Leah Pistorius
April 10, 2026
The University of Washington’s Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering (HCDE) is pleased to announce that Ram Shankar Siva Kumar will serve as the guest speaker for the 2026 HCDE Graduation & Awards Ceremony, taking place June 12 at the Husky Union Building on the UW Seattle campus.
Ram Shankar Siva Kumar is a Data Cowboy working on the intersection of machine learning and security.
Siva Kumar is a Data Cowboy at Microsoft, where he founded the AI Red Team and leads efforts to identify and address emerging security risks in artificial intelligence systems. His work focuses on building safer and more trustworthy AI technologies, helping organizations anticipate threats while developing responsible approaches to deploying new technologies.
His career spans more than two decades at the intersection of cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and technology policy. Through research, industry leadership, and collaboration across the technology sector, Siva Kumar has contributed to global conversations about the safety, governance, and societal impacts of AI.
These themes closely align with HCDE’s focus on designing technologies that work for people. Students in HCDE learn to examine how complex sociotechnical systems shape everyday life, and to develop solutions that consider both technical innovation and human impact.
During the ceremony, Siva Kumar will speak to graduating HCDE undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral students as they celebrate the completion of their degrees and prepare for the next stage of their careers.
The HCDE Graduation & Awards Ceremony recognizes students completing degrees across the department’s BS, MS, and PhD programs and includes the presentation of departmental awards honoring academic excellence, leadership, innovation, and contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
The ceremony will be held Friday, June 12 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. in the Husky Union Building Ballroom and is open to graduating students and their invited guests.