The department of Human Centered Design & Engineering (HCDE) welcomed more than 400 students, alumni, Corporate Affiliates Program members, and friends for its 2015 Open House on June 1, 2015.

Undergraduate and graduate Capstone project teams and representatives from Directed Research Groups presented their work, attendees voted for their favorite projects in the People’s Choice Awards, and fun was had by all in the first-ever HCDE photo booth.

Invited judges from industry spent the evening meeting with each team about their projects and determining the winners of best undergraduate Capstone project, best graduate Capstone project, and three honorable mentions. Judges included Alex Chang, Senior UX Design Lead at Point B; Kelly Franznick, CXO and Founder at Blink UX; Julie Kientz, Associate Professor of Human Centered Design & Engineering; John Somoza, Program Manager at Intel Corporation; and Linda Wagner, Senior Lecturer and Director of UW’s MHCI+D program.

HCDE Chair David McDonald began the awards portion of the evening by announcing the annual departmental Student Innovator Awards. PhD student Taylor Scott received the HCDE 2015 Student Innovator award for excellence in Teaching, and PhD student Daniel Perry received the HCDE 2015 Student Innovator award for excellence in Research.

  
PhD students Taylor Scott (left) and Daniel Perry (right) receiving the 2015 HCDE Student Innovator Awards

The 2015 Undergraduate Capstone Award went to of Long Dinh, Stephanie Grose, Megan Taylor, and Gail Thynes of team MedMem. Medmem is a medication management system to promote independence for individuals with medical memory disorders. The judges selected MedMem for the award because of their “great process, creative research, and awesome prototyping.”

Left to right: HCDE undergraduate students Long Dinh, Megan Taylor, Gail Thynes, and Stephanie Grose

The 2015 Graduate Capstone Award was given to Hasani Burns, Kristi Nguyen, Matt Soave, and Jack Tao of team Chariosity. Chariosity is a mobile app that engages millennials in charitable giving through daily gifts curated on the specific causes they care about. The judges awarded the prize to Chariosity for their clear storytelling and convincing prototype, saying that the project had the “full package.”

Left to right: HCDE graduate students Matt Soave, Kristi Nguyen, Hasani Burns, and Jack Tao  

The judges recognized teams Morning Owl, Password Habits, and AvailaBoard with Honorable Mention Awards.

Graduate students Ann Huang, Diana Chin, and Elaine Zhao of team Morning Owl designed a mobile app to help people sleep better by identifying environmental disrupters.

Left to right: HCDE graduate students Elaine Zhao, Diana Chin, and Ann Huang

Graduate students Nicholas Colvin and Reem Sabry of Password Habits conducted user research to determine how design solutions can help people remember online passwords.

HCDE graduate students Reem Sabry (left) and Nicholas Colvin (far right)

Undergraduate students Sreedev Sidharthan, Daniel Aldridge, Bonny Rivers, and Melissa Jones of AvailaBoard designed and prototyped a new room schedule display system to be used by HCDE students and faculty for the meeting rooms in Sieg Hall.

Left to right: HCDE undergraduate students Sreedev Sidharthan, Daniel Aldridge, and Bonny Rivers

Open House attendees cast their ballots and awarded two People's Choice Awards to team Phoenix and team Airspect.

Team Phoenix, undergraduate students Yuriana Garcia, Lisa Hu, Wanlin Li, and Jennifer Kumura, designed a database and mobile app for women to understand sexual health risks and prevent accidental pregnancies.

Left to right: HCDE undergraduate students Yuriana Garcia, Lisa Hu, Jennifer Kumura and Wanlin Li

Team Airspect, undergraduate students Antonio Diaz, Ethan Zhang, Gary Zhou, Jennifer Wong, and Sam Zhao, worked with the SeaTac Airport on an app to help travelers explore the airport while keeping track of the time it takes for them to return to their gate.

Left to right: HCDE undergraduate students Jennifer Wong, Antonio Diaz, Sam Zhao, Ethan Zhang, and Gary Zhou

View additional photos from the 2015 HCDE Open House »

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