How do you describe your lab to visitors? The name HCI Lab is in fact too big for our small lab. Among various areas in HCI, we mainly work on new
interaction techniques for new types of
computers. While we are a computer
science lab, we also make new
hardware and hack existing hardware
to explore design possibilities that
go beyond the constraints of current
hardware. Our present focus is on the
user interface problems introduced
by new computing gadgets such as
smartphones and smart TVs.
How many people are in your lab,
and what is the mix of backgrounds
and roles?
We have one professor, seven doctoral
students, and two master’s students.
Our undergraduate degrees are
diverse: four majored in CS, four
in electrical engineering, one in
physics, and one in brain engineering.
However, all of the students are
currently in a graduate program in
CS, so we all have a background in
core computer science. The members
have preferences for different roles,
but everyone does everything, from
prototyping to evaluation.
Describe a day in the life of your lab.
A lab rule is that everybody should
come to the lab by 10 a.m. There is no
rule about leaving. What we do during
our work hours has a weekly cycle. On
Mondays and Tuesdays, each student
has an individual meeting with our
advisor. On Wednesdays, we have a
two-session lab seminar: one session
for reviewing papers and the other for
anything interesting. On Thursdays,
we have group meetings for funded
research projects, and on Fridays, we
clean our lab together.
Describe how people interact
in your lab.
There are regular meetings where
all lab members gather to talk about
our research. There are also ad hoc
meetings, such as brainstorming
sessions that students can call
when they need feedback from other
colleagues. The most interesting and
fruitful conversation, however, occurs
when we eat together during lunch,
dinner, and coffee hour. Korea is
Human-Computer
Interaction Lab
@K AIST
As told by Seongkook Heo, Sunjun Kim, Jaehyun Han,
Jiseong Gu, Jaeyeon Lee, Jeongmin Son, Jin Gun Jung,
Eunhye Youn, Sunggeun Ahn, and Geehyuk Lee
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