Human-Centered Computing News

James Ward: Into the Animator-Verse

Affordability, and access to computer labs and 2D and 3D animation classes, drew James Ward to SoIC’s Media Arts and Science program. He credited the program’s accessible faculty for preparing him to work in the industry, where he’s now a senior animator for Sony. He recently worked on “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” which won a Golden Globe and an Oscar for best animated film of 2018.

Students test new career app at recent job fair

Over the past year and half, Fawzi Ben Messaoud, Ph.D., informatics faculty member at the IU School of Informatics and Computing at IUPUI, has led a group of his students in developing a web-based career matching tool, the Learning Path and Career eXchange Application. Ben Messaoud saw a need for an improved way for college […]

HCI alumni win Parkview Health’s health innovation competition

[Photo, left to right: Sue Ehinger, former chief experience officer, Parkview Health; Ryan Ahmed; Romisa Ghahari; and Mike Packnett, president and CEO, Parkview Health. Used with permission.] Romisa Ghahari and Ryan Ahmed, respectively graduates of the Ph.D. and M.S. Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) program at IU School of Informatics and Computing at IUPUI, recently won a health innovation competition […]

Kyle Harris analyzes numbers for ClusterTruck

Kyle Harris, a duel degree student majoring in Informatics, analyzed the numbers at his data science internship with ClusterTruck online restaurant using customer data, kitchen data, location data, food order data, and cooktime data. Harris analyzed promotion codes and presented to the ClusterTruck marketing team. He currently is employed as a Data Analytics Associate at CliftonLarsonAllen.

Faculty work featured in new digital humanities research methods book

Indiana University School of Informatics and Computing at IUPUI faculty Andrea Copeland, Albert William, Zebulun M. Wood, and Ayoung Yoon recently detailed their local heritage, community-based project, Virtual Bethel, in a new book titled Research Methods for the Digital Humanities. The four researchers authored the chapter, Virtual Bethel: Preservation of Indianapolis’s Oldest Black Church, in the book edited […]

Revamped master’s level MAS program prepares grads for workforce

Over a year ago, Media Arts and Science (MAS) faculty embarked on a mission to redesign their outdated master’s degree program. Their goal: create a pathway to industry that focused on emergent technology and developed skills from concept to finished project that would better prepare students for their careers. Associate Professor Joseph Defazio, with support […]

2018 grads already giving back by establishing a new SoIC scholarship

(Story submitted by Cory Aiello) Mikaylah Gross (BS Informatics ‘16 and MS Human Computer Interaction ’18) and Hannah Roper (BS Informatics ‘18) are recent IU School of Informatics and Computing at IUPUI (SoIC) graduates already making a difference by giving back to their school.  They have stepped up together to establish the Make Your Mark […]

High school teams help get out the vote in fifth annual Mobile App Competition

Thirteen high school teams around Indiana participated Saturday, October 27, 2018 in the fifth annual Mobile App Competition, sponsored by the Department of Human-Centered Computing at the Indiana University School of Informatics and Computing at IUPUI. Raspberry Pi from Scratch from Plymouth High School won first place, Terre Haute South High School took second, and Nextech […]

HCI graduate interns develop their passion for solving real-world problems

In 2018, Kara Bougher was studying to be a user experience (UX) designer, possibly in an education-related role or company. She worked at GEICO’s Washington, DC corporate headquarters on their Digital Experience Team as a UX/UI design/research intern. Her goal was to learn how a design team functions in industry: “I learned a lot about giving and receiving feedback effectively and was able to learn some new tools and software.”

Students in Greece Study Abroad Program find new stories to document

One might think that after three previous visits to Paros, Greece, Study Abroad students and their mentors wouldn’t discover anything unique to film or anyone new to interview, but one would be wrong. Once again, their work is as prolific and surprising as the island of Paros is picturesque and serene. Albert William and Thomas Lewis, […]

Cafaro receives NSF EAGER grant to study how causation and correlation are learned

Francesco Cafaro, assistant professor of informatics in the Department of Human-Centered Computing at the Indiana University School of Informatics and Computing at IUPUI, was recently awarded a $299,879 NSF EAGER grant for his research, “Aiding Reasoning About Correlation and Causation.” The EArly-concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) supports exploratory projects that are in early stages […]

MAS students and alumni add fun element to international conference using AR skills

A group of students from Zebulun Wood’s N420 Multimedia Production Development class at the Indiana University School of Informatics and Computing at IUPUI has been busy collaborating with a team of developers and art directors around the globe, spanning several time zones. The project: Using augmented reality (AR) on mobile devices to promote the technology, […]

Human-centered computing students find continued success in IoT

Two students in Professor of Practice Lou Lenzi’s INFO H567 class at the Indiana University School of Informatics and Computing at IUPUI were part of a three-person team that recently won the True AR Challenge. Members of Team HCI, Sandeep Jagtap and Rahul Jain, along with Pruthviraj Narayanaswamy, took first place for their AR (augmented […]

Bolchini receives Google Faculty Research Award for accessible computing research

Davide Bolchini, associate professor and chair of the Department of Human-Centered Computing, recently received a prestigious 2017 Google Faculty Research Award to support his human-computer interaction research on novel navigation principles for entirely auditory keyboards. Google Faculty Research Awards provide unrestricted gifts as support for research at institutions around the world. The Google Faculty Research […]

Jordan Nelsen and Rachel Palfi honored as top students at IUPUI

Two students from the IU School of Informatics and Computing, senior Jordan Nelsen, Media Arts and Science (MAS), and junior Rachel Palfi, Health Information Management (HIM), were recently recognized at the 2018 Top 100 Outstanding Students Recognition Dinner. Nelsen was also selected for the top 10 list. The IUPUI top 100 and top 10 students are […]

HCI grad student pitches new idea for deaf-blind community to win JagStart

Madhura Mhatre, a graduate student in the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) program at the IU School of Informatics and Computing at IUPUI, recently won the JagStart Elevator Pitch Competition at IUPUI for her concept, Braille Tech. Mhatre received a prize of $2500, which she will use to further research and develop her innovation for the deaf-blind […]

What’s in your bag? IUPUI senior creates digital paintings and prosthetic designs

A student at the Herron School of Art and Design, Jordan Nelsen also studies 3D Graphics and Animation at SoIC. She’s drawn upon the anatomical foundation of her artistic talent to help create life-enhancing 3D facial prosthetic designs for dental patients.

Two MAS alumni to premiere documentary at the Tribeca Film Fest

Sam Mirpoorian and Brenton Oechsle, both graduates of the Media Arts and Science (MAS) undergraduate program in video and sound production, helped premiere the documentary film, Destination Park, at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. Mirpoorian is editor and co-producer, while Oechsle is director of photography and co-producer.

HCC faculty member awarded NSF grant for data visualization research

Khairi Reda, assistant professor of data science and human-computer interaction at the IU School of Informatics and Computing at IUPUI, recently received a $174,977 National Science Foundation grant for his project, “CRII: Concept-Driven Visual Analysis.” The funding will advance Reda’s research into data visualization techniques for exploring and analyzing scientific data sets. These techniques will […]

MAS alumnae and Matchbook Creative founders mark 10 years in business

Christy Gormal and Donna Gray, both graduates of the Media Arts and Science (MAS) master’s program at the IU School of Informatics and Computing at IUPUI, recently celebrated the tenth anniversary of their company, Matchbook Creative. Gormal (pictured above) and Gray co-founded the full-service agency in 2007, with a vision of doing great work with […]

Sports Analytics grad student, DJ McCall, excels on court and off

IU School of Informatics and Computing at IUPUI student Desmond (DJ) McCall was selected to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Honors Court as a student-athlete for 2016–17. The NABC recognizes men’s collegiate basketball student-athletes who excel in academics, acknowledging the talents and gifts they possess off the court and in the classroom. McCall, a […]

Record number of HCI faculty papers accepted by 2018 ACM CHI Conference

Four Department of Human-Centered Computing (HCC) faculty in the IU School of Informatics and Computing at IUPUI have had a total of six full papers accepted for publication by the prestigious 2018 ACM CHI Conference. Andrew Miller, Lynn Dombrowski, Erin Brady, and Khairi Reda, all assistant professors of human-computer interaction (HCI), will present their papers […]

Media Arts and Science film students participate in Heartland Film Festival

Two Media Arts and Science (MAS) students at the Indiana University School of Informatics and Computing had their entries accepted in the 2017 Heartland Film Festival held recently in Indianapolis. Sam Mirpoorian, who received his B.S. in May and is now enrolled in the master’s program, and Hannah West, a current senior, produced their films […]

High school students shine at mobile app competition

Three Indiana high school teams demonstrated their design and coding prowess Saturday, November 4, at the 2017 Mobile App Challenge, sponsored by the Department of Human-Centered Computing at the Indiana University School of Informatics and Computing at IUPUI. Twenty-three teams from around the state participated this year. Harmony 2, from Harmony School in Bloomington, won […]

Ph.D. student receives Air Force grant to improve human-machine interfaces

Human-centered computing graduate student Eric Vorm recently received a research grant, titled “Designing for transparent automated visual classification systems,” from the U.S. Air Force. The award will support Vorm in improving the human-machine team by designing interfaces that enable improved human operator awareness and facilitate explanation-based reasoning when assisted by automation, i.e., artificial intelligence or AI.