015 paper co-authored by HCDE Professor Sean Munson and colleagues has received the Runner-Up 10-Year Impact Paper Award at the ACM UbiComp 2025 conference. The influential work, “A Lived Informatics Model of Personal Informatics,” introduced a new framework for understanding how people integrate self-tracking technologies into daily life.
Tue, 09/30/2025 | UW News
Q&A: How video games can lead people to more meaningful lives
In a new study, HCDE and iSchool researchers found that gamers reported life-altering experiences from play—from coping with stress to inspiration from storytelling to identity-building. The research will be presented this month at CHI PLAY in Pittsburgh.
Tue, 09/02/2025
Julie Kientz reappointed as Chair of HCDE
Professor Julie Kientz has been reappointed to a second five-year term as Chair of the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering, following a comprehensive review recognizing her inclusive and collaborative leadership.
Thu, 08/28/2025
How to engage with HCDE this school year
From mentoring and guest speaking to sponsoring student projects, HCDE alumni and industry partners have many ways to stay connected while making a lasting impact this year.
Mon, 08/11/2025
Real Clients, Real Impact: Usability Studies with Industry Partners
Each winter, HCDE master’s and certificate students take a deep dive into usability testing and user-centered research in HCDE 517: Usability Studies. These highlights from Professor Sean Munson’s Winter 2025 course showcase five projects where students delivered meaningful insights to industry partners across diverse products and domains.
Mon, 07/21/2025
Julie Kientz Elected to Washington State Academy of Sciences
HCDE Professor and Chair Julie Kientz has been elected to the Washington State Academy of Sciences (WSAS), recognized for her award-winning leadership in human-computer interaction and her impactful work advancing health and education technologies. As a WSAS member, she will bring HCDE expertise to support evidence-based policy across Washington state.
Tue, 07/01/2025
This puzzle game shows kids how they’re smarter than AI
HCDE researchers Aayushi Dangol and Julie Kientz, with Jason Yip (iSchool), developed AI Puzzlers to show kids an area where AI systems still typically and blatantly fail: solving certain reasoning puzzles. In the game, users get a chance to solve puzzles by completing patterns of colored blocks. They can then ask various AI chatbots to solve and have the systems explain their solutions — which they nearly always fail to do accurately.
Tue, 06/24/2025
Graduating student Camryn Soo explores the undefinable roots of HCDE
Camryn Soo (HCDE BS '25) spent two years researching the department’s history, tracing its roots in post-war efforts to bring more humanities into engineering education. Through archival research, interviews, and coursework, she uncovered how decades of curricular innovation and cross-disciplinary programs shaped HCDE into what it is today. For Soo, that effort to “rethink engineering” remains a powerful throughline in the department’s identity.
Mon, 06/23/2025
Foundations & Futures of HCI: a teach-in with Professor Kate Starbird
As part of HCDE’s 2025 graduation events, Professor Kate Starbird delivered a special teach-in exploring the foundations and future of human-computer interaction. Starbird traced how the technologies we use every day emerged from federally funded research, and emphasized the continued importance of inclusive, human-centered research. Her talk urged graduates and guests to recognize the role of public investment in shaping technology that serves people.
Fri, 06/13/2025
2025 Graduation & Awards Ceremony
On June 11, the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering hosted its 2025 Graduation & Awards Ceremony, honoring the achievements of 220 graduates—90 bachelor’s, 127 master’s, and 3 doctoral students. Find highlights and a recording of the ceremony here.