Human-Centered Data Science Lab

Lab Director and HCDE Professor Cecilia Aragon presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s annual meeting in San Jose, California on Feb. 15th. In a talk titled “Future Career Paths for Data Scientists in Academia,” she addressed the human dimensions of data science that will be important for academic careers in the field. The talk was part of a larger session titled “Advancing University Career Paths in Interdisciplinary Data-Intensive Science,” led by University of Washington faculty, as well as additional members of the five-year Moore/Sloan data science initiative from UC Berkeley, and New York University.

An article about the presentation was recently featured in UW Today: http://www.washington.edu/news/2015/02/13/aaas-symposium-looks-at-how-to-bring-big-data-skills-to-academia/

Research conducted by Lab Director Cecilia Aragon and HCDE PhD Student Nan-Chen Chen was recently presented in a talk at the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s annual meeting in San Jose, California on Feb. 14th.  Aragon presented their findings as part of a larger symposium on “Social, Emotional, and Cognitive Bases of Communication: New Analytic Approaches.” In the research Aragon and Chen analyzed chat logs from astrophysicists collaborating in the U.S. and France, finding that native French speakers in the scientific collaboration used more emoticons when they communicated in English. Their findings have implications for how bilinguals use emoticons to assist in communication when wording or phrasing might be challenging.

An article on the research was recently featured in UW Today: http://www.washington.edu/news/2015/02/13/aaas-talk-some-bilinguals-use-emoticons-more-when-chatting-in-non-native-language/

HDS Lab member, and 3rd year HCDE PhD student Ray Hong recently won the design competition for the 2015 Computer Human Interaction (CHI) Conference Student Volunteer T-Shirts. Ray’s design won out over thirty submissions to represent the student volunteers at the CHI Conference in Seoul, South Korea in mid-April of this year.

The winning design (below) features the Republic of Korea flag, and a globe with Seoul’s major landmarks, including the Kwanghawmun gate and the N Seoul Tower. The design integrates the conference theme of “Crossings” by showing people around the globe crossing each other to say hello in English and Korean, sharing cross-cultural knowledge. Congratulations Ray!

Taylor Jackson Scott, 4th year PhD student in the HCDE department and HDS Lab member, was recently nominated for the annual university-wide Excellence in Teaching Award for his outstanding contributions to the University of Washington and the department of Human-Centered Design and Engineering as both an instructor and teaching assistant. In his time at the UW, Taylor has worked closely with faculty and staff to foster creative and innovative learning environments for seven different courses, while serving as a mentor and collaborator to students progressing through the undergraduate and graduate degree programs.  He is currently the instructor for HCDE 411 Information Visualization where he teaches undergraduate students the fundamentals of visualization for use across a wide variety of disciplines. Asked about the nomination, he noted, “I am incredibly honored to be considered for the award, and grateful to those that have helped me along the way.”  The winners of the award are expected to be announced in the Spring quarter of 2015. Way to go Taylor!