PREVIOUS MEMBERS

Emer Gilmartin

Emer is a Post-Doc working on the KETI project with Professor Justine Cassell at Inria, Paris. She is developing a novel theory of interpersonality – how personality traits of different interlocutors affect conversational progress. Emer’s Ph.D., pursued at Trinity College Dublin under the supervision of Profs Nick Campbell and Carl Vogel, focused on multiparty casual conversation, particularly in terms of timing of speech, silence, and overlap in chat and chunk phases. Prior to her return to academia as a mature student, Emer worked in the design, coordination, and provision of language and integration training to refugees in Ireland, as part of IILT, a campus company of Trinity College Dublin. She carries on this work through her side project, ListenHere (https://listenhere.ie), a non-profit providing free online resources for migrants.

Timo Baumann

Timo Baumann was a Systems Scientist on theYahoo! – inMind project,, and located in the Language Technologies Institute at CMU. His research focuses on highly responsive dialog agents that engage in conversations beyond simple task-based interaction, including backchannels and other realtime social behaviour. Timo uses incremental processing to increase the flexibility and speed of SDSs and works on all aspects of interactive speech and language technologies, including recognition, synthesis, prosody, parsing, LMs, NLG and the architectures necessary to facilitate building large and incremental systems. Between joining CMU and completion of his PhD at Bielefeld University, Timo worked as a research and teaching associate at Universität Hamburg. Timo’s side projects include a collaboration in Computational Humanities which recently lead to a 3-year project on prosodic analyses for post-modern poetry, and computer science education for kids, teaching concepts through SDS design. Timo bikes to work and produces electricity as a shareholder in a photovoltaics cooperative.

Yoichi Matsuyama

Yoichi Matsuyama was a Post Doctoral Fellow in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute and Language Technologies Institute, Carnegie Mellon University. His research interest lies in computational models of human conversations, which combine artificial intelligence, cognitive science and human-computer/robot interaction. At the ArticuLab, he led the SARA (Socially Aware Robot Assistant) project. His Ph.D dissertation project was the SCHEMA, a multiparty conversation facilitation robot, specifically its computational models of facilitation strategies and language generation, as well as its robotic platform development. Prior to CMU, he was a researcher at the Perceptual Computing Group, Waseda University in Tokyo. He received B.A. in cognitive psychology and media studies, M.E. and Ph.D in computer science from Waseda University in 2005, 2008 and 2015 respectively. He was a visiting researcher at the iCub Facility, Italian Institute of Technology, also a committee member of ACM SIGGRAPH Asia.

Zhen Bai

Zhen Bai was a post-doctoral fellow at the ArticuLab. She led the Sensing Curiosity in Play and Responding (SCIPR) project, which focuses on exploring the design space of playful learning environments that foster curiosity, exploration and self-efficacy for science education. Zhen is passionate to design innovative interfaces that augment our cognitive, emotional and social experiences in a playful and accessible way. Her research interests include augmented reality, tangible interfaces, design for children, developmental psychology, education, and computer-supported collaborative work. She received a B.Sc. in Computer Science from Beijing University of Technology in 2006, M.Eng. in Software Engineering from Peking University in 2009, and Ph.D. in Computer Science from the Graphics & Interaction Group at the University of Cambridge in 2015. Her Ph.D. research focused on designing augmented and tangible interfaces that support symbolic play for young children with and without autism spectrum condition. Dr. Bai is currently a faculty member in Computer Science at Rochester University

Florian Pecune

Florian Pecune is a post-doctoral fellow at the Articulab, leading the Yahoo! – inMind project, and contributing to the SARA project,  both of which focus on building a socially-aware personal assistant. He is mainly interested in designing embodied conversational agents able to build and maintain long-term relationships with humans by adapting their behavior according to the context of the interaction. Prior to the Articulab, he earned a Master`s degree in Cognition and Engineering from Paris 8 University and received a Ph.D in computer science from Telecom Paristech. His Ph.D research focused on building a decision-making model based on both social and task-oriented concerns. In his spare time, he loves to play and watch soccer or any kind of sports. If he is not in his lab or on a soccer field, he is probably playing some board or video games with friends.

Brittany McLaughlin

Brittany was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the ArticuLab, working on educational technologies to improve classroom learning and interactions around cultural and linguistic differences. She received her BA in Linguistics and Psychology from the University of Virginia and her PhD in Linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania. In her graduate work, Brittany investigated morphosyntactic variation in African American Vernacular English and Mainstream American English. She is also interested in educational interventions and worked with Bill Labov to develop the Penn Reading Initiative, a student-run volunteer group that tutors reading in local schools (http://pri.sas.upenn.edu/). Her other research interests include literacy, language discrimination, teacher training, and educational policies on language variation.

Alexandros Papangelis

Alexandros Papangelis was a PostDoctoral Fellow at the ArticuLab, working on Dialogue Management and Adaptive Spoken Dialogue Systems. More specifically, he was the founding postdoc of the socially-aware virtual human, focusing on socially skilled virtual agents that build long lasting relationships with people. His focus is on designing efficient social state tracking methods as well as good social reasoning mechanisms. Prior to joining the Articulab, he received his B.Sc. degree from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in 2003, in Informatics and Telecommunications, he received his M.Sc. from University College London in 2009, in Machine Learning and his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Arlington in 2013 and the National Center for Scientific Research “Demokritos”, in Adaptive Dialogue Systems for Assistive Living Environments. His broader research interests include adaptive dialogue management, robot dialogue systems and intelligent virtual agents. He has served as organizer and program committee member in various conferences, workshops and journals. Alex is currently working on conversational AI systems with Uber AI.

Amy Ogan

Dr. Amy Ogan is a former post-doctoral fellow, who worked in the ArticuLab at Carnegie Mellon under the direction of Dr. Justine Cassell and Dr. Noboru Matsuda. Her research threads at the ArticuLab include understanding the contribution of social relationships to learning by teaching with agents, and designing virtual peer systems that integrate successfully into the classroom. Amy received her PhD. in Human-Computer Interaction in 2011, working under the supervision of Dr. Vincent Aleven. Her dissertation research investigated how pedagogical agents can develop interpersonal relationships and increase learning gains with learners in a virtual learning environment. She draws on work in intercultural communication, entertainment and video game development, and social psychology. Dr. Ogan is now a professor at CMU’s Human Computer Interaction Institute.

Alafate Abulimiti

Alafate is a doctoral student at INRIA and ENS/PSL. His primary area of research is the conversational strategies generation using cutting-edge NLG methods. Conversational strategies often refer to the ways of speaking that carry out the conversation helping the user to accomplish both task and social goals. He is also interested in various domains related to human-human interaction, such as dialogue reasoning, social science, and cognitive science. Before his Ph.D. program, he was a research intern in Université de Paris working on Dialogue and Semantics. He has a computer science engineering degree and a master’s degree in data science from Université de Tours. Lastly, he enjoys playing chess, reading, and writing in his spare time. You can find more info in his personal website.

Tanmay Sinha

Tanmay is a doctoral student in Language Technologies Institute in the School of Computer Science. His research interests lie at the intersection of (i) learning science and design of personalized educational technologies that aim to foster competencies such as collaboration and character qualities such as curiosity in group work, (ii) artificial intelligence & machine learning approaches to develop such “socially-aware” technologies that can self-improve with the social interaction over time, (iii) frameworks from social network analysis to analyze underlying group dynamics & processes such as peer influence, which stem from the social interaction. Tanmay finished his Masters program at ArticuLab, working on assessing the impact of socio-cognitive factors in greasing the wheels of interpersonal interaction, building rapport and enhancing learning. His research has been a recipient of “Best Student Paper” award at IVA 2016,  and “Shared Task Winner” at EMNLP 2014. [http://tinyurl.com/TanmayCV]

David Gerritsen

David is interested in improving human-computer interaction by studying the ways humans behave with each other. He believes that the most effective and humane tools are designed with a deep understanding of everyday human behavior. Currently his research involves observing 12 year olds taking turns tutoring each other in simple algebra over several weeks. These students are teaching him about how young people build, sustain, or fail to sustain rapport over time. Such rapport behaviors will then be modeled and implemented into virtual agents, changing the nature of educational software by adding dimensions of social interaction between the human user and computational agent. David was a psychology major at the University of Utah with research centered on cognitive processing and social norms found in human-computer interaction. He is most fascinated by how humans reason about the perceived intentionality of virtual agents. This background informs his current research by providing a foundation in cognitive models and a theoretical framework for the psychological world of virtual agents.

Samantha Finkelstein

Samantha is a doctoral student in human-computer interaction who is interested in education, collaborative learning, rapport, and virtual agents. She is interested in studying how real children interact, build relationships, and learn with each other, and how we can design pedagogical virtual peers who can collaborate with and support human children in learning. Samantha is involved with the Program for Interdisciplinary Education Research (PIER) at Carnegie Mellon, as well as the computer science outreach group Women@SCS. When she’s not researching (what?) she’s probably out swing dancing, playing social board games, or crafting magnetic poetry.

Paul Tepper

Paul Tepper is a PhD student in the Media, Technology & Society program in the Dept. of Communication Studies. Paul’s current research is looking at the coordinated generation of language and novel iconic gestures in a direction giving scenario, for the NUMACK embodied conversational agent project. For this work he is also investigating the presence of systematicity in the form and meaning of iconic gestures through empirical investigation, along with doctors Justine Cassell and Stefan Kopp. In 2003, Paul completed an MSc in Artificial Intelligence, specializing in Human Language Technology at University of Edinburgh’s School of Informatics. Previous to this, he graduated from Rutgers College, Rutgers University, with a triple major in Computer Science, Cognitive Science and Linguistics, participating in research at the Rutgers U. Center for Cognitive Science and the Village Lab. Paul’s previous research includes work in computational linguistics, natural language generation, knowledge representation and psycholinguistics. For more information see his personal homepage.

Zhou Yu

Zhou Yu is currently a PhD student with Quality of Life Fellowship at the Language Technologies Institute (LTI) of the School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University, working with Prof. Justine Cassell in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute and Prof. Alan W. Black in LTI. She has broad interests in Computer Vision, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, Spoken Language Processing, Multimodal Computing, and Virtual Humans. Previously, she received her B.S. in Computer Science and B.A. in English Language with Linguistics angle from Zhejiang University. She worked with Prof. Xiaofei He and Prof. Deng Cai there in Machine Learning and Data Mining.

Ran Zhao

Ran Zhao is a doctoral Student in the Language Technologies Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, where he is supervised by Prof. Justine Cassell. He is currently working on Rapport project, which focuses on developing an Autonomous System for Embodied Conversational Agents(ECAs). His scientific research interests lie in both designing general architecture of multimodal behavior generation and exploring human behavior. Before joining Articulab, he received his B.S. in Computer Science from University of Illinois,Urbana-Champaign working with Prof. Dan Roth in Natural Language Processing and M.S. from Yale University.

Michael Madaio

Michael is currently a PhD student in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at CMU, focusing on the learning sciences, and is a member of the Program for Interdisciplinary Education Research. He is primarily interested in the ways that technology mediates learning interactions between students, and how a more robust understanding of the dynamics of student collaboration can lead to a more effective design of learning technologies. Prior to the PhD, he completed a Masters of Science in Digital Media at Georgia Tech, focusing on educational technologies, where he was advised by Dr. Ian Bogost. While at Georgia Tech, he conducted research at the Center for 21st Century Universities on faculty usage of educational technology. Before that, he graduated from the University of Maryland with a Masters of Education and a Bachelors of Arts in English Language and Literature, and taught English at a public high school in Maryland for several years.

Gabriel Bayomi Tinoco Kalejaiye

Gabriel is a Brazilian engineer and is currently os his master’s program in Intelligent Information Systems at the School of Computer Science here at CMU. He was previously part of the Stanford Crowd Research Initiative and is currently working in an annotated crowdsourcing framework for multimodal interactions at Articulab. His research focus is on Natural Language Processing, Machine Learning and Multimodal Human-Centered Interactions. Previously, he was an intern of the continuous improvement team at Kraft Heinz, working with applied data analytics and also an intern at the Global Services team at Brightcove in Boston. Gabriel is a Fundação Estudar Fellow, which is a group of Brazilian leaders that wish to connect and empower young talents in Brazil. Gabriel graduated from University of Brasilia in Electrical Engineering in 2017. In his spare time, he enjoys exploring new music: from bossa nova to hip hop!

Alankar Jain

Alankar is currently pursuing his Master’s in Language Technologies at the School of Computer Science at CMU. At Articulab, he is working on SARA and Yahoo! – CMU InMind projects. More specifically, he is exploring innovative designs for the dialog manager to enable socially aware virtual conversational agents. Prior to joining Articulab, he spent 3 wonderful years at IBM Research, Bangalore working on a variety of machine learning problems involving multi-task learning, Bayesian Networks, time series modeling and sequential pattern mining. He graduated from Indian Institute of Technology Bombay with a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Electrical Engineering in 2014. In his spare time, he enjoys watching and analysing films and TV shows.

Samuel Maskell

Sam is a Master’s of Language Technologies student at CMU and is working on the SARA and Yahoo! – CMU InMind projects at the Articulab. He is interested in studying new and innovative ways that machine learning techniques can be used to better understand and engage with users in order to improve the user experience. Prior to joining the Articulab, he earned a Bachelor of Software Engineering at the University of Victoria and was a Senior Android Engineer at Twitter. In his spare time, he plays guitar & bass and he is a budding cinephile.

Bhargavi Paranjape

Bhargavi is a Master’s of Language Technologies student at CMU and is working on the SCIPR project at the Articulab. She is interested in using machine learning, natural language processing and data mining to build robust and practical solutions in education and healthcare. She completed her Bachelors in Computer Science from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur and worked as a Research Fellow at Microsoft Research Labs, Bengaluru. In her spare time, she likes to read, listen to music and binge watch movies and TV shows.

Vasu Sharma

Vasu is presently pursuing Masters in Language Technologies at the School of Computer Science at CMU. He’s working on the SARA and the Yahoo! – CMU InMind projects at the ArticuLab which focus on building a socially aware robotics assistant. His primary focus is on trying to combine the user’s visual, vocal and verbal cues to better gauge the ‘rapport’ between the user and the conversational agent and using it to enable the agent to become socially more aware to the user’s emotional needs. His research interests include Multi Modal Machine Learning and applications of Deep Learning Techniques to Natural Language Representation, Understanding and Generation. Prior to joining CMU, he completed his Bachelors in Computer Science degree from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. In his spare time you may find him playing some sports with friends, swimming or finding his peace of mind by churning out some poetry.

Fadi Botros

Fadi Botros is currently pursuing a Master’s in Intelligent Information Systems at CMU. He previously attended the University of Calgary where he majored in Software Engineering. During his undergraduate years, he was involved in HCI research focusing on ubiquitous computing and information visualization. He also did research in natural language processing at the Honda Research Institute in Japan. At the Articulab, he will mainly be working on further developing the SARA project and conducting user studies. During his free time, Fadi enjoys running, climbing and hiking.

Arjun Bhardwaj

Arjun is a master’s student in the Language Technologies Department. He is passionate about conversational agents and dialog systems, and is interested in exploring mechanisms to facilitate knowledge acquisition and deeper understanding of conversations. He has background in Natural Language Processing and, Knowledge Representationa and Reasoning. He received his Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science and Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Mandi in 2015. He loves being a part of Articulab where he works on the NLU modules of Yahoo! InMind and RAPT projects, amongst other things.

Callie Vaughn

Callie Vaughn is a Masters student in the Language Technologies Institute, where she works with Prof. Alan W. Black in conjunction with Prof. Cassell. She is currently helping with the Alex project, which focuses on a virtual peer that speaks both African American Vernacular English and Mainstream American English. Her main contribution is developing an automatic dialect measurement system to compute the strength of a child’s AAVE and MAE in real time. Her research interests include cognitive and computational linguistics, minority language issues, and speech processing.

Reem Al Najjar

Reem is an intern at Inria. She is working with the hyperscanning technique to explore inter-brain synchrony and behavioural features related to social interaction in children in the context of computer-mediated interactions. She holds a Master’s in Neuroscience from the American University of Beirut and a Master’s in Learning Sciences from University Paris Cité. She is passionate about how neuroscience can inform educational practices, particularly the neural mechanisms that underpin learning processes. In her spare time, she enjoys swimming, climbing, and spending time with her dog, Laska.

Théo Charlot

Théo is a Master’s student in Natural Language Processing at Nantes Université. He joined the ArticuLab as an intern to work on Representation and Storage of the Grounding task in LLMs without using the context of the model. Outside of the lab he likes to read and question himself on reasoning, subjectivity and consciousness. Though you’ll have more chances of finding him at a restaurant or taking pictures of little moments of life.

Mathilde Deletombe

Mathilde is a Master’s student in Language Sciences, specializing in Computational Linguistics and Natural Language Processing at the University of Orléans. She joined ArticuLabo as an intern to work on the Connivence project, a linguistic study focused on analyzing how rapport is built between two people. Her research interests include the fields of semantics and pragmatics, as well as the verbal and non-verbal analysis of conversations. Outside of working hours, she enjoys the art of photography and always enjoys spending time in bookstores and playing video games.

Anna Celina Desiderio

Celina is a master’s student in theoretical and experimental linguistics at Université Paris Cité. Her research interests include the semantics of discourse relations and documentation of her mother tongue, Tagalog, and other Philippine-type languages. She is currently working as an intern for ArticuLabo focusing on the study of human communication and speech data analysis. Outside work and studies, she likes to do yoga and has been dedicated to the aerial arts for 5 years.

Diana Bakina

Diana is a Master’s student in Theoretical and Experimental Linguistics at Université Paris Cité. She is currently an intern analyzing the structure of human communication using a spoken language corpus, employing Python and R for her analysis. Diana’s research interests lie in the realms of semantics and pragmatics. Additionally, she has extensive experience in developing chatbots, from designing conversational flows to implementing natural language processing algorithms, which she has applied in various practical and research settings.

Zofia Milczarek

Zofia is a Master’s student in Computational Linguistics at Université Paris Cité. She joined ArticuLabo as an intern to work on the Natural Language Generation module of the future Son-of-Sara system. Her research interests include ensuring the naturalness of LLM-generated language, with the use of methods such as prompt engineering and fine-tuning. Outside the lab, you can find her at the local cinema or going through a second-had bookshop.

Mira Lee

Mira is a master student at Sungkyunkwan University in electrical and computer engineering. She is an intern working on human attribute extraction and speech analysis in human-human interaction. She worked as a researcher at the Korea Electronics Technology Institute, undertaking the role of the Korean delegate for Artificial Intelligence ISO/IEC standardization, and participating in national R&D projects in Korea.

Qinyue Xu

Qinyue is a master student at Bordeaux Montaigne University in language sciences. She is an intern working on data annotation and conversational strategies in human-human interaction. She is interested in human-machine interaction and the application of linguistics in this field. During free time, she likes visiting museums and playing games.

Jocelyn Zaruma

Jocelyn from New York is currently deepening her interest in languages and technology by studying computational linguistics at the Université Paris Cité, following her previous studies in Quito, Ecuador and Paris. She is particularly fascinated by dialogue systems, conversational strategies, and text-style transfer, with a focus on the linguistic phenomena that arises in different social contexts. Her enthusiasm drives her to learn more about developing tools that facilitate interactive and spontaneous dialogue with machines. As part of her internship, Jocelyn is broadening her understanding of the various aspects involved in developing intelligent systems, contributing specifically to the study of hedging in text-style transfer. In her downtime, Jocelyn engages in online language exchanges to connect with people worldwide. She also enjoys drawing and playing badminton, and her interests extend to art and design.

Patricia Camus

Sylvain Dufour

Jourdan Wilson

Jourdan is an intern at INRIA exploring French conversational strategies and social bonding methods for their potential to enhance human-machine dialogues. She believes insight into conversation dynamics is essential for developing not only beneficial but harmonious interactions between humans and machines. She is pursuing her studies in computational linguistics at Université Paris Cité, building upon her Bachelor’s degree in Linguistics at the University of California, Los Angeles. In her free time, Jourdan enjoys dancing salsa and bachata, surfing, and getting lots of sleep.

Seemab Hassan

Seemab is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Computational Linguistics from the University of Stuttgart. She completed her Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Information Technology University, Punjab, where she discovered her passion for Natural Language Processing (NLP). Her fascination with NLP motivated her to pursue further studies in this field. As part of her internship, she is currently building test cases to better understand large neural network-based dialog models. When not occupied with academic and professional activities, Seemab enjoys immersing herself in nature and expressing her creativity through her culinary Instagram page, @semifryday, where she shares her love for food and its simple pleasures.

Nina Gregorio

Nina is an intern working on the automatic recognition of personality features in audio recordings of human conversations. She is currently enrolled in the Cogmaster at ENS, a master of cognitive science. She is specializing in semantics and computational linguistics. Last year she completed a double diploma in applied mathematics and computer sciences (ENSTA and Institut Polytechnique de Paris). She likes playing the piano, doing aerial silk (circus), and doing bike tours over several days.

Nina Ryszfeld

Nina is interested in social science and cognitive anthropology. During her internship at INRIA, she focuses on annotations of non-verbal behaviors related to hedging and how conversational strategies differ between American and French contexts. Before her internship, she completed a literary preparatory course for ENS Lyon (khâgne) at Lycée Blomet and a dual undergraduate’s degree in history and geography at Sorbonne Université. During her free time, she enjoys having coffee.

Isaac Murphy

Isaac is an intern at INRIA while he finishes his M2 in computational linguistics at Universite Paris Cite. He is mainly interested in artificial dialogue and its potential applications, especially regarding social AI and human-computer interaction. He believes that by better understanding natural language generation in a dialogue setting, we can pave the way for safer and more responsible collaberation with AI-based systems. Before INRIA, he completed his Bachelor’s in Linguistics at Cornell University, with a focus on the typology and morphology of indigenous Australian languages. Work aside, Isaac enjoys rock climbing and playing chess.

Charlotte Monnier

Charlotte is a research intern at INRIA Paris. She is working on unveiling the neural mechanisms underlying interpersonal processes in pairs of children, especially, how their brain activity aligns in phase and amplitude across time (inter-brain synchrony). She is currently enrolled in the dual master’s degree in Brain and Mind sciences between University College London (UCL), Sorbonne Université and ENS/PSL and owns a BSc in Biomedical sciences from UCL. She is driven by a strong curiosity to understand the mechanisms underlying nervous systems and associated behaviours. She has a keen interest in the disciplines investigating the cognitive processes of human thought, knowledge and decision-making. In her free time, she really enjoys going to concerts and shows as well as listening to music.

Ioana Sederias

Ioana is an intern at Inria. She is working with hyperscanning technique to explore inter-brain synchrony and behavioural features related to social interaction in children in the context of computer-mediated interactions. She has a bachelor in Psychology and Language Sciences at Univeristy College London and a master in Neuroscience at Univeristy College London and Sorbonne University. She is interested in the neuropsychology of language and language pathologies as well as how linguistic abilities relate to other cognitive and social abilities. In her spare time she enjoy climbing, watching movies and dancing.

Apoorva Nitsure

Apoorva Nitsure is a graduate student studying Information Systems with a Business Intelligence and Data Analytics concentration at Carnegie Mellon University.She graduated from College of Engineering Pune with a Bachelors degree in Information Technology in 2017. She is working on the In-Mind Project and her research interests include application of Machine Learning resulting in positive societal impacts. Apoorva loves to dance and learn different dance forms in her leisure time!

Matt Oresky

Matt is a Masters student in Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University.  He is currently working on the InMind project, which aims to build a socially aware robot assistant as a means of exploring how humans interact.  Though his background is in Classics and Physics, he has developed interests are Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning.  Outside of work he enjoys running, board games, and science fiction.

Deepika Mittal

Deepika is a Masters student in Human Computer Interaction at Carnegie Mellon. At Articulab, she is working on SARA project. Her research interests lie in voice user interface design, non verbal communication in intelligent personal agents and robust recovery strategies in spoken dialogue systems. Prior to CMU, she spent one year in India working as a User Experience Design Lead. She graduated from Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati with a Bachelor in Design in 2016. She enjoys traveling, appreciates good humour and loves reading about the mysteries of the universe.

Nadine Fares

Nadine is currently pursuing her Master of Information Systems Management – Business Intelligence & Data Analytics degree at Carnegie Mellon University and is working on the InMind Project. She has recently worked as a research assistant at Columbia Business School. Her interests primarily include Machine Learning and Computational Media; however, she likes exploring new fields and technologies. In her free time (if any), she enjoys hiking, traveling, and acting.

Katarzyna Olszewska

Kate is a graduate student pursuing Master in Information Systems Management degree at Carnegie Mellon University. She is a member of the InMind project researching task accomplishment methods in human interactions. She graduated from New York University Shanghai in 2017, majoring in Economics and minoring in Computer Science. She is primarily interested in examining the societal impact of technology. In her free time, she enjoys exploring things she has not tried before.

Kavya Elchuri

Kavya is pursuing a Master’s in Information System Management at Carnegie Mellon University and an intern on the SCIPR project. She has worked as a Full-stack Developer at Kony and has also had some freelancing experiences with companies doing NLP and NLU. She likes to learn new technologies and is particularly more inclined towards Artificial Intelligence. Apart from academics, she is a movie buff and a music lover.

Vaibhav Nachankar

Vaibhav is a Graduate student currently pursuing Master’s in Information System Management at Carnegie Mellon University, and a part of the SARA project in the ArticuLab. He has over three years of professional experience working as a Full Stack developer at Haptik, Inc. – an AI based chatbot company. He has a knack of designing and developing consumer focused mobile and web products. Apart from academics, he loves watching movies and is passionate about soccer.

Miao Ren

Miao Ren is a Master’s of Entertainment Technology at CMU and is working on the SCIPR project at the Articulab. She graduated from Tsinghua University in 2017, majoring in Computer Science and Technology and double majoring in Digital Media Art. She loves games and has a strong passion to combine art and tech together to create interactive stories. Her research interests include Software Engineering, Game Design and UX Design and Data Mining.

Yubin Ge

Yubin Ge is a second-year master student at University of Pittsburgh majoring in Information Science. He currently works for the SCIPR project and helps with building a reasoning model for the virtual peer. His research interests lie in NLP and deep learning and he wishes to gain more research experiences from this opportunity. During his leisure time, he likes playing games, exercising and spending time with friends.

Danny Choo

Danny is a passionate and aspiring designer who believes that contemporary design should not only obsess about the aesthetics, but should also provide better ways to communicate and interact amongst people. That is the reason why he calls himself a communication/interaction designer instead of visual designer. He is currently pursuing his Masters in Human-Computer Interaction at CMU. Prior to the program, Danny worked as the visual UX designer at Samsung Electronics, focusing on voice UX interaction via SmartTVs. His interests are in design and technology and how those two can come together to create an impact in people. Through this research/design opportunity with ArticuLab and SCIPR project, he plans to gain a deeper knowledge in cognitive computing and how that can interplay with children’s behaviors in eliciting curiosity.

Ethel Chou

Ethel Chou is currently pursuing a Master’s in Human-Computer Interaction at CMU. After earning a B.A. in international studies and economics from Colby College in 2010, she began working within Boston’s health informatics sector to conduct usability testing for Electronic Health Record (EHR) software. She is passionate about bringing user-centered design to healthcare IT. At the Articulab, Ethel works closely with her teammates to create and adapt new scenarios for the SARA project. Whenever the opportunity arises, Ethel brings her camera around to improve her photography skills.

Sara Stalla

Sara Stalla is a UX designer pursuing a masters in human-computer interaction. At the CMU ArticuLab, she works with the other SARA (Socially Aware Robot Assistant), helping to craft the user experience of interacting with social AI. Sara (the human) likes polar bear plunges, episodes of The West Wing, and free public wifi. She received her B.A. in American Studies from Yale University.

Jiamin Ping

Jiamin Ping is a first-year ph.D candidate in Beijing Institute of Technology,majoring in Optical Engineering. She works on virtual reality and augmented reality, her research interest lies on projection based augmented reality applied in education. During the spare time, she like reading and singing.

Cyrielle Chappuis

I am a PhD Student from the University of Geneva. I have a bachelor degree in psychology and a masters degree in Affective and Cognitive sciences. My main interests are language, emotions, and technologies. My thesis project aims to understand how voice characteristics are decoded and used to form impressions of someone.

Luo Yi Tan

Luo Yi is currently pursuing a Masters in Entertainment Technology at the Entertainment Technology Center, and was a Computer Science major as an undergrad at CMU. She will be working on several projects in the lab, integrating character models and animations into Unity projects. She is interested in animation and interactive experiences.

Shaveen Kumar

Shaveen graduated from Carnegie Mellon’s Entertainment Technology Center in December 2013. He worked as a graphic artist in the ArticuLab during the Fall 2012 semester, building new assets for Alex and improving Alex’s interactions with kids.

Sook Yee Leung

Sook Yee (pronounced “Suki”) is a graduate student at the Masters in Information Systems Management (MISM) program at the H. John Heinz III College at Carnegie Mellon University. She completed her undergraduate at Chatham University majoring in Psychology, International Studies: Asia, and Music in May 2014. Her research interests include topics in social media, cultural psychology, neuropsychology, and clinical psychology. She has conducted research pertaining to the above as an undergraduate at Chatham. In her free time, she enjoys playing the keyboard, meditating, juggling, reading fictional psychotherapy novels, and keeping up with current events.

Vivek Pai

Vivek is a Masters student in the Human Computer Interaction Institute working on the Rapport project. He has an interest in artificial intelligence and how a system/interface might adjust to and facilitate the needs of a user. Accordingly, his last research project involved a children’s game that could adapt itself to the emotional state of the child player. Vivek holds a Bachelor’s degree in Information Systems and Computer Science from CMU.

Jia (Victor) Qin

Victor is currently a graduate student at Entertainment Technology Center, Carnegie Mellon University. He did his undergraduate study in computational mathematics and computer science. Besides his technical background, Victor is also a fan of art and design. He plans to enter the game industry as a technical artist after his graduation. Victor is also a person with diverse interests like photography, calligraphy and stamp-collecting.

Will Penman

Will Penman is a PhD candidate in Rhetoric at CMU researching how people change toward an aspirational rhetoric over time. At the lab, he worked on the culture conversational agent project, identifying the ways that children use AAVE and science reasoning in dialogue with the machine conversation partner.

Mike Vu

Mike is a current Master’s of Human-Computer Interaction student with aspirations of becoming an interaction designer. He received a BS in Mechanical Engineering and a BA in Liberal Arts from The University of Texas at Austin. After finishing his undergrad, Mike went on to work for a technology consulting firm, specializing in the requirements and design of enterprise-level custom software systems. He has had a strong focus on self-service enablement and digital strategies.

Debo Datta

Debajyoti is a Visiting Research scholar at the ArticuLab. He graduated from BITS Pilani Goa Campus. He is fascinated with the impact of Embodied Conversational Agents in day to day life. At the ArticuLab, he is working on the Connection Machines project. Before coming to Pittsburgh, he worked in Paris on the ILHAIRE project under Catherine Pelachaud, where he investigated the synthesis of laughter in virtual agents. His favorite pastime includes reading art history, exploring new cultures and places, and trying out new cuisines.

Jiajia Li

Jiajia is a Visiting Research Scholar in Articulab and a second-year Ph.D candidate in Communication University of China, majoring in Digital Media Art. She is good at Design, Animation, as well as Fine Art. Besides, She is eager to how technology can be connected with other subject, including Art and Education. In her spare time, She likes singing, drawing and joining SIGGRAPH program as a volunteer.

Samuel Mascarenhas

Since 2009, Samuel Mascarenhas is a PhD candidate at the Superior Technical Institute of the University of Lisbon where he obtained his Master Degree in Computer Science. His main research interest is to study the integration of sociocultural aspects of human interaction in cognitive systems. The main aim of this research is improve the ability of agents to successfully interact with people in different cultural and relational contexts. So far he has worked in several European research projects (e-Circus, eCUTE, SEMIRA, LIREC) and is currently working on the Rapport project at CMU.

Catharine Oertel

Catharine Oertel is a visiting scholar at the ArticuLab. She is a PhD candidate at the Department of Speech, Music and Hearing at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Sweden since 2012. She is a member of the Speech group and is supervised by Prof. Joakim Gustafson. She received her Master’s degree in Linguistics: Communication, Cognition and Speech Technology from Bielefeld University in 2010. From 2010-2012 she was a member of the Speech Communication Lab at Trinity College, Dublin. Her work has mainly been focused on the multi-modal modeling of conversational dynamics but she has also been active in the area of Human-Robot-Interaction.

Jade Jenkins

Jade serves as lab manager of the ArticuLab and also as a research engineer at Inria/ENS. Her research is largely interested in using state-of-the-art neuroimaging techniques and interdisciplinary approaches to investigate creative and socially-informed questions about behavior, learning, and performance. She holds a Master of Science in Gerontology Research from the University of Southampton (UK) and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of New Orleans (USA). Her previous work has investigated the role of culture and bias in adaptations of behavioral assessments for diverse populations, cognitive event-related potentials of language and memory in older adults with dementia, and the use of brain modulation in developing language-therapy interventions for children with an autism spectrum disorder. Outside of the lab, Jade is an adept cook, an avid reader, and thoroughly enjoys a sunny day spent on a terrace with her dog, Guppy.

Lauren Simmons

Lauren Simmons is the lab manager of the ArticuLab. Passionate about education, she is interested in exploring how novel, cross-disciplinary technologies and virtual learning environments can be used to broaden student participation and improve learning outcomes. Prior to joining the ArticuLab, Lauren was a research assistant at the RAND Corporation, Philadelphia Folklore Project, and the University of Pittsburgh, where she studied non-cognitive factors in student engagement. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology with minors in Arabic, Social Welfare Advocacy, and Psychology from Indiana University—Bloomington in 2014. In her free time, she enjoys volunteering, traveling, singing along to Kate Bush, and amateur beekeeping.

Evelyn Yarzebinski

Evelyn Yarzebinski was the lab manager of the ArticuLab. She graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 2011 with a B.A. in Linguistics and a Certificate in American Sign Lanugage Studies. Her research interests include sociolinguistics, minority dialects, and the effect of the two on peer interactions and in classrooms. In her free time, she enjoys dancing and drawing, as well as a good cup of tea.

Torey Bocast

Torey was the lab manager of the ArticuLab. She has a degree in biology with a Japanese minor from Hiram College and a degree in Psychology from Chatham University. She is interested in cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience, with a focus on sensory and language processing. She likes learning new languages and is currently learning Yiddish in addition to continuing her Japanese studies. In her free time she enjoys photography, hiking, and watching Star Trek.

Hao Wang

Hao WANG is currently working as a Pre-Doc on conversational grounding for Dialogue System. He has experience in Computer Vision, NLP and multimodal ML. Hao graduated from french engineering school CentraleSupélec with engineer degree, majored on Applied math and Data Science. He enjoys in his spare time, music from classical music to Rap and exploring the restaurant in Paris!

Julie Bonnaire

Julie is a research engineer in social cognition at Inria. Her work consists in using hyperscanning – which is a neuroimaging technique that allows the simultaneous recording of brain activities of two (or more) individuals engaged in social exchanges – to better understand the development of social skills in middle childhood. She has a master’s degree in integrative biology and physiology majoring in systems biology and neuroscience from Sorbonne Université. She has a keen interest in topics related to neuroscience, such as neurophysiology, psychology, and machine learning tools to understand how the social brain develops across ages. In her free time, she enjoys playing the piano, video/audio editing, and cycling.

John Choi

A recent graduate of the BCSA Computer Science and Arts student and Innovation Scholar at Carnegie Mellon University, John is an artist, engineer, and entrepreneur all in one. Having over 8 years experience developing computer simulations and 4 years experience building robots, John knows what it takes to develop innovative technology projects either independently or as a team.

Anders Weinstein

Anders Weinstein is research programmer for the Articulab. Anders finds it most rewarding to apply his technical expertise to research on educational technology and Artificial Intelligence. Anders has an A.B. in Philosophy from Harvard College and an M.A. in Philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh, where his interest in philosophy of Cognitive Science led him to also do Master’s level coursework in Pitt’s Intelligent Systems Program. Anders worked for four years as a programmer at BBN Laboratories, and for 13 years at Pitt’s Learning Research and Development Center, where he was the lead developer on Andes, an Intelligent Tutoring System for college physics. In 2008 Anders moved to CMU to work on Project Listen, a reading tutor that uses speech understanding. Anders joined the Articulab in 2012.

Robert Huerbin

Robbie was the lead research assistant at the ArticuLab, where he primarily works on data collection and analysis for the RAPT project, and also assisting interns on all of the lab’s projects as needed. He is interested in research related to rapport, social anxiety, and autism, as well having interest in applying the psychology field of study to improve the criminal justice system. He recently graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 2016, with a B.S. in Psychology and minors in Japanese and Fiction Writing. Outside of the lab, he is a webcomic artist, graphic designer, and illustrator who enjoys watching and producing animation. He also enjoys improv acting and videogames.

David Slebodnick

David graduated the Art Institute of Pittsburgh in 2009 with a Bachelor’s in Media Arts and Animation.After a few animating and illustrating jobs in educational games, he started with the Articulab in January 2013 to work on the Alex project. In his leisure time he enjoys anything from outdoor activities to drawing and painting.

Jiachun Shi

Jiachun is a master student at Carnegie Mellon University majoring in Chemical Engineering. She currently works as an intern on the InMind project, learning about analyzing human-human data collection and annotating data to train machine learning components. As a person who is coming from a completely different filed, Jiachun is excited about grasping new concepts and working closely with people coming from different backgrounds. In her free time, Jiachun loves to watch thriller movies and read detective novels.

Yoo Jin Shin

Yoo Jin Shin is an undergraduate student at Carnegie Mellon University, majoring in Decision Science with a minor in Chemistry. She is interested in the application of human behavior in the design process for interactive technology. She is excited to analyze the role of self-disclosures in human-human interaction to refine the computational model of rapport for the personal robot assistant in the InMind project. During her free time, Yoo Jin enjoys nail art, watching movies and TV shows, and capturing photos of her everyday life.

Faraz Faruqi

Faraz Faruqi is a Computer Science Junior at the Manipal Institute of Technology, India. He will be joining the ArticuLab this summer to work on the SCIPR project. His interests lie majorly in the area of Natural Language Processing, where he aspires to combine social sciences together with computer science to create socially-aware systems. His previous work includes creating a Humor Detection System which analysed English sentences for the presence of humor and sarcasm. As a part of the SCIPR team, he is excited to build a system that will enable children to freely explore the world in a fun, interesting and safe way. In his leisure time, he likes to play soccer, play the piano and read classical literature.

Eva Louise Kreiser

Eva Louise is a Junior at the University of Pittsburgh studying Psychology and Linguistics. In line with her work as a behavioral analyst intern on the InMind project, Eva Louise hope to pursue research after finishing college. Outside of the lab, she runs Pitt’s Chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy and does related work in harm reduction. In her scarce free time, Eva Louise enjoys writing, dance, and exploring the great outdoors.

Shruti Murali

Shruti is a sophomore at Carnegie Mellon University pursuing a B.S. in Decision Science and a B.A. in Psychology. She is currently a research intern working on the InMind project. At ArticuLab, she hopes to learn more about human conversation and interaction, as well as how humans communicate with AI technologies. She is especially interested in developing intelligent technology to improve education and help children with developmental disabilities.

Daniel Nalitz

Daniel is a rising Senior at the University of Pittsburgh. He studies Psychology and Linguistics while also working toward a Certificate in African Studies. He is interested in the intersection of Psychology, Linguistics and Sociology, leading him to the SCIPR Project. He is excited to play a part in developing a research tool that children may be able to utilize and learn from in the future. In his free time, you may find Daniel hiking, making videos or eating Tostitos Scoops.

Katie Thomas

Katie is going into her senior year at the University of Pittsburgh, majoring in Mathematics with minors in Computer Science and Linguistics. She is interested in how these subjects overlap and work together, and is excited to join the SCIPR team as an intern this summer. In her free time, Katie enjoys hanging out with friends, going to concerts, and exploring Pittsburgh’s many restaurants.

Jaili Zhang

Jiali Zhang is a junior from Tsinghua University, majoring in automation and double majoring in psychology. She works as a summer intern in InMind project this year, mainly on investigating the discursive features of human data in order to improve the dialogue design of personal assistant virtual agents. She is fascinating with applying psychology theory to the development of software to meet people’s physical and mental need. Outside of the lab, she enjoys painting and watching movies.

Anna Shafer

Anna Shafer is entering her senior year at the University of Pittsburgh, with majors in Neuroscience and Economics and a minor in Computer Science. Anna is interested in research involving learning, motivation, and performance. She hopes to gain more research experience from this opportunity.

Eileen You

Eileen is an undergraduate student working on the SCIPR project at the Articulab. She is planning on majoring in Cognitive Science and Human Computer Interaction. She is interested in user interface and user experience design but wants to explore all the fields HCI has to offer. She has eight years of experience in fine arts and design. In her spare time, she likes to sing, dance, and watch movies and TV shows

Vivian Tsai

Vivian Tsai studies computer science and applied math at Johns Hopkins University, with particular interests in natural language processing and discrete math. Her accomplishments include playing the piano, blurting random snippets of literature, and seeing all 51 U.S. license plates firsthand. She is excited to return to the ArticuLab, where she previously worked on the InMind project, raised two plants, and unwittingly memorized a surprising number of movie release years.

Sophia Weisman

Sophia is a current senior at Carnegie Mellon University, majoring in both Decision Science and Psychology. She is working on the InMind project as a behavioral researcher. Her passions include studying human motivations and behavior, baking, traveling, and learning about different cultures.

Shuangni Huang

Shuangni Huang is a junior at Carnegie Mellon University, majoring in BHA (with contraptions in Art and Decision Science) and double majoring in HCI. She is particularly interested in the user research and interaction design. Shuangni loves watching movies and loves traveling. She is excited to be part of the scenario design team for project SARA.

Sarah Kerman

Sarah is a senior majoring in Linguistics at the University of Pittsburgh. She’s passionate about exploring the intersections of linguistics and technology and will be working on annotating verbal behavior for the SCIPR project at the ArticuLab. In her spare time, Sarah is an avid tabletop RPG player and DM.

Maxine Kwan

Maxine is a sophomore at Carnegie Mellon University majoring in Electrical and Computer Engineering. She will be analyzing how to quantify and track rapport changes in a human to system interaction. In her free time, she likes playing her ukulele, cooking, drawing, and playing badminton.

Morgan Puterbaugh

Morgan is a junior at the University of Pittsburgh studying Linguistics, Political Science, and Arabic. She is interested sociolinguistics, Arab language and culture, and politics in the Middle East. She is currently working as an intern for SCIPR. During her free time, she likes exploring the city and hanging out with her friends!

Atlas Yu

Atlas Yu is a recent graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, where he majored in computer engineering and minored in studio arts. He is particularly interested in new types of interfaces, as in ways human interact with machines, which leads him to the field of human computer interaction. In SARA, he will be developing an interface that combines conversational and touch experience.

Priscilla Tai

Priscilla Tai is a senior studying Computer Science with minors in Human-Computer Interaction and Neural Computation at Carnegie Mellon University. In the InMind project, she will be working on the backend development for the dialogue manager for the virtual assistant. During her free time, she enjoys traveling, visiting new museums and restaurants, and running.

Jiayi (Cindy) Su

Jiayi (Cindy) Su is a freshman currently majoring in Information Systems at Carnegie Mellon University. She is interested in double majoring in Computer science or HCI in the future. She loves learning new languages and traveling. She is very excited to be part of the SARA team at the ArticuLab.

Neeti Ganjur

Neeti Ganjur is a sophomore at Carnegie Mellon University, double majoring in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Engineering and Public Policy. She is interested in data science and AI and enjoys cooking, traveling and good conversations. She is excited to be a part of the SARA project.

Qile Chen

Qile is a junior at the University of Pittsburgh majoring Linguistics. She also studies Japanese. Second language acquisition, education, and sociolinguistics are her fields of interest. She will be working as a research assistant for SCIPR project.

Gabrielle Greene

Gabrielle is a junior studying Rhetoric and Media at Oberlin College. She is excited to join the ArticuLab as a research assistant for the SCIPR project and to further explore how language informs our interactions. In her free time, she enjoys performing improv comedy, playing guitar, and watching unhealthy amounts of reality television.

William Liu

William is a sophomore majoring in Cognitive Science. His research within the RAPT project focuses on collecting and expressing user data in the form of virtual agent “memory.” His research interests also extend into computer/memory architecture and operating systems. William is big into musical theatre. Having performed throughout High School, William is continuing that interest here at Carnegie Mellon as stage manager and production manager for various shows put on by Scotch’n’Soda Theatre. William also enjoys sleeping.

Ronak Yarapatineni 

Ronak Yarapatineni is a junior Computer Science major at Carnegie Mellon University. He is researching incremental speech synthesis through the InMind Project. Through research, he hopes to learn different applications of the concepts he learns in class. For fun, he likes hanging out with his friends and playing video games.

Eugene Choi

Eugene is a freshman majoring in Information Systems with a potential minor or major in Computer Science. He loves to code and wants to improve in whatever ways that he can. At the ArticuLab, he’s working on the SARA Inmind project analyzing code, cleaning up logs, and more. In his free time, Eugene likes to exercise, code, and play video games.

Saloni Saxena

Saloni is a junior at Carnegie Mellon University studying Cognitive Science. Her interests lie in the creation of intuitive, engaging, and innovative products to solve diverse problems. As a member of the SARA project, she is working to design and develop the UX for the annotation framework team. In her spare time, she loves to explore random Wikipedia articles, binge-watch The Office, and belt out her favorite songs.

Alice Duan

Alice Duan is a junior studying computer science with a minor in learning media. She is working on the SCIPR project this academic year. At the ArticuLab, she is interested in learning more about how software fits into a project within a broader context, as well as testing out the waters of academic research compared to the industry. In her free time, she enjoys running long distances, paddle boarding, backpacking, and climbing.

Lauren Duan

Lauren is a junior in Cognitive Science at Carnegie Mellon University, currently working on rapport-annotation methods for the InMind project. She hopes to both develop more intelligent technologies and help people improve their cognitive abilities through a deeper computational understanding of the mind. She is particularly interested in language processing in humans and machines. In her free time, she enjoys learning languages, scuba diving, traveling and good food.

Nicole Pinto

Nicole is a junior at Carnegie Mellon University studying Cognitive Science. She is currently an intern working on the SCIPR project with behavioral coding and analytics. She’s interested in improving educational outcomes through technology and understanding how we can design products to be more in line with our cognitive processes. In her free time, she loves to memorize useless facts, binge-watch TV, and read NPR.

Fengyi Zhang

Fengyi Zhang is a sophomore majoring in Cognitive Science at CMU. She is interested in the application of cognitive psychology in future techonologies such as interactive robots and AI. She will be analyzing human behavior for the SCIPR project this fall. In her spare time, she enjoys exploring restaurants, watching films and visiting exhibitions.

Andy Shen

Andy Shen is a junior at Carnegie Mellon University majoring in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Through the In-Mind project, he will be exploring how memory can improve the interactions between humans and machines. During his free time, he enjoy playing games, hanging out with friends, and staying active.

Yuhan Tang

Yuhan is an undergraduate student from Tsinghua University, majoring in Computer Science and Technology. He works as a summer intern in SCIPR project, mainly on the game reasoner and project architecture. Yuhan has rich experience in different areas of research, including facial expression recognition, collaborative writing, and remote FPGA platform. In his spare time, he enjoys singing, playing badminton and reading.

Zian Zhao

Zian is a junior student at Shanghai Jiao Tong University majoring in information engineering. He is working with RAPT program, task reasoner especially. His academic interest lies in natural language processing and machine learning. In the free time, he loves traveling and taking photos.

Wei Wang

Wei is a junior student from Tsinghua, majoring in Computer Science and Technology. Natural Language Processing is his main research interest and he will work with the NLG module of the project SARA. He is a big fan of Marvel Studio movies, especially Iron Man and Wolverine. He loves playing football and sometimes shoots short videos with friends. Also preparing for a gala is one of his favourite things, and the photo was taken when he was the chief stage manager of the department’s gala last year.

Jeffrey Li

Jeffrey is a sophomore at Carnegie Mellon University studying Electrical and Computer Engineering. He is working as an intern on the RAPT project this fall. He hopes to apply the skills he learned in computer science during the school year as well as learn more. In his free time, he is interested in playing basketball, traveling, and photography.

Zimo Li

Zimo Li is going to be a senior student in Peking University next semester majored in Machine Intelligence and double majored in Economics. Her academic interest mainly focus on deep learning and natural language processing. She is working on natural language understanding and generation for SCIPR project during the summer in 2017. During free time, she enjoys traveling and playing with some instruments.

Alexa Grazio

Alexa Grazio is going into her third year at the University of Pittsburgh studying Linguistics and Spanish. She also studies Quechua. Alexa is very passionate about language and its applications in the world. At the ArticuLab, she is a data analyst for the ALEX project.

Chris Huhn

Chris isan undergraduate senior at the University of Pittsburgh working on the Alex project. He is working on his B.A.in Linguistics with a minor in French. His academic interests include translation, teaching English as a second language, language acquisition, dialectal variation of English and French, and computational linguistics.

Melinda Arnold

Melinda is a senior at the University of Pittsburgh studying Linguistics and French with a certificate in Western European Studies. She’s excited to be working on the ALEX project. Her interests include second language acquisition, language variation, French linguistics, dialectology, syntax, morphology and the study of regional variants of French. When Melinda is not in school or working in the lab she spends her free time traveling.

Elena Martinez

Elena is a junior at the University of Pittsburgh studying Linguistics and Spanish. Her interests include creole languages, early language acquisition and development, bilingualism and descriptive grammar. She is very excited to have the opportunity to work on Project Alex.

Pranav Goel

Pranav is an undergrad student at Indian Institute of Technology, Varanasi, India. His major is Computer Science and his area of research interest lies at the intersection of Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning. He is highly enthused by the recent advances in Deep Learning and is absolutely loving the chance to apply it during his internship at ArticuLab, working on the SARA project. Outside research, he loves following and playing sports like soccer and badminton, reading sci-fi and detective fiction novels and watching live-action or animated superhero themed stuff.

Jingya Chen

Jingya is a junior student from Tsinghua University, studying in Automobile Engineering and Car Design. She is interested in the interaction design of intelligent device and researches on the performance of the virtual assistant agent with human. She has experience in industrial design including exterior and interior design of cars and service design, and also a big fan of world history and art history. Photography is always on her top list during her spare time, and recording and recreating the daily life and her imagination are hobbies of her for a long time.

Zhou Xiaofei

Xiaofei is an undergraduate in the department of Industrial Engineering(Human Factor orientation) of Tsinghua University. She works as a summer intern in SCIPR project. She has strong interest in psychology, design and human-computer interaction. She loves the books HARRY POTTER since she was a child. During the idle time, Xiaofei enjoys jogging, playing badminton, watching movies. reading novels and spending time with friends.

Kun Peng

Kun is a junior majoring in stats ML and cognitive science with a minor in sound design. She will be improving machine learning models for RAPT. She enjoys traveling, photography, composing classical/electronic music and translating classical Chinese poems. When she’s not committing to her hobbies she’s always checking her phone for the updates from FC Barcelona!

Linh Tran

Linh is a rising senior in Computer Science at the University of New Mexico. She will be working on the Alex project as a DREU participant for summer 2017. She is interested in Human Computer Interaction (HCI), machine learning, artificial intelligence, robotics, and research. She is curious of how they influence children cognitive learning. At the end of summer

Alicia Sigmon

Alicia is a junior at the University of Pittsburgh majoring in Linguistics and minoring in Spanish and Chinese. In her free time,she loves playing the piano, reading, painting, and drawing. During this previous spring semester,she did research on bilingualism in the University of Pittsburgh’s Linguistics Lab. She also discovered an interest in computer science through the course Introduction to Computational Linguistics. She does not know what her goal for after graduation is yet and hopes that working in the ArticuLab on the Alex project will help her discover her future goals.

Sarah Mathew

Sarah is a fifth year computer science student at Hunter College minoring in Anthropology, Math, and Japanese. She will be working on multi-party gameplay for the SCIPR project this summer. Her interests include sustainability, artificial intelligence, cognition, and game theory. Outside of the lab, Sarah likes to listen to Politically Reactive, to read (the news), and to practice contemporary dance.

Max Collins

Max Collins is a recent graduate from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a degree in Psychology and minor in Informatics. He will begin a PhD program at the University of California at Irvine in the Fall, studying Informatics. Max is working on the SCIPR project for the summer of 2017. His academic interests lie on the relationship between humans and technology, with an emphasis on how augmented and virtual reality can enhance our lives.

Vivian Tsai

Vivian Tsai studies computer science and applied math at Johns Hopkins University and is excited to be working on InMind/SARA this summer. Her latest interests include natural language processing and cryptology. When she’s not at her desk, she’s playing the piano, quoting Star Wars, or getting lost in a book.

Kweon Woo Jung

Kweon Woo is an undergraduate student studying Computational and Applied Mathematics at Carnegie Mellon University. Kweon Woo is working on building user simulators for social and task oriented dialogue systems for SARA and he is interested in ways to empower machines to learn the latent patterns of language and nature of human conversation.

Prachi Mahableshwarkar

Prachi is a sophomore at Carnegie Mellon, majoring in Neuroscience with a concentration in Cognitive Neuroscience. She will be working on the SCIPR project starting in spring 2017 and is very excited to be involved in such influential work! Outside of academics, she is part of the Carnegie Mellon Bhangra team, and loves French music!

Michelina Astle

Michelina is a senior at Chatham University with a major in Psychology, on the pre-medical track to become a child psychiatrist. Past work includes data analysis for the RAPT project in the Spring of 2016 before she shadowed in a hospital in New Zealand this past summer. She is currently working on the data analysis team of the RAPT project as CREU student. Michelina is the student director of the Chatham Scholars program and, in her free time, enjoys Magic the Gathering and reading.

Lauren Yan

Lauren is a junior Cognitive Science major, hoping to pursue a career path that involves either children, international relations, or ideally both. Her main research interest is all research that involves children, and anything that involves a cross-cultural aspect is a plus. In her free (and not-so-free) time, she most enjoys lying in bed and listening to music, preferably on a very cold day. She also likes to practice cooking, specifically working to perfect a fried egg.

Kanisha Vaughn

Kanisha Vaughn is a junior at CMU, majoring in Cognitive Science, with a concentration in Neural Computation. She loves learning about the most is how different psychological and emotional disorders affect cognitive function, particularly disorders such as anxiety and panic. In my spare time, Kanisha simply enjoys cooking, Sudoku, and the occasional Harry Potter book.

Caitrin Bogart

Caitrin is a junior at the University of Pittsburgh studying Linguistics and French with a minor in German. When she’s not working, she dabbles in Hindi, Norwegian, Korean, and Spanish. Her interests include translation, phonetics, second language acquisition, and musicals. She’s excited to be working in this lab.

Ryan Doran

Ryan is a senior at the University of Pittsburgh studying Linguistics and Mandarin Chinese. He is excited to be working with language variation and dialect on the ALEX project as an intern. His academic interests lie in second language acquisition, and his on-going research involves analyzing Mandarin L2 learners acquiring communicative competence via variable structures. When he is not working in the lab, Ryan enjoys critiquing movies and eating Chipotle.

Rishabh Chatterjee

Rishabh is a sophomore majoring in Computer Science. He loves working with numbers and is obsessed (sometimes foolishly) with finding patterns in occurrences. He is currently working on the technical implementation team in RAPT, working to build and iterate on the design of the virtual agent tutoring dialogue system. In his free time he likes to play golf, cook, and travel.

Claire Chen

Claire is a freshman majoring in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Besides hardware, she is also interested in the interaction between people and technology. Currently, she’s working on the ALEX project as a programmer. Outside the lab, she enjoys watching anime and TV shows, whilst attempting to learn lock picking.

Kaily Bruch

Kaily is a sophomore Psychology and Biological Sciences major atCarnegie Mellon. She is very excited to be working on the SCIPRProject during Spring 2017. In her free time, Kaily is a member ofthe Carnegie Mellon Women’s Soccer team and loves to eat andtravel!

Yeuk Yu Lee

Tiffany is a Junior majoring in Statistics and minoring in Computer Science. She loves building all kinds of websites, apps, packages and am obsessed with finding a balance between usability and aesthetics in designs. She is currently a programmer in SARA Project, coding and designing interfaces for user studies. Outside of school, she loves exploring new sports. Her recent favourites are Krav Maga and long boarding.

Simrin Guglani

Simrin is a freshman Information Systems major from Pittsburgh who is currently working on the Alex project in the Articulab. Outside of the lab, she enjoys golf and badminton. Inside the lab, she enjoys excel and Elan. Simrin loves to learn random, useless skills that she will never need, and she can cook a mean packet of Maggie noodles.

Alvaro Granados

Alvaro is majoring in neuroscience with a concentration in premedical studies at the University of Pittsburgh, and he will graduate this December. For his looming graduation, my thesis entails both fascinating and challenging material. He is reading oscillations in the brain’s magnetic field to locate the supplementary motor area in UPMC patients. He seeks to spare this area from injury during surgery. His career aspiration is to be a neurosurgeon. In his free time, he enjoys reading the history of neuroscience. Working in the ArticuLab is a special opportunity for him, because he immigrated from Peru with my family, pursuing the American Dream. Thankfully, in America, he learned the joy of using my knowledge to teach others and make their lives easier.

Xuchen You

Scott Lerner

Scott Lerner is a junior at Oberlin College majoring in Art History. He is most interested in the way interactive technology can be used to encourage abstract thinking. He spends his free time painting and working as an artist assistant.

Radia Lahlou

Radia is a junior currently attending Oberlin College. She is studying Anthropology and Linguistics with a minor in French, and is fascinated by the ways in which people interact and function relative to their cultural and linguistic backgrounds. She is an intern on the ALEX project and is excited to learn about more about the role of virtual technologies in education. In her free time she enjoys painting, baking, and is learning Chinese and ASL.

Naomi Berman

Naomi is a senior undergraduate majoring in Linguistics with a minor in HCI and will be interning with the Alex project for the second time this spring. Naomi is very interested in the integration of sociolinguistic theory with practical technological solutions that address current social issues. When they are not studying, Naomi may be found under a pile of blankets or hanging out with their pet snake.”

Musumbi Martin

Musumbi is an undergraduate Linguistics and Urban Studies double major at the University of Pittsburgh working on the ALEX Project in ArticuLab. He is interested in how dialectal differences can affect the learning process, and how educators may understand and work through these differences. In his free time Musumbi enjoys walking, composing music, and playing video games.

Miriam Plane

Miriam is a senior at Oberlin College, working on the Alex project for the month of January. She studies Sociology with a minor in Gender Studies, and is interested in pursuing public health, education or some combination of the two. Outside of her academic interests, Miriam can be found learning and talking about languages or making sourdough bread.

Isabel Boratav

Isabel is a junior at Oberlin College majoring in biology and economics.  She’s working for the RAPT project during the month of January.  She is interested in education and is thinking about going into teaching one day.  In her free time, she likes making friends with kids ages 5-15 and cooking pizza for 100 people.

Helen He

Helen He is a double-degree student majoring in Computer Science and Technology in Music and Related Arts (TIMARA) at Oberlin College and Conservatory. She is currently working on the RAPT project as a research assistant, focusing on the use of OpenFace and OpenSMILE. She is a member of the computer science major committee (CSMC) at Oberlin College, and she’s also a member of the Oberlin ACM-W chapter and Oberlin Programmers of Color (OPOC). Aside from programming and composing, Helen enjoys contra dancing, singing, and working with yarn.

Emma Webster

Emma Webster is an undergraduate student at Oberlin College majoring in psychology with a concentration in cognitive science. She will be an intern for the RAPT project in Winter 2017. Back at Oberlin, she’s a founding member of the psychology department’s major committee and works as a photo editor for Oberlin’s alternative newspaper. In her free time, Emma enjoys running and cooking.

Emma Hahn

Emma is a senior at Oberlin College studying Neuroscience and Psychology with a minor in Gender, Sexuality, Feminist Studies and a concentration in Cognitive Science. She is interested in the social applications of cognitive science research in a variety of fields. Emma is interning with the ALEX Project. In her free time, she enjoys reading and writing, and is a member of the Oberlin College field hockey team.

Kaylen Sanders

Kaylen is a senior Linguistics major at the University of Pittsburgh, with minors in Computer Science and Nonfiction Writing. She is excited to be involved in the Alex project and is interested in the intersection of language and technology. In her free time, she loves finding new music, reading articles and blogs online, and sipping lattes.

Vivian He

Vivian He is a freshman majoring in Information Systems. She will be working on the SCIPR for spring 2016, and is especially interested in how technology can be used to enhance human experience overall. During her free time, Vivian enjoys doing all sorts of design works and making music.

Lera Neviadomska

Lera is a first-year Information Systems student at Carnegie Mellon University hailing from Kiev, Ukraine. She is currently involved with the ALEX project and interested in user-friendly interface creation, especially in educational context. She is also involved with Scotch’n’Soda theatre and volunteers as a middle school mentor. In her free time she enjoys reading, listening to music, travelling, and exploring the surroundings.

Sasha Volodin

Sasha is a freshman Information Systems major (like a couple other people here). She is an intern at the SARA project, where she is working on the user study. She is interested in socially aware AI and the future of virtual assistants. In her free time, Sasha enjoys reading, working out, and writing about herself in the third person.

Rae Lasko

Rae is a senior studying Cognitive Science and HCI. She is interested in informing ambiguous interfaces, such as voice, with knowledge gained from studying human interaction. Her work on RAPT has primarily been focused on analyzing data collected from human peer tutoring studies.

Chileshe Otieno

Chileshe is an intern in the SARA project, which he joined out of fascination with SARA’s exploration of interaction beyond text. Chileshe Otieno is a freshman in the Information Systems program at Carnegie Mellon University. He is an accomplished denizen of the internet, and a mild fitness enthusiast.

Joe Segel

Joe is a freshman at Carnegie Mellon University studying Information Systems. He is working on the ALEX project and is interested in the connection between portable devices and people, especially the ever-growing necessity of cybersecurity in today’s globally connected society. Outside the lab, he spends his time playing water polo and keeping up with all of the latest Marvel movies and shows.

Conlon Novak

Conlon is a freshman at Carnegie Mellon University majoring in Information Systems, and is thrilled to be a part of the Alex project. Outside of the lab, he enjoys hackathons, puzzlehunts, ultimate frisbee, and complaining about Pittsburgh’s weather. Given the opportunity, Conlon would love to spend a semester abroad writing short stories, taking photos, and eating exotic foods.

Michelle Tai

Michelle Tai is a senior at Carnegie Mellon University double majoring in Business Administration with a concentration in marketing and Human Computer Interaction. She is working on dialogue annotations using Mechanical Turk and designing a WoZ system for the RAPT project. She loves spending time exploring her environment with a camera in hand or sketching with ’70s or ’80s music humming in the background.

Caroline Wu

Caroline is a junior majoring in Computer Science and minoring in Music. She is a part of the RAPT project. As a piano teacher, Caroline is very interested in advancing peer-tutoring strategies. She enjoys singing in a cappella and reading.

Abbey Mui

Abbey is a first year student at Carnegie Mellon University studying Information Systems in Dietrich College. She hails from the Greater Boston Area in Massachusetts.  She is most interested in how children interact with machines and how they learn from them.  She is intrigued by how intuitive it is for children to pick up how to interact with machines.  She is currently working on the Alex project, under the direction of Samantha Finkelstein.  Outside of schoolwork and research, she is involved on campus with Fringe, Sustainable Earth, All-University Orchestra, and Women’s Club Lacrosse.  In her free time, she enjoys hiking and exploring Pittsburgh!

Lynnette Ramsay

Lynnette Ramsay is a junior undergraduate majoring in Psychology with a minor in linguistics. She is currently working on annotation for the Rapport project as a volunteer intern. Her past work includes an independent study on Tank the Roboceptionist with Reid Simmons (CMU Robotics institute). She is also currently a research assistant in the Infant Language and Learning Lab headed by Erik Thiessen. She aims to one day have a career in researching education technology or working as a licensed school psychologist. Lynnette is a member of ALLIES, Big Straw magazine (an Asian interest publication), FORGE, and the Catholic Newman Club. In her spare time, Lynnette enjoys knitting, hula hooping, watching cartoons, and spending time with family.

India Unger-Harquail

India Unger-Harquail is a freshman at CMU majoring in Information Systems. She’s currently working on the ALEX project, and is interested in the intersection of technology and social change. In her free time, she enjoys horseback riding, listening to music, and going on adventures.

Anna Tan

Anna is a senior student majoring in Computer Science and Cognitive Science with a minor in Learning Media. She is interested in the modelling of virtual AIs using ideas and research from human cognition. She is working on the Rapport project, building the user modeling component. In her spare time, she likes to travel and play video games.

Jarret Lin

Jarret is a senior at Carnegie Mellon University, double majoring in Music Performance and Human Computer Interaction with a minor in Media Design. He will be working on the SCIPR project for Fall 2016. In his free time, he enjoys sleeping, watching movies, and finding new places to eat. One day, Jarret hopes to eat at the famous sushi restaurant in Tokyo from the documentary, Jiro Dreams of Sushi.

Zoey Feng

Zoey is a sophomore at CMU majoring in Business and Administration. She will be working on the SCIPR project during Fall 2016. She had previously worked for AbilityFirst for three years and helped with promoting language and social skills for developmentally disabled children and teens. This past summer she went on a backpacking trip in Africa. Zoey loves traveling, surfing,  and softball.

Grace Cha

Grace Cha is a sophomore majoring in Design and minoring in HCI. She will be working on the SCIPR for fall 2016, and is interested in creating positive experiences through technology-enhanced environments. During her free time, Grace enjoys people-watching at downtown cafes, good wifi, and pesto pasta.

Angela Liang

Angela Liang is a junior at Carnegie Mellon University majoring in Cognitive Science and minoring in Human-Computer Interaction. As part of the SCIPR project, she is interested in the use of virtual technologies in the context of education. In her free time, she enjoys reading, cooking, and knitting.

Gaurav Lahiry

Gaurav is a Junior majoring in Computer Science and minoring in HCI. He is an intern for the SCIPR project and is very interested in improving quality of life for people of all ages. He’s working on the project as he believes in its potential to affect long-term learning in young children. In his free time, he loves watching TV shows (big Game of Thrones fan) and listening to music.

Michelle Deng

Michelle is a senior at Carnegie Mellon, majoring in Cognitive Science with a minor in Computer Science. She will be working on the SCIPR project for fall 2016. In her free time, she enjoys reading, listening to music, practicing yoga, hanging out with her friends, and photography.

Changning Shou

Changning is a sophomore at CMU majoring in Computer Science. She is interested in HCI and education, and will be working with the SCIPR project during Fall 2016. Currently, she co-leads Outreach360 at CMU, an educationally-oriented service organization that travels to the Dominican Republic. Changning loves trying out new hobbies, enjoys a good book or movie on rainy days, and absolutely melts in the presence of little kids.

Jacqueline Myra Yeung

Hi, I’m Jacqueline Myra Yeung and currently a fifth year architecture and human computer interaction designer. I am fuelled by my passion and tenacity to build technology that spans the physical & digital complexities. As a designer, I leverage my cross disciplines to build sustainable human service experiences. It was a pleasure designing user interfaces for Bose, Fino Consulting, CMU Social Computing, UPMC, and Make With Motorola in the past. On the side, I’m an avid designer who loves working with furniture, fashion, tangible interaction, and graphics.

Lu Sun

Lu is a junior student majoring in Communications. She has great interests in design and Human Computer Interaction. She works on the SCIPR project this summer. She enjoys dancing, taking photos during her free time.

Ting Yan

Ting Yan is an undergrad majoring electrical engineering. He is interested in computer science and human-computer interaction. During the summer, he will be working on the RAPT and SARA projects. He is enthusiastic about music, he enjoys playing the piano and guitar, and composing. He also loves photography and graphical design.

Ying Shen

Ying is a junior at Fudan University majoring in Software Engineering of Computer Science. She’ll be working at Articulab over the summer 2016 on the SARA project. In her free time she enjoys anything from outdoor activities to drawing, painting and watching videos.

Zhao Meng

I’m an undergraduate student from Peking University. I major in computer science. My previous research mainly focuses on natural language processing (NLP), specifically, multi-task learning and natural language inference. I’m a big fan of Starcraft II and Assassin’s creed.

Orson Xu

Orson is a sophomore Industrial and Engineering major from Tsinghua University. He is also studying Computer Science as a minor. He feels excited about HCI. In the lab, he will be interning for the SARA project. During his free time, he enjoys reading and working out. He is a person who always looks for challenge.

Daya Lee

Daya is an undergraduate student studying HCI and Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University. She is currently working on the Alex project and is interested in human to virtual human interaction. in her free time, she enjoys listening to music, writing novels, and singing.

Clare Lai

Clare is a rising sophomore in the CS class of 2019 hailing from Massachusetts Boston area. They are an intern on the ALEX project and plan to minor in HCI. Clare loves horror movies, art and drawing, investigating new genres of music, and playing video games. They’re also a member of Carnegie Mellon’s community radio station, WRCT, and very interested in bringing more diversity to both radio and the field of computer science.

Brooke Ley

Jake Beley

Jake is a rising junior at Dickinson College studying Computer Science with a minor in Mathematics and Political Science. He is currently a research intern on the RAPT project. When outside the lab, Jake can usually be found swimming for his school’s swim team. He also enjoys swinging on swings and volunteer water monitoring.

Sina Siddiqi

Naomi Eigbe

Naomi Eigbe is a sophomore at Rice University studying computer science and psychology. She is working on the Rapport project. Outside of lab, she enjoys watching TV, playing tennis, and playing the piano and the drums.

Hyunji Do

Hyunji is an undergraduate studying Cognitive Science, with a concentration in Psychology and Neuroscience, at Carnegie Mellon University. She is part of the SCPIR project and is interested in human perception and the neurological basis for cognitive visual processing. Outside of the lab, she enjoys watching movies and traveling.

Shaoyan Li

Shaoyan (Sam) Li is an undergraduate student at CMU, majoring in Computer Science. He is interested in working with children through education and hopes to improve education by working as a summer intern for the SCIPR project.

Julia Luo

Julia is a sophomore majoring in Information Systems with plans to hopefully double major in Human-Computer Interaction and minor in Design. She is currently a dancer and choreographer for Dancers’ Symposium, the Chair of the Academic Affairs Committee of Student Senate, and an upcoming Resident Assistant for McGill House. Her hobbies include dancing, drawing, writing, and exploring Pittsburgh with friends. Her interests lie in the intersection between technology and design.

Shrey Shah

Shrey is a Computer Science Undergraduate at Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani, India. He will be working on the SCIPR project as part of his internship at the Articulab during summer 2016. He is a keen solver for mathematical puzzles and spends a lot of his free time watching movies and TV series.

Bo Kim

Bo is an undergraduate student studying Art, HCI and Ethics, History & Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University. Bo is working on the SCIPR Project and she is interested in ways to empower and recognize underrepresented users through technology.

Stephanie Bao

Divya Sai Jitta

I am Divya Sai Jitta. I am currently pursuing my undergrad studies in computer science at International Institute of Information technology- Hyderabad in India. The program is called “B.tech in Computer Science and MS by research in Computational Linguistics. My interests lies in Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning approaches towards the same. I am here in the lab as a summer intern for the year 2016. I love solving puzzles and playing any game in my leisure.

Vidya Vinnakota

I’m a junior studying Fine Art with a focus in Animation. I do enjoy 3D modeling in my free time and also going on long walks across the city !

Andrew Kim

Andrew is a Freshman Information Systems major at Carnegie Mellon University who plans on pursuing a double major in Human-Computer Interaction. He is currently working as an intern on the InMind Project designing and conducting the main user study.

Akanksha Kartik

Akanksha is an undergraduate freshman student at Carnegie Mellon University with a great interest in technology and its impact on society. She is a part of the InMind Project at the ArticuLab and is working on the server side system architecture of the project. Outside of the lab, she is involved in the Game Creation Society, Math Club and the Emerging Leaders Program. She also enjoys solving ciphers, reading mystery novels and playing badminton in her spare time.

Ashvin Niruttan

Ashvin is an Undergraduate Information Systems major working on the InMind project. He has a strong interest in the practical applications of technology and hopes to pursue a minor in Human-Computer Interactions. In his spare time, Ashvin is active in the Robotics Club, long distance running and also enjoys reading historical biographies.

Su Baykal

I have a psychology and hci background. I have been working as a UX researcher both in industry and in an academic research environment. I am interested in understanding the relationship between technology used in an everyday environment and its users, especially when it comes to perceptions of trust. Outside of research, I host a radio show and write poems, stories and articles.

Benjamin Boesel

Born and raised in Charlotte, NC, I grew up playing sports, videogames, and drawing. I went to Carnegie Mellon to study Industrial Design and Human Computer Interaction. During my college career, I learned to leverage my design abilities with emerging technology to create things that respond to my dreams of the future. I currently work for Microsoft’s devices design team develo​ping new technology, interaction models, and products that push the boundaries of computing experiences.

Ryan Donegan

I have an information systems background. As a freshman, I was first introduced to HCI through ALEX and was able to participate in research planning involving children and dialects spoken in the classroom. As a student at CMU, I’ve been most interested in the projects that let me explore how technology can be used in cases of complex user needs and interactions.

Sam Gao

I have an industrial design and hci background. I love experiencing the world, making things, and tinkering. I’m interested in technology’s role in education and the rich space between digital and physical worlds. I specialize in physical prototyping and research. Outside of my work, I dance blues and swing locally and around the country.

Ian Go

At CMU I study information systems and HCI. Besides school, I also am the CTO and Lead Designer at flagtag, a startup I co­founded. As a technology generalist, I want to help develop products centered around the best human experience. When not working, I enjoy playing guitar and cooking at home.

Aliya Blackwood

Aliya Blackwood is a sophomore Psychology major at CMU with a minor in Learning Media. She will be joining SCIPR for the spring semester, and she enjoys singing in the Db (Flat) Choir and watercolor painting.

Michelina Astle

I’m a sophomore at Chatham University majoring in psychology, specifically pre-medical psychology with a focus on child psychiatry. In my free time I enjoy cooking, Netflix, and Magic the Gathering. I’m excited to be a research intern for the ArticuLab Rapport project.

Alex Bainbridge

Alex Bainbridge is a Sophmore Information Systems Major at Carnegie Mellon. He is an intern on the SARA project and is working on the natural language generation aspect. He also enjoys working on shows for Scotch ‘N’ Soda and reading about cyber security.

Rae Lasko

Rae is a sophomore from Southern California. She is a Cognitive Science major and hopes to complete a double major in Human-Computer Interaction. Her hobbies include photography, softball, art, and writing. She’s active in Project Rwanda and the EdTech Club

Joel Miller

Joel is a third-year at Oberlin College, where he studies Computer Science. For the month of January, he will be working on the InMind project. Outside of the lab, Joel enjoys rock climbing, audio engineering, and playing music with friends.

Mikaila Hoffman

Mikaila is a second year at Oberlin College who is working on the Tutor Rapport project as a January intern. She is interested in chemistry, but in her free time enjoys reading and painting

Patrice DiChristina

Patrice, a sophomore studio art and psychology major from Oberlin College, is working with ArticuLab’s SCIPR project. Hailing from Greenwich, Connecticut, Patrice enjoys crafts, television, and animals.

Julia Cantwell

Julia Cantwell (prefers Julie) is a third-year Psychology major at Oberlin College, who will be interning in the Articulab for the month of January. She will be working on the Alex project and is interested in cognitive psychology. In her free time, she enjoys making pottery and attempting to teach her dog how to fetch the paper (he is getting really close).

Tristan Marino

Tristan Marino is a freshman Cognitive Science major who is also interested in double majoring in Human-Computer Interaction. He is working on SCIPR project, and he is interested in how to improve education for a new generation of students. Outside of the lab, he is a member of Alpha Phi Omega and Scotch’n’Soda, and he spends his free time playing guitar, writing, and learning new subjects.

Hami Abdi

Hami is an undergraduate at Carleton College majoring in computer science. Hami’s undergraduate senior thesis is Scene Reconstruction from Photographs, an application of computer vision to create 3D models of structures from a series of photographs (similar to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgBQCoEfiMs). A useful application of this is in creating a virtual tour of a college campus from a series of photographs for prospective students. This past summer (2015), he interned at as a Software Development Engineer (SDE) intern at Amazon in Seattle. His current research interests lie in human-computer interaction, social networks, cryptography, and artificial intelligence. During his free time, he enjoys going to the gym, playing/listening to music, reading, and helping out with projects (e.g. Dormcuts: http://college.usatoday.com/2015/10/17/dorm-hair-cuts/). He is working at ArticuLab on the Alex project as a Kolenkow-Reitz fellow.

Surbhi Inani

Surbhi is an undergraduate freshmen at Carnegie Mellon University in the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering with a passion for Computer Programming. She has been involved in clubs like the Educational Technology club, the Robotics club and the Mayur SASA organisation. She envisions using technology for youth empowerment as well as encouraging livelihood in rural areas. She loves playing badminton, reading science fiction novels, crime thrillers and binging on TV shows. She is a part of the group working on the SCIPR project of the HCI lab and hopes to do her best.

Patrick Barrett

Trick is an author and science enthusiast with a strong interest in biology and intra- and inter-species communication. He is currently working on the Rapport project in the ArticuLab. In his spare time, Trick enjoys writing, wrenching on his motorcycle, and spending time with his four snakes, Amelia, Hatshepsut, Imhotep and Nefertiti.

Tyler Bakanas

Tyler Bakanas graduated from CMU in 2013 with a degree in decision science. He contributed to the transcriptions and annotation for the Rapport project, and is passionate about language. In his free time Tyler likes to run, watch movies and go fishing.

Natalya Buchwald

Natalya is a freshman in Information Systems at Carnegie Mellon University. She is interested in double majoring in Human Computer Interaction and minoring in Learning Media. Natalya is from Southern California and hopes to have a career in education and technology. Outside of the lab, she is most likely running with Carnegie Mellon’s cross country and track team. Natalya is also passionate about music, movies, and calligraphy.

Christine Chung

Christine Chung is a sophomore Statistics major in the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Carnegie Mellon. She is a research intern on the culture project, and is helping with the science analysis of the data. In her free time, she enjoys marathoning television shows such as Friends, Parks and Rec, and The Office. She also occasionally enjoys short walks when it’s nice out.

Sara Daraei

Sara is a senior student at Sharif University of Technology who is interested in the field of HCI. she’ll be working at Articulab over the summer on the Rapport project(aim to incorporate a rapport module into a tutoring dialogue system) and she has a really great time there. Sara also enjoys doing design work. In her leisure time, she enjoys doing sports, music, reading, exploring Pittsburgh, drawing and also hanging out with friends.

Erin Dieringer

I am a sophomore studying Information Systems but I am interested in doubling majoring in Human Computer Interaction. I worked on the Alex project specifically focusing on dialect annotations and the differences between AAVE and Standard English. I am from Columbus, Ohio and outside of the lab I am involved with my sorority Kappa Alpha Theta, was a recruitment counselor for fall 2015 and also enjoy being active and spending time outside.

Lewis Feng

He is Junior student from Beihang University, China, majoring in Computer software Engineering. He is working on the Tutoring project to design and implement a real-time rapport classifier. He has great passion in machine learning and has desire to use these methods in realistic projects. In his spare time, he usually loves to play basketball and watch marvel movies.

Malcolm Guya

Malcolm is a senior at Carnegie Mellon University studying Psychology and Biomedical Engineering. He is also a member of the Carnegie Mellon football team and the Student Athlete Advisory Council and the President’s Student Advisory Council. Malcolm plans to attend graduate school in 2016 to pursue a Masters in Engineering Psychology/Human Factors Engineering or Sports Psychology. All of this subject to change. He enjoys a good book, Netflix series, and listens to a wide variety of music.

Jiaxuan Liu

Jiaxuan Liu majors in Economic and Statistics, but she is also really interested in what’s going on in the technological world, and this is one of the reasons that drives her to work in the ArticuLab. Other than big data, she also enjoy making cookies, cakes, videos and friends.

Jenny Jones-Medina

Jenny is a junior at Chatham University majoring in Psychology and minoring in Biology. She is an intern on the Rapport project and is very eager to begin. Jenny plans to pursue a degree in either clinical psychology or neuropsychology. She is also an assistant captain on Chatham University’s women’s ice hockey team. In her free time, she enjoys playing with her cat (Rosie), reading, and binge-watching on Netflix.

Kimberly Rickman

Kimberly has previously studied Business and Art at Shepherd University, and hopes to return to the Academic world to pursue Psychology. She is working on the Rapport project at the moment, and hopes to become more involved with the Articulab as time goes on. She enjoys working with her hands and creating things from base materials. Outside of the lab, you can probably catch her knitting or tweaking a little bit of python code for fun.

Christine Shen

Christine is a junior at Carnegie Mellon University. She is currently in BSA studying math and art. Christine enjoys learning and exploring. She is still figuring out what she wants to do after graduation. In her spare time, she rows, draws, hangs out with friends, eats good food and travels!

Vanessa Siriwalothakul

Vanessa is a sophomore from Colorado studying Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University and working on the Rapport Project. She is interested in getting a minor in HCI and Creative Writing. In her free time, she enjoys playing video games, writing, and watching television.

Melody Ting

Melody is a BXA student of the class of 2018 at Carnegie Mellon University studying Cognitive Science and Art with a minor in Animation and Special Effects. She is working on the Alex project. Outside of the lab, Melody enjoys running, watching movies, and traveling.

Lauren Trichtinger

Lauren Trichtinger is a senior at Chatham University with a double major in mathematics and psychology. She is the undergraduate psychology assistant and statistical tutor. She completed the SIBS at the University of Pittsburgh. This summer she interned in DC with the Bureau of Economics Analysis through the Joint Program in Survey Methodology. She is planning on attending graduate school for statistics. Lauren is a research intern for the Rapport project for Articulab. She enjoys travel and tennis.

Annie Widom

Annie is a freshman in the Dietrich college of Humanities and Social Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University. She is very excited to be part of the Rapport Project. She is extremely interested in education and educational technology. In her free time she enjoys being with friends, reading, and watching Parks and Recreation.

Eleanor Wilson

Eleanor is a rising Information Systems major with a minor in Global Systems Management at Carnegie Mellon University. At the lab she worked at a research intern in the Alex project and is interested in how technology can be implemented in education. In her free time, she is part of Young African Leader Association, National Society of Black Engineers, and Delta Gamma Fraternity.

Cameron Burnette

Cameron is a senior at Oberlin College, studying Psychology and minoring in Sociology. She interned at the ArticuLab in January 2013, working on developing a coding manual for classifying children’s scientific contributions.  She returned again in the summer to continue her work on the Alex project. Outside of the lab, she spends most of her time reading, cooking, and playing the cello.

Patrick Chang

Patrick is a junior studying Decision Science at CMU working on the Rapport Project. This is his first project to date, but he is very excited to be part of something this size. He plans on moving back to California for work after graduation. In his free time, he enjoys running, watching TV and movies, and playing video games.

Anne Chege

Anne is a student at Oberlin College, majoring in Biochemistry – but thinking about adding Anthropology into the mix. She interned in the lab during January 2013 in participation with Oberlin’s Winter Internship program. Her hobbies include playing rugby, hanging out with friends and watching movies. She also enjoys watching creations by Shonda Rhimes (Grey’s Anatomy is her favorite!).

Jason Chen

Jason Chen is a Sophomore in Information Systems at Carnegie Mellon University working on the Rapport project, and is interested in HCI as a double major. Outside the lab, he enjoys taking photos for the Athletics Department and The Tartan. He also enjoys playing the guitar, listening to many kinds of music, and going to the gym.

Marissa Cross

Marissa graduated from Oberlin College in 2013 with a B.A. in Psychology. She interned at the ArticuLab in January 2013 on the Connection Machines project, and returned again in the summer to continue her work of data collection and analyses.

Katherine Du

Katherine is a sophomore Information Systems major from Carnegie Mellon who is interested in a HCI double major. She’s still trying to figure out what direction she wants to go with her IS degree, but working on the Rapport project has made her interested in educational technology. When she’s not working in the ArticuLab, she mentors through Strong Women Strong Girls and MoneyThink. She also enjoys dancing, cooking, and watching TV shows.

Shannon Gray

Shannon is a senior at Bard College, in New York.  She spent summer 2013 as a DREU participant on the Alex project, developing some automatic applications for student use.  She is a Computer Science major, with a minor in Psychology.  She is very interested in where these areas overlap, hence her interest in Human Computer Interaction (HCI), and working in the ArticuLab!  Besides Computer Science and Psychology, she is also interested in things like Graphic Design, movies, music, video games, reading, writing, cooking and baking.

Coniah Grimes

Coniah graduated from Pitt in December 2012 with a degree in Linguistics and Chinese. He contributed transcriptions and annotations to the Alex project. Some of his other academic interests are psycholinguistics and nonverbal communication. Ultimately, he hopes to have a career in law enforcement, and in his free time he enjoys reading comics and both watching and riffing movies and t.v. shows. Clearly, his wife has married down.

Rachel Gu

Rachel is a Freshman studying Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University working on the Rapport Project. She is interested in getting a double major in HCI, which is the reason she applied to Carnegie Mellon. In her free time, she enjoys painting, playing video games, and relaxing with stuffed animals.

Nikita Gupta

Nikita graduated from Vellore Institute of Technology, India, with a degree in Computer Science and Engineering. She visited Carnegie Mellon University as an intern for the Rapport project from February – May 2013. She currently is in a Master’s program at USC for Computer Science.  Her career plan involves combining data mining and machine learning to develop intelligent systems and ensure their efficient use through enhanced HCI mechanisms. Beyond computers, she loves nature, to travel and explore places and to drive.

Jennifer Han

Jennifer is a freshman Information Systems major here at Carnegie Mellon University working on the Rapport Project, and is very interested in the field of Human Computer Interaction. Outside of the lab, she enjoys doing design work for campus organizations, going to concerts, and listening to good music.

Alexandra Heller

Alex is a student at Oberlin college who cultivates an interest in HCI as it pertains to User Experience Design for software and computers. At Articulab, Alex worked on the Rapport Project as a Wintern. Before Articulab, she observed human-computer interaction for 4 years at her high school as she worked in the IT Department. In her free time, Alex performs in and techs for theatrical productions, writes bizarre tales on library carrels, swing dances, watches Korean Dramas, and listens to Icelandic Folk music about the sea.

Sandy Jiang

Sandy is a Freshman studying Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon. She is interested in HCI and is excited to be working on the Rapport Project. Outside of the lab, Sandy enjoys dancing for Dancers’ Symposium and Infra Dance Company, and is involved in Greek Life.

Tiffany Jiang

Tiffany is a freshman Design major who plans on double majoring in Human Computer Interaction. The artistic side of Tiffany aspires to design footwear while the technical side desires to improve user experiences and create mobile applications. In her free time, she enjoys photographing her friends, attending music festivals and competing in track and field.

Rebecca Lai

Rebecca is a junior at Duke University, where she plans on majoring in Computer Science and Visual Art.  She spent summer 2013 as a DREU participant on the Connection Machines project, working towards developing new agent models that children would perceive to be like them.  Her hobbies include reading books (mostly fiction), watching indie movies, and drawing/painting/3D modelling.

Frances Loeb

Frances is a psychology major at Johns Hopkins University. She’ll be working at the Articulab all summer through the PSLC LearnLab program with Samantha on the Alex project. She’s interested in both clinical and educational/school psychology, but is also thrilled to get to learn all about the field of Human-Computer Interaction through this project. Frances is also a member of the Johns Hopkins cross country and track teams and A Place to Talk, the peer counseling group.

Angie Ng

Angie graduated from CMU in 2013 with a degree in Psychology.  Her work on the Rapport project included data collection, transcription, and annotation. Currently, she is working on a Master’s in Human Computer Interaction at University of Michigan.  Some of her other research experience is in Engineering and Public Policy as well as Human Computer Interaction. In her spare time, she enjoys playing poker, shooting pool and reading.

Divya Mohan

Divya is a freshman studying Information Systems at Carnegie Mellon University. She is working on the Rapport project and hopes to double major in Human Computer Interaction. Outside of the lab, Divya enjoys singing for CMU’s a cappella group, Saans, playing the violin, and watching stand-up comedy.

Mopewa Ogundipe

Mopewa is a sophomore Computer Science and Robotics Engineering major at Carnegie Mellon. She is also very interested in space exploration and its intersection with robotics. She worked on programming applications for the Alex project for use in classrooms. In her free time, she loves knitting (and is learning to crochet), reading, coding, and playing soccer.

Spencer Onuffer

Spencer graduated University of Pittsburgh with a BS in Linguistics and Anthropology, and works on the Alex project. He is working on a lot of linguistic research currently; he is doing 3 internships at CMU and 2 research projects with his professors at Pitt. In his free time Spencer is the vice president of Yinzling: The University of Pittsburgh Undergraduate Linguistics Club.

Kirk Pearson

Kirk Pearson studies integrated media and music composition at Oberlin College. His CS research includes a CSCW methods study with Dr. Cecilia Aragon, as well as the ArticuLab’s pedagogical virtual peer system with Samantha Finkelstein. Kirk is primarily interested in HCI for creative education as well as its use in interactive art and design. Outside of CMU, Pearson works as a composer for film and TV and as an exhibition designer with the American Museum of Natural History. He can make a mean lasagna.

Brianna Pritchett

Brianna is a senior in cognitive science who is excited to be working on the Rapport project. She is interested in earning her PhD in social psychology and eventually going into either academia or industry work. In her free time, you can find her hanging out with friends, working through Time’s list of Top 100 Novels, or working on the booth for her sorority, Alpha Chi Omega.

Charis Stanek

Charis is freshman at Oberlin College, majoring in psychology. She interned in the lab during January 2015, assisting with the Rapport Project. In her free time, she enjoys playing tennis, dancing, and watching movies.

Andrew Sherman

Andrew Sherman is a Computer Science Major at Oberlin College, working on building technology for the Alex project at Articulab. January 2015 marks his second time working with the HCII. He originally hails from New York, NY, and is interested in Human-Computer interaction, largely from the technical side, as well as applications of technology in furthering education, especially the ways it can be used to expand education to groups it has historically been denied to.

Adam Stankiewicz

Adam is a senior Multimedia Web Design and Development major at University of Hartford; he is also minoring in Computer Science and Psychology. He has been doing research in learning sciences and human-computer interaction for the past year and a half. He is very excited to be working on the Rapport Project in the ArticuLab this summer. In his free time, he rides unicycles and competes in boomerang tournaments. He is also a member of the United States Boomerang Team.

Holly Tancredi

Holly Tancredi is a senior studying Computer Science at The City University of New York – Brooklyn College. She is at the ArticuLab this summer working on the Rapport Project as a DREU 2014 participant. In her spare time she enjoys riding her bike and playing video games.

Alex Tsai

Alex Tsai is an INTJ and is currently working on the Rapport Project. He came to Carnegie Mellon University as part of the class of 2017 for the school’s Human-Computer Interaction program. One day he hopes to use interaction and motion design to create and prototype new ways for humans to interface with technology. On campus, Alex is a part of Asian Christian Fellowship, a brother of Alpha Kappa Psi, and a member of International Justice Mission and often does design work for these organizations.

Alex Webster

Alex graduated from CMU in 2013 with a degree in Linguistics and Japanese Studies. He worked on transcriptions and annotations for the Alex project.  Outside of working in the lab, you can find him snapping photos, steeping tea, or attending concerts. He and his friends watch two Disney movies every week as part of a tradition that started nearly two years ago

Mark Vella

Mark Vella is a freshman Information Systems major at CMU working on the Rapport project. He is interested in the potential for computing to improve the quality of a life and is excited to work in the lab. He is planning on obtaining an additional major in Human-Computer Interaction. In his free time, he enjoys keeping up with current events, exploring Pittsburgh, swimming and playing piano.

Dian Xiao

Dian graduated from CMU in 2013 with a degree in Information Systems and Human-Computer Interaction, and a minor in Communication Design. She worked on  the Alex project. Dian plans to work as a designer at a startup. In her spare time she likes to bike, hike, and play board games.

Amy Yuan

Amy is a senior Chemical Engineering major with a minor in Business Administration at Carnegie Mellon University. She is interested in the field of Human Computer Interaction and is very excited to be working in the ArticuLab. In her free time, Amy enjoys cooking, watching movies, taking photographs, and swimming.

Emily Zhou

Emily is a sophomore in Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. She is very interested in art and animation, which is why she is especially eager to help with the Alex project! In her free time, she likes to sketch and watch movies or TV shows. Whenever there is a new Disney or Pixar movie out, she will definitely see it within a week of its release.

Carine Torres

Carine is a senior at Scarsdale High School in New York.  She is working on the Rapport project, helping out with the transcriptions and topic coding.   She hopes to major in Computer Science and is interested in further exploring human-computer interaction, particularly within the area of autism.  Her hobbies include reading, tennis, and trying out new fro-yo places.

Colette Torres

Colette is a senior at Scarsdale High School, in New York, and hopes to study Computer Science or Engineering in college.   For the summer, she is working on the Alex project at the ArticuLab.   During the year, she enjoys playing tennis and is passionate about working with the special education students in her school.   She also likes baking, browsing blogs, and listening to music.