Leah Pistorius
April 13, 2026
Researchers from the University of Washington’s Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering (HCDE) will present new research at the 2026 ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), the premier international venue for research on how people interact with technology.
CHI 2026 takes place April 13–17 in Barcelona, Spain, bringing together researchers and practitioners from around the world working across human-computer interaction, design, and emerging technologies.
This year, HCDE researchers contributed to 22 papers accepted to the conference, including two awarded Best Paper and two awarded Best Paper Honorable Mention.
Across these papers, HCDE researchers explore topics such as human-centered AI, technology and family life, accessibility, digital safety, design education, and research communication. Many of the projects were developed through collaborations with researchers across the University of Washington and beyond—view the UW DUB CHI roundup here.
HCDE papers and honors at CHI 2026
Best Paper Award
Best Paper Awards recognize the top 1% of submissions to CHI.
Cocoa: Co-Planning and Co-Execution With AI Agents
K J Kevin Feng (HCDE), Kevin Pu, Matt Latzke, Tal August Pao Siangliulue, Jonathan Bragg, Daniel S Weld, Amy X Zhang, Joseph Chee Chang
With Visual Integrity and Care: A Framework for Mixed Methods Research on Visual Social Data
Nina Lutz (HCDE), Joseph S. Schafer (HCDE), Priya Dhawka (HCDE), Phil Tinn, Kate Starbird (HCDE)
Best Paper Honorable Mentions
Honorable Mentions recognize the top 5% of accepted CHI papers.
Exploring the Future of AI in Clinical Collaboration: A Study on Tumor Board Case Preparation
Jiachen Li, Amanda K Hall, Ruican Zhong (HCDE), Selin Everett, Alyssa Unell, Hanwen Xu, Matthias Blondeel, Jonathan Carlson, Katie Claveau, Thulasee Jose, Tristan Naumann, David C Rhew, Naiteek Sangani, Frank Tuan, Jim Weinstein, Varun Mishra, Elizabeth D Mynatt, Scott Saponas, Hao Qiu, Leonardo Schettini, Sam Preston, Aiden Gu, Naoto Usuyama, Zelalem Gero, Cliff Wong, Noel Christopher Codella, Hoifung Poon, Shrey Jain, Matthew Lungren, Eric Horvitz
Privy: Envisioning and Mitigating Privacy Risks for Consumer-Facing AI Product Concepts
Hao-Ping Hank Lee, Yu-Ju Yang, Matthew Bilik (HCDE), Isadora Krsek, Thomas Serban von Davier, Kyzyl Monteiro, Jason Lin, Shivani Agarwal, Jodi Forlizzi, Sauvik Das
Accepted papers with HCDE authors
Beyond Accuracy: Experts See AI Fact-Checks as Accurate but Less Useful
Chenyan Jia, Apoorva Gondimalla, Angie Zhang, David Joseph Mullings, Alexander Boltz (HCDE), Min Kyung Lee
“Chat, Should I Leave Him?” Risks, Rewards, and Roles for AI in Relationship Advice
Emily Tseng (Microsoft / HCDE), Calvin A Liang
Consent Under Constraints: Negotiating Photography and Media Sharing in Institutionalized Childcare
Meghna Gupta (HCDE), George Zhang (HCDE), Sophie Stephenson, Franziska Roesner, Julie A. Kientz (HCDE)
Dark Patterns Meet GUI Agents: LLM Agent Susceptibility to Manipulative Interfaces and the Role of Human Oversight
Jingyu Tang, Chaoran Chen, Jiawen Li, Zhiping Zhang, Bingcan Guo (HCDE), Ibrahim Khalilov, Simret Araya Gebreegziabher, Bingsheng Yao, Dakuo Wang, Yanfang Ye, Tianshi Li, Ziang Xiao, Yaxing Yao, Toby Jia-Jun Li
Decoupling of Usefulness and Novelty: Evaluating the Impact of Generative AI on Design Outputs and Novice Designers' Creative Thinking
Yue Fu, Tony Zhou, Bin Han, Marx Wang, Yixin Chen, Zelia Gomes Da Costa Lai (HCDE), Rock Yuren Pang, Katharina Reinecke, Jacob O Wobbrock, Alexis Hiniker
DOLLama: Fostering Family Anti-Bullying Learning Through AI-Augmented, Toy-Mediated Educational Drama
Di Liu, Zhenhao Zhang, Zhuoyi Zhang (HCDE), Yufei Hu, Keming Jiao, Xueliang Li, Pengcheng An
Framing Responsible Design of AI for Mental Well-Being: AI as Primary Care, Nutritional Supplement, or Yoga Instructor?
Ned Cooper, Jose A Guridi, Angel Hsing-Chi Hwang, Beth Kolko (HCDE), Emma Elizabeth McGinty, Qian Yang
From Copy/Paste to Copying Pastes: Supporting Replication in an Online Digital Fabrication Community
Blair Subbaraman (HCDE), Nadya Peek (HCDE)
Interface Support for Evaluating Disability Bias in AI Generated Images
Kelly Avery Mack (HCDE), Lucy Jiang (HCDE), Lotus Zhang (HCDE), Leah Findlater (HCDE)
PaperTok: Exploring the Use of Generative AI for Creating Short-Form Videos for Research Communication
Meziah Ruby Cristobal (HCDE), Hyeonjeong Byeon (HCDE), Tze-Yu Chen, Ruoxi Shang (HCDE), Donghoon Shin (HCDE), Ruican Zhong (HCDE), Tony Zhou, Gary Hsieh (HCDE)
PolicyPad: Collaborative Prototyping of LLM Policies
K J Kevin Feng (HCDE), Tzu-Sheng Kuo, Quan Ze Chen, Inyoung Cheong, Kenneth Holstein, Amy X Zhang
Reflective AI: A Slow Technology Approach for Design Education
Vera van der Burg, Gijs de Boer, Jesse Josua Benjamin, Brett A. Halperin (HCDE), Alkim Almila Akdag, Senthil Chandrasegaran, Peter Lloyd
Reimagining Participatory Agile Development in Community-Industry Partnerships
Calvin A Liang, Emily Tseng (HCDE), Elizabeth Fetterolf, Mary Gray
Relief or Displacement? How Teachers Are Negotiating Generative AI's Role in Their Professional Practice
Aayushi Dangol (HCDE), Smriti Kotiyal, Robert Wolfe, Alex J Bowers, Antonio Vigil, Jason Yip, Julie A Kientz (HCDE), Suleman Shahid, Tom Yeh, Vincent Cho, Katie Davis
Rethinking Misinformation: A Holistic Community Model for Youth Resilience Through Socioemotional Learning and Sociocultural Design
Jason Yip, Michele Newman, Runhua Zhao, Darae Kim, Jan Lim, Matthew Kyle Pedraja (HCDE), Swati Sachdeva (HCDE), Xiaoyu Zheng, Yifang Zhou, Chris Coward, Jin Ha Lee
SceneScout: Towards AI-Driven Access to Street Level Imagery for Blind Users
Gaurav Jain, Leah Findlater (HCDE), Cole Gleason
Uncovering Parental Struggles: Using Digital Probes to Analyse Challenges in Applying Online Parenting Content
Seray B Ibrahim, Julia Dabrowski, Alissa N Antle, Julie A. Kientz (HCDE), Alexandra Chesters, Petr Slovak
Who Is at Risk? Examining the Prevalence of Digital-Safety Attacks and Contextual Risk Factors in the United States
Sharon Heung, Claire Florence Weizenegger (HCDE), Mo Houtti, Sunny Consolvo, Patrick Gage Kelley, Tara Matthews, Renee Shelby, Kurt Thomas, Ashley Marie Walker
HCDE researchers regularly contribute to CHI, reflecting the department’s leadership in human-centered design and interdisciplinary research on technology and society. The conference provides an opportunity for HCDE faculty and students to share new insights, connect with collaborators, and engage with the broader HCI research community.