Our work in human-centered computing explores and enhances the ways in which people and communities engage with and experience technology.
Our research considers the personal, educational, cultural, and ethical implications of innovation. Drawing upon techniques from human-computer interaction, learning sciences, sensing and more, we aim to maximize the potential benefits of technology while minimizing potential harms to individuals, groups and society.
Groups & Labs
Interactive Data Lab
The Interactive Data Lab aims to enhance people’s ability to understand and communicate data through the design of new interactive systems for data visualization and analysis.
Behavioral Data Science Group
The Behavioral Data Science Group leverages large-scale behavioral data to extract actionable insights about our lives, health and happiness by combining techniques from data science, social network analysis, and natural language processing.
Allen School Faculty
Assistant Teaching Professor
Professor
Professor
Assistant Professor
Centers & Initiatives
The Community-Engaged Computing Initiative (CECI) is a joint initiative to support community-centered scholarship and research within the broad computing and information field. Co-led by the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering, and the Information School, the initiative was launched in 2025 through a gift from Google. CECI supports projects that bring UW faculty and graduate students together with community partners to bring sustainable, equitable, and inclusive technology into real-world contexts.
DFab is a network of researchers, educators, industry partners, and community members advancing the field of digital fabrication at UW and in the greater Seattle region.
Highlights
HearingTracker
A technology known as semantic hearing developed in Allen School professor Shyam Gollakota’s lab could let users create acoustic bubbles, isolate chosen voices, and control individual sounds in their environment.
Fast Company
Allen School professor Jon Froehlich talks about how Project Sidewalk empowers communities by crowdsourcing data on pedestrian infrastructure, from curb ramps to broken pavement, to improve accessibility.
UW News
Professors David Kohlbrenner and Franziska Roesner (Ph.D., ‘14) of the Allen School’s Privacy & Security Research Lab found that browser agents are susceptible to cyberattacks by violating the same-origin policy, a cornerstone of modern web security that has safeguarded users for 30 years.