Human Computer Integration Lab

Computer Science Department, University of Chicago

Essays (long-form writings from our lab)

1. Ask-me-anything at UIST 2022 about "Being a new faculty/starting a new lab" by Prof. Pedro Lopes

Oct 28th, 2023, Pedro Lopes: At the ACM UIST 2022 conference I was humbled by being invited to give a special Ask-Me-Anything talk about my experience of starting on the tenure track and starting a new lab. Recently, I was immensely moved by the support of my colleagues at the University of Chicago's Computer Science Department who granted me early tenure in July 2023. This whole tenure adventure, plus the fact that UIST 2023 is starting now, motivated me to finally summarize my AMA for those who were not able to attend UIST 2022—many of whom wrote me or the UIST 2022 Social Chairs asking if the AMA would be publicly available—happy to say that despite how it makes me nervous to share this online, it now is available and you can watch the first half of the AMA here (25 minutes with slides). Click here to read the full article.

Oct 28th, 2023, Pedro Lopes: At the ACM UIST 2022 conference I was humbled by being invited to give a special Ask-Me-Anything talk about my experience of starting on the tenure track and starting a new lab. Recently, I was immensely moved by the support of my colleagues at the University of Chicago's Computer Science Department who granted me early tenure in July 2023. This whole tenure adventure, plus the fact that UIST 2023 is starting now, motivated me to finally summarize my AMA for those who were not able to attend UIST 2022—many of whom wrote me or the UIST 2022 Social Chairs asking if the AMA would be publicly available—happy to say that despite how it makes me nervous to share this online, it now is available and you can watch the first half of the AMA here (25 minutes with slides). Click here to read the full article.

2. (Coming soon) "Our lab's reflections and participation at ACM CHI 2025" by Prof. Pedro Lopes

3. "What happens at the intersection of Human-Computer Interaction and Neuroscience?" by Prof. Pedro Lopes

21st June, 2025, Pedro Lopes: Computer science is brimming with innovation in how everyday users access computers. In only a few decades, computers went from highly specialized tools to everyday tools—innovation driven by researchers and companies in Human Computer Interaction (HCI). In fact, no other recent tool has experienced this widespread adoption—computers are used nearly anytime, anywhere and by nearly everyone. However, while computer scientists are striving to create new interface paradigms that improve the way we communicate with computers (evolution from desktop, to mobile and now to wearable), we are close to hitting a hard barrier when it comes to new computer interfaces: the complexity of the human body and biology. It is undeniable that the last generations of computer interfaces are closer and closer to the human body (e.g., wearables, brain computer interfaces, VR/AR), but designing these requires more than just knowledge from computer science—it requires neuroscience. I argue for an intersection of Computer Science and Neuroscience, in what I call “HCI meets Neuroscience”—our “meets” term is denoted as “x” to imply the multiplication that will happen once we combine our expertise to advance Computer Science. Click here to read the full article.

21st June, 2025, Pedro Lopes: Computer science is brimming with innovation in how everyday users access computers. In only a few decades, computers went from highly specialized tools to everyday tools—innovation driven by researchers and companies in Human Computer Interaction (HCI). In fact, no other recent tool has experienced this widespread adoption—computers are used nearly anytime, anywhere and by nearly everyone. However, while computer scientists are striving to create new interface paradigms that improve the way we communicate with computers (evolution from desktop, to mobile and now to wearable), we are close to hitting a hard barrier when it comes to new computer interfaces: the complexity of the human body and biology. It is undeniable that the last generations of computer interfaces are closer and closer to the human body (e.g., wearables, brain computer interfaces, VR/AR), but designing these requires more than just knowledge from computer science—it requires neuroscience. I argue for an intersection of Computer Science and Neuroscience, in what I call “HCI meets Neuroscience”—our “meets” term is denoted as “x” to imply the multiplication that will happen once we combine our expertise to advance Computer Science. Click here to read the full article.