iSchool faculty and students will present their research at the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2026), which will be held from April 13–17 in Barcelona, Spain. The conference, considered the most prestigious in the field of Human-Computer Interaction, attracts researchers and practitioners from around the globe.
Associate Professor Yun Huang has developed a new app to make navigating conferences less work and more fun. PapersClaw.fun will debut at CHI 2026.
Presentations (only iSchool researchers noted):
Monday, April 13
- Workshop: Developmentally Safe Generative AI Environment for Youth, PhD student Yaman Yu
- Paper: All Accept, No Reject: Evaluating LLMs as “Peer” Reviewers, Teaching Assistant Professor Nitin Verma
- Paper: Does Sequencing Matter? Evaluating AI and Human Simulations for High-Stakes Communication Training in Law Enforcement, Undergraduate student Wenxuan Song
- Paper: Empowered XR through Generative AI: Balancing Superpowers and Risks, PhD students Yiliu Tang and Mengke Wu, and Associate Professor Yun Huang
- Paper: Should the AI Speak First? Evaluating Proactive vs. Reactive Facilitation in Mixed-Reality Medical Training, Undergraduate student Wenxuan Song
- Paper: Three Modalities, Two Design Probes, One Prototype, and No Vision: Experience-Based Co-Design of a Multi-modal 3D Data Visualization Tool, PhD student Sanchita S. Kamath, Informatics PhD student Aziz Zeidieh, and Assistant Professor JooYoung Seo
- Paper: Why Don't People Follow Robot Leaders? Understanding the Effects of Power Legitimacy on Compliance with Agents, Informatics PhD student Minrui Chen *Honorable Mention
Tuesday, April 14
- Paper: Envisioning an Ethical and Sustainable Metaverse Workplace: Beyond AI-Driven Surveillance, Postdoctoral Research Associate Hyanghee Park and Associate Professor Yun Huang *Honorable Mention
- Paper: Rethinking User Empowerment in AI Recommender System: Innovating Transparent and Controllable Interfaces, PhD student Mengke Wu
- Poster: Non-Linear Journeys with Voice Assistants: A Multi-Trajectory Analysis of Older Adults’ Long-Term Home Use, MSLIS student Wen-Ning Chen and Associate Professor Jessie Chin
- Poster: Perception of Deepfakes among Bangladeshi Women, PhD student Pratyasha Saha
Wednesday, April 15
- Paper: AReframedChair: Reframing the Empty Chair through Dyadic and Triadic AR-Mediated Self-Embodiment, Associate Professor Yun Huang
- Paper: From Future of Work to Future of Workers: Addressing Asymptomatic AI Harms to Foster Dignified Human-AI Interaction, Affiliate Assistant Professor Koustuv Saha *Honorable Mention
- Paper: Towards AI as Colleagues: Multi-Agent System Improves Structured Ideation Processes, PhD students Kexin Quan and Mengke Wu, and Associate Professor Jessie Chin
- Paper: Virtual Minds, Real Work: LLM-Powered Preference-Based Planning through Spatial Multi-Agent-Human Collaboration, MSIM student Ziyi Zhang
- Poster: Do We Know What They Know We Know? Calibrating Student Trust in AI and Human Responses through Mutual Theory of Mind, Affiliate Assistant Professor Koustuv Saha
- Poster: Mosaic: A Multi-Level Framework for Observing and Evaluating Performance of Multi-Agent Systems, Informatics PhD student Yiren Liu and Associate Professor Yun Huang
- Paper: Access in the Shadow of Ableism: A Collaborative Autoethnography on Higher Education Experiences of a Blind Student in China, PhD student Weijun Zhang
Thursday, April 16
- Paper: From Crafting Text to Crafting Thought: Grounding AI Writing Support to Writing Center Pedagogy, Affiliate Professor John Gallagher
- Paper: From Fragmentation to Integration: Exploring the Design Space of AI Agents for Human-as-the-Unit Privacy Management, PhD student Eryue Xu
- Paper: Mental Health Impacts of AI Companions: Triangulating Social Media Quasi-Experiments, User Perspectives, and Relational Lens, Affiliate Assistant Professor Koustuv Saha
- Paper: Redesigning Educational Videos for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Learners, Si Chen (PhD ’24), postdoctoral fellow at the University of Notre Dame, PhD student Haocong Cheng, MSLIS student Suzy Su, and Associate Professor Yun Huang
- Paper: Principles of Safe AI Companions for Youth: Parent and Expert Perspectives, PhD student Yaman Yu and Professor Yang Wang
- Poster: Designing for Understanding: How Interface-Level Consent Designs Shape Attention and Understanding in Privacy Disclosures, PhD student Mengke Wu
- Poster: Finding MeBo: Delivering Reminiscence Therapy for Older Adults Using LLM-Based Voice User Interfaces, Associate Professor Jessie Chin
Friday, April 17
- Paper: Designing Beyond Language: Sociotechnical Barriers in AI Health Technologies for Limited English Proficiency, Affiliate Assistant Professor Koustuv Saha *Honorable Mention
- Paper: "I Don't Trust Any Professional Research Tool": A Re-Imagination of Knowledge Production Workflows by, with, and for Blind and Low-Vision Researchers, Assistant Professor JooYoung Seo
- Paper: "In my defense, only three hours on Instagram": Designing Toward Digital Self-Awareness and Wellbeing, Undergraduate student Wenxuan Song and Affiliate Assistant Professor Koustuv Saha
- Paper: Perspectra: Choosing Your Experts Enhances Critical Thinking in Multi-Agent Research Ideation, Informatics PhD student Yiren Liu and Associate Professor Yun Huang *Honorable Mention
- Paper: Privy: Envisioning and Mitigating Privacy Risks for Consumer-facing AI Product Concepts, PhD student Yu-Ju (Marisa) Yang *Honorable Mention