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Future Students

Faculty & Research Scientist PhD student recruitment

The following HCDE faculty advise graduate students, and some have provided statements about whether they plan to work with new students in the upcoming year.

Even though faculty capacity and match can change, we particularly encourage you to look into faculty who plan to work with new students, as difficult admission decisions often come down to advising capacity.

Because plans change based on how research progresses, which grants are awarded, and changing commitments for faculty and current students, consider identifying faculty in your application who describe appealing openings and faculty who most strongly match your research interests, even if they are not currently planning to work with new students in the coming year.

HCDE Faculty

HCDE Faculty PhD Recruitment Plan
Professor Cecilia Aragon

I am looking to admit 2 new PhD students this coming year who are interested in human-centered data science, human-centered AI, text visualization, or visual analytics. Updated June 2023.

Professor Cindy Atman I am not recruiting new students. Updated October 2023.
Assistant Professor Katya Cherukumilli I am excited to recruit 1-2 PhD students this year who are passionate about advancing equitable access to safe drinking water. Example projects include mapping local risk exposure to aqueous chemical contaminants, analyzing global household data on water treatment practices, interviewing stakeholders to characterize perceptions of water safety, developing technologies to monitor and improve water quality, and designing interactive dashboards to communicate scientific knowledge. Updated August 2023.
Assistant Teaching Professor Sarah Coppola I am not recruiting new students.
Associate Teaching Professor Brock Craft I am not recruiting students but may co-advise or serve on committees for students interested in visualization, data science, and interaction design for embedded systems. 
Assistant Professor Sayamindu Dasgupta I am potentially looking for 1-2 students this year who are interested in designing and studying ways in which young people learn with digital technologies. Updated September 2023.
Associate Professor Leah Findlater I am potentially looking for 1 new student this year who is interested in accessibility. Updated July 2023.
Associate Teaching Professor Tyler Fox I am not recruiting new students. Updated March 2024.
Assistant Professor Sucheta Ghoshal I am not recruiting new students. Updated June 2023.
Professor Mark Haselkorn

I am potentially looking for 1 or 2 new students interested in complex region-wide project based on Community-Centered Design. This environment is intended to transform management of the Seattle transportation corridor from a system based on individual agencies (distinct jurisdictions, missions, technologies, policies, practices) to one based on shared data, systems and operational concepts for collaborative regional awareness, coordinated actions, and cooperative information sharing. Current Phase of the project ends December 2023 and future follow-on activities are in the planning stage. Updated July 2023.

Associate Professor Gary Hsieh I am potentially looking to recruit one new student this year on (1) generative AI powered tools to help translate academic insights into actionable resources to help bridge the research and design practice gap, or (2) conversational agents and technologies for health and behavior change. Updated August 2023.
Professor Julie Kientz
I am looking to recruit at most one student who is interested in the topics of designing novel computing technologies for children and families. Updated August 2023.
Professor Beth Kolko I am not recruiting new students.
Professor Charlotte Lee I am not recruiting new students. Updated August 2023.
Professor David W. McDonald I am planning to admit 1-2 students to start in the Autumn 2023 for the 2023-2024 academic year. My research is mostly related to social computing, and I have been developing work in Human-Centered AI/ML. On-going social computing projects are studying Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikidata. Human-Centered AI/ML projects consider methods for human centric evaluations of AI/ML tools and design techniques leveraging AI/ML tools. I’m looking for students with interests in these topic areas to join me and my current students working in these areas. Updated August 2022.
Professor Sean Munson I anticipate working with at most one new student in academic year 2024-2025, potentially in the areas of adapting human centered design methods for the design of complex health interventions and goal-centered, collaborative approaches to personal informatics. Before reaching out with questions about my research group, please read this page. Updated October 2023.
Assistant Professor Nadya Peek I'm looking to recruit 1-4 students for work on laboratory automation, synthetic biology, machine building, robotics, computational design, DIYbio, digital fabrication, and human-machine interaction. Updated August 2023.
Associate Professor David Ribes

1-2 students with an interest in social studies of infrastructure, or Science and Technology Studies (STS) - such as in health, the sciences, AI, etc. Updated August 2023.

Associate Professor Daniela Rosner No plans to recruit new students this coming year. Updated August 2023.
Associate Professor Kate Starbird I am looking to recruit one new PhD student who is interested in A) exploring how mis- and disinformation spread online and how we can design solutions to address those issues; or B) conducting ethnographic work on multi-stakeholder data collaborations in the mis/disinformation space. Updated August 2023.
Professor Jennifer Turns No plans to recruit new students this coming year. Updated October 2021.
Professor Mark Zachry

Recruiting 1 new student interested in the interactions of individuals and group behavior in online systems. Students I am working with now are working on projects related to sensemaking in short form videos, augmented reality to support collaborative interactions, and online community governance. Currently also working on a project related to the uses of AI in UX practice. Updated July 2023.

HCDE Research Scientists

HCDE Research Scientist PhD Recruitment Plan
Shana Hirsch, senior research scientist

I will be recruiting 1 PhD student to collaborate on a funded project within the Pacific Marine Energy Center. The student will conduct research on community-centered co-design of marine energy technologies, with the community broadly conceived as engineers, developers, users, and communities of place. The student should have a strong interest in conducting applied, qualitative research at the intersection of energy and/or environment and society/technology. Updated September 2023.

Adjunct Faculty

The following adjunct faculty (faculty with primary appointments in other departments but who also hold appointments in HCDE) have expressed interest in recruiting and working with HCDE PhD students. You might also identify them in your application, but we discourage you from listing only adjunct faculty: we require doctoral students to have a co-adviser in HCDE as well, since it helps to have a mentor and advocate who is in the same department as you.

Adjunct Faculty Primary Appointment PhD Recruitment Plan
Assistant Professor Audrey Desjardins Interaction Design, in the School of Art + Art History + Design No plans to recruit new students this coming year. Updated August 2023.
Assistant Professor Benjamin Mako Hill Communication I am open to working with 1-2 incoming students with an interest in social computing, online communities, and computational social science. I'm particularly interested in working with students to explore questions about digital public goods, online community, community governance, and informal learning. Although my students draw from a range of methodological and epistemological traditions, most do at least some large-scale computational and data scientific analysis. Updated September 2023.
Assistant Professor James Pierce Interaction Design, in the School of Art + Art History + Design I am looking to recruit and/or co-advise 1-2 students interested in any, and ideally several, of these areas: interaction design, speculative design, participatory/ethnographic/qualitative methods, Internet of Things, digital sensing, surveillance, privacy, security, and data ethics. Updated September 2023.

Many HCDE PhD students are also co-advised by and work with UW faculty in HCDE or other units, through collaborations that emerge during their time in the program.