Recent initiatives, awards, and accolades from HCDE students and faculty.
Election Integrity Partnership
Associate Professor Kate Starbird, PhD student Andrew Beers, and colleagues with the UW Center for an Informed Public collaborated on the Election Integrity Partnership, a nonpartisan coalition of research institutions that identified, tracked and responded to voting-related mis- and disinformation during the 2020 US elections. The group's final report is published at eipartnership.net.
Graduate Research Fellowships
HCDE PhD students Jay Cunningham, Neilly Herrera Tan, and Emma McDonnell received National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships, and PhD student Akeiylah DeWitt was recognized with an Honorable Mention. These fellowships support the students in their research related to accessibility, privacy and personal data, and human-centered AI.
Advances in Digital Fabrication
Assistant Professor Nadya Peek received grants from the Moore Foundation, Sloan Foundation, and the National Science Foundation to support several different projects related to developing low-cost and accessible tools for making. Collaborators with Peek include faculty and researchers in the UW's departments of Computer Science & Engineering, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, the University of California Santa Barbara, and students in her research lab, Machine Agency.
Mikey Award
HCDE awarded the 2021 Mikey Award to Daniella Kim, affiliate instructor and UX research leader. This award, named after the co-founder of the Department, annually recognizes a leader in field and a dedicated friend of the department. The faculty awarded Dr. Kim the Mikey Award because of her student-centered approach, dedication to both the teaching and research mission of the department, her care and mentorship of students, and her advocacy for HCDE both inside and outside of UW.
Husky 100
HCDE PhD student Jay Cunningham was named to the UW's 2021 Husky 100, an honor awarded to 100 students across all UW degree programs and 3 campuses annually. Cunningham is a computational social scientist whose work explores the social and ethical implications of race, culture, identity, and power at the intersection of AI and ubiquitous computing.
Adobe Research Scholarship
HCDE junior Annie Liu was one of 15 students across North America named an Adobe Research 2021 Women-In-Technology Scholar for her work using human-centered design to create interactive lighting installations and spacial experiences. Liu also received the UW's Mary Gates Research Scholarship to support developing a framework to orient new students to HCDE's Internet of Light research project in Sieg Building, an initiative led by Brock Craft.
New book: Flying Free
HCDE Professor Cecilia Aragon published Flying Free: My Victory Over Fear to Become the First Latina Pilot on the US Aerobatic Team, about how she overcame self-doubt, shyness, and a deep-seated fear of heights to become one of the best aerobatic pilots in the world.
New book: Anticipating Future Environments
HCDE Research Scientist Shana Hirsch published Anticipating Future Environments, a book about how the ecological restorationists working to recover salmon in the Columbia River Basin are adapting their scientific practices to deal with climate change.