
I am an Associate Professor of Computer Science, Psychology, and Industrial Engineering at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the director of the HCI Laboratory. I received my PhD degree from Carnegie Mellon University‘s Human-Computer Interaction Institute in 2009.
I am the chief editor of the HRI section of the journal Frontiers in Robotics & AI. If you are an HRI researcher interested in publishing in a rigorous, open-access venue, please submit! I am also an associated editor of Human-Computer Interaction and Foundations and Trends® in Human-Computer Interaction. I am also the co-chair of the HRI Steering Committee.
If you are interested in joining the HCI Lab, please read this page.
Highlights
Below are highlights of ongoing activities, awards, and news. [Last update: June 2020]

Latest Awards
HRI 2020 Honorable Mention for Pragathi Praveena‘s work on exploring the design space for pseudohaptic feedback in robotic teleoperation.
See all awards.
NASA ULI
Our lab is leading a NASA University-Led Initiative (ULI) in collaboration with Boeing to introduce robotic tools into aircraft manufacturing.

Frontiers in Robotics & AI
In July 2018, we started a new journal, the HRI section of Frontiers in Robotics & AI (citescore = 4.7) which I edit as section chief.

Science Narratives Videos
In 2016, UW and Storybridge produced a five-part video series about our lab’s research and about robotics.
Research Threads
My research in human-robot interaction (HRI) builds human-centered principles and methods to enable effective and intuitive interactions between people and robotic technologies and facilitate the successful integration of these technologies into human environments. Below are highlights from ongoing projects in the HCI Lab.
Teaching
I teach undergraduate and graduate classes on human-computer interaction, user experience design, and research methods. Below are courses that I am currently teaching or have taught in the last year.
Advising
I work with a fantastic group of advisees who come from a diverse set of background including computer science, industrial design, industrial engineering, and history who are already building their own research programs. If you are interested in working with me, please read this page.
Current Postdoctoral Advisees
Current Ph.D. Advisees
- Danny Rakita, CS
- David Porfirio, CS
- Andrew Schoen, CS
- Laura Stegner, CS
- Olivia Zhao, Psychology
- Pragathi Praveena, CS
- Curt Henrichs, CS
- Bengisu Cagiltay, CS
- Kevin Welsh, CS
- Nathan White, CS
Graduated Ph.D. Advisees
- Sean Andrist, Microsoft Research
- Joseph Michaelis, University of Illinois Chicago
- Tomislav Pejsa, Facebook
- Chien-Ming Huang, Johns Hopkins University
- Daniel Szafir, University of Colorado Boulder
- Irene Rae, Google, Inc.
- Allison Sauppé, University of Wisconsin–La Crosse
- Shadeequa Miller, Dell Corporation
Graduated M.S. Advisees
- Steven Johnson, Google, Inc.
- Margaret Pearce, Deepfield
- Christopher Bodden, Software Engineer
- Faisal Khan, Argonne National Lab
Graduated B.S. Advisees
- Erica Lewis, Intel
- Nathalie Cheng, Exygy
- Jonathan Mumm, Atomic Labs
- Zhi Tan, CMU Robotics Institute