Faculty and research scientists in the department of Human Centered Design & Engineering run directed research groups, which offer students a wide range of opportunities to do hands-on work, from conducting usability tests for local companies all the way to collecting data on communication issues internationally.

Students interested in participating in directed research must get permission directly from the faculty member leading the group. Students enroll in course HCDE 496/596. For details on how to register, please visit the Variable Credit Registration Policy. Check this webpage frequently as Directed Research Groups are added leading up to the beginning of the quarter.

Autumn 2019 Research Groups

• Human Centered Natural Language Processing (Aragon)
• Project EMAR (Björling, Cakmak)
• Project RESeT: Relaxation Environment for Stress in Teens (Björling, Sonney)
• HCD charrette for K-12 outreach (Davidson, Bipat)
• Current Trends in Accessibility Research (Findlater)
• Design Research: Cultural Probes (Fox)
• NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Application Writing Support Group (Kientz, Turns)
• Fabricatable machines: rapid prototyping of rapid prototyping machines (Peek)
• Memes of Production (Peek)
• Reading Group: Queer Theory and HCI (Ribes, Liang)
• HCI, Journalism & Misinformation: Analyzing Findings and Designing Solutions for the Future (Starbird, McClure Haughey)

No longer accepting applicants for autumn

• Designing a childhood asthma symptom tracker (Kientz, Sonney)
• Co-design with older adults and designers (Kientz, Sakaguchi-Tang)
• PhoneBalance: Prototyping a Website and Diary to Help People Address Their Concerns with Smartphone Use (Munson, Hiniker, Lukoff)
• Identifying Dark Patterns on YouTube and Twitter (Munson, Hiniker, Lukoff)