Faculty Ph.D. 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.

Interesting in learning more about HCDE faculty research? View the recordings from Autumn 2024 HCDE Research Speaker Series.

HCDE Faculty

This page was last updated on April 21st 2026 for the upcoming Autumn 2027 cycle.

HCDE Faculty	PhD Recruitment Plan	Open to meetings before application review?
Professor Cindy Atman	I am not recruiting new students.	n/a
Assistant Teaching Professor Arpita B	I am not recruiting new students.	n/a
Assistant Professor Katya Cherukumilli	I am excited to work with PhD students who are passionate about advancing equitable access to safe drinking water and safeguarding human and ecosystem health. Ongoing projects in the Safe Water Equity and Longevity Lab (SWELL) include: (1) Evaluation of water infrastructure in aging university buildings via physical walkthroughs, user surveys, and water quality testing; (2) Remediation of lead-contaminated drinking water fixtures in local primary schools via deployment of scientific communication and implementation-support tools; (3) Field and lab validation of X-ray fluorescence (XRF) techniques to quantify legacy heavy metal contamination in natural waters, groundwater wells, and residential soils; and (4) Characterization of wildfire-associated chemical contaminants in surface water sources and public drinking water systems.	Yes
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.	n/a
Assistant Professor Sayamindu Dasgupta	I am looking for 1-2 PhD students who are interested in designing and studying ways in which young people learn with digital technologies.
Professor Leah Findlater	I am potentially looking for 1 new student this year who is interested in accessibility.
Teaching Professor Tyler Fox	I am not recruiting new students.	n/a
Assistant Professor Sucheta Ghoshal	I am not recruiting new students.
Professor Mark Haselkorn	I am potentially looking for PhD students interested in a 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. View Information Session recording.
Professor Gary Hsieh	I am looking to recruit up to 1 new student this year on (1) generative AI and the future of evidence-based work, or (2) conversational agents and technologies for health and behavior change.
Professor Julie Kientz	I am looking to recruit 1 student who is interested in designing and evaluating novel computing technologies with children and families.	No
Professor Beth Kolko	I am not recruiting new students.	n/a
Professor Charlotte Lee	I am not recruiting new students.	n/a
Associate Teaching Professor Alan Marks	I am not recruiting new students.	n/a
Professor David W. McDonald	I have on-going research in social computing and Human-Centered AI (HCAI). Current social computing projects are studying Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikidata. Current HCAI projects consider design techniques and tools that leverage AI/ML, HCAI auditing of AI performance, and non-obvious uses of LLMs. View Information Session recording.
Professor Sean Munson	I anticipate working with 1-2 new students in autumn 2027, with a focus on digital mental health and goal directed and collaborative personal health informatics. See more about my current research areas.	Please read about applying to work with Dr. Munson.
Associate Professor Nadya Peek	I'm looking to recruit PhD students for work on laboratory automation/self driving labs, machine building, robotics, and human-machine interaction. View Information Session recording.	Please read this page about applying to Machine Agency.
Professor David Ribes	I am recruiting 1-2 doctoral students with an interest in the fields of Science and Technology Studies (STS), Infrastructure Studies, and this year especially those interested in the ambitions of computing to be universal, as expressed in things like AI, ML, or data science
Professor Daniela Rosner	No plans to recruit new students this coming year.	n/a
Professor Kate Starbird	I plan to take on one new PhD student next year (2027/2028) in one of these research areas: (1) online rumors, disinformation, or propaganda; (2) trust and AI; (3) intersections of college/professional sports and online discourse. Competitive students will have interest or expertise in applying qualitative or mixed methods to answering questions, especially about visual content (photos or videos), in one of these domains.
Assistant Professor Emily Tseng	I am open to recruiting students to work on projects at the intersection of computer security and privacy, social computing, and responsible AI. Specific topics include (1) social and emotional uses of AI, and the safety thereof; and (2) participatory governance and community control over AI in "high-risk" domains. See my website for more. View Information Session recording.
Professor Jennifer Turns	No plans to recruit new students this coming year.	n/a
Professor Mark Zachry	Not recruiting new students this cycle with the possible exception of someone interested in researching, designing, and building systems to address needs related to the foster care system in the US. Students I am working with now are working on projects related to sensemaking in short form videos, AI-supported design workflows, and AI companions.

Adjunct Faculty

The following adjunct faculty (faculty with primary appointments in other departments and who also hold appointments in HCDE) recruit, mentor, and co-advise HCDE PhD students. HCDE requires that all doctoral students have an adviser or co-adviser with their primary appointment in HCDE. If you are excited to work with these adjunct faculty, we encourage you to list them in addition to faculty with primary appointments in HCDE in your application.

Adjunct Faculty	Primary Appointment	PhD Recruitment Plan
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, and community governance. Although my students draw from a range of methodological and epistemological traditions, most do at least some large-scale computational and data scientific analysis.
Assistant Research Professor Shana Hirsch	School of Marine and Environmental Affairs	Potentially interested in engaging with students working in HCDE on marine energy or conservation technologies.
Assistant Professor James Pierce	Interaction Design, in the School of Art + Art History + Design	I’m recruiting PhD students interested in: (1) smart products that integrate sensors and AI, with a focus on questions of trust, control, privacy, and surveillance; (2) human-AI interaction, including new interaction design patterns, experimental, and speculative prototyping, and/or professional design practice. (3) speculative design and design theory.

Adjunct Faculty

Primary Appointment

PhD Recruitment Plan

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, and community governance. Although my students draw from a range of methodological and epistemological traditions, most do at least some large-scale computational and data scientific analysis.

Assistant Research Professor Shana Hirsch

School of Marine and Environmental Affairs

Potentially interested in engaging with students working in HCDE on marine energy or conservation technologies.

Assistant Professor James Pierce

Interaction Design, in the School of Art + Art History + Design

I’m recruiting PhD students interested in:
(1) smart products that integrate sensors and AI, with a focus on questions of trust, control, privacy, and surveillance;
(2) human-AI interaction, including new interaction design patterns, experimental, and speculative prototyping, and/or professional design practice.
(3) speculative design and design theory.

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.