Message from the Director of the CHCI
As director of the Center for Human-Computer Interaction, I want to share my view of and vision for the center.
About the Center
The CHCI at Virginia Tech is a 'university center' in three senses. First, it is a community of faculty and students gathered for the advancement of HCI at VT through the exchange of ideas and sharing of resources. Second, it is a platform from which pooled resources may be leveraged by faculty and students to excel at the national and international levels in grants, scholarship, or other recognition. Third, it is a corporate entity that can focus its resources for center-wide activities like challenge projects, joint research, large grants, community outreach, learning in HCI, open houses, and ‘branding’ activities to achieve national and international prominence. The CHCI faculty currently represent five academic departments (Computer Science, Engineering Education, Industrial Science and Engineering, Education, and Music) and two colleges (Engineering and LAHS) across Virginia Tech.
HCI is an interdisciplinary enterprise. On the ‘human’ side, it draws from a broad range of human sciences including the cognitive, the neuro-, and the social sciences. It benefits from the humanities through interaction with such disciplines as the philosophy of mind. On the ‘computer’ side, it is intimately tied with the computational sciences and engineering, to include its theory, software and hardware design, implementation, and testing. In its ‘interaction’ aspects, HCI brings the human element and the computational components together through technologies that connect the human sensory, perceptual, cognitive, and motor capabilities to access information, control processes, manipulate data, and improve the quality of human experience through the interaction with computation. HCI encompasses both human interaction with computers, and interaction with other humans through computation. It addresses both the facilitation and the foundational understanding of such interaction. HCI technologies are realized, tested, and validated through applications that span a broad spectrum of human social, educational, and scientific endeavors. As such, the breadth and extent of collaboration between the CHCI and the broader Virginia Tech community and beyond are bounded only by the opportunities of the moment and resources at hand.
CHCI Community
Research is a social activity. Building community is a critical goal of the CHCI. In a sense, the CHCI belongs to its member faculty and students. I look for such proactive faculty and student leadership to organize Center-wide activity such as reading/discussion groups, student seminars, socials, and outings.
My philosophy concerning graduate and research students is that they are 'colleagues-in-the-making' with bright futures. We are honored to have students participate in the Center during their sojourn at VT. Each is a unique individual with valuable skills and insights, and much to offer. Graduate school is an exciting time of exploration and inquiry. We want to make the CHCI a place that is hospitable to student research. As such I look forward to student and faculty input to improve the operation of the CHCI.
Research is about excitement, and excitement is induced by ideas and fueled by community. The ultimate product of the CHCI and the measure of our success is in the alumni we produce. I am eager to help in any way I can to make the CHCI a place where everybody wants to come, and where success is tinged with nostalgia when we leave.
The Center’s Goals and Means
The primary goal of the CHCI is to foster research excellence in HCI at Virginia Tech. This goal comprises two components. First, the Center seeks to build and nurture material and intellectual infrastructure within the University. Second, the Center seeks to establish and maintain a reputation of innovation and excellence beyond Blacksburg, to the national and international arenas.
Within the University
Within the University, the CHCI enables research continuity and persistence of resources, builds community, and extends research collaboration across University departments and disciplines. To enable consistent and cumulative research advancement, it is important to build on a track record of research successes both in scientific innovation and infrastructure development. The CHCI facilitates this momentum by providing a foundation for building upon our corporate success, leveraging strengths across the Center and providing a platform of shared resources.
- By enabling a shared infrastructure, the hardware and software resources acquired through the significant efforts of member faculty have persistence and utility beyond the specific projects for which they are acquired. Collaborating with the member faculty’s academic units, the CHCI helps to maintain state-of-the-art infrastructure to enable broader research. This infrastructure is available to all faculty and students through a reservation process.
- By pooling members’ efforts in the inclusion of and outreach to underrepresented populations and individuals with disabilities, and by encouraging undergraduate research, and in other diversity-oriented activities, the CHCI strengthens the hand of member faculty in national competitions where the demonstration of such a track record of outreach and broader impact is important.
- By providing forums for the communication and exchange of ideas, the CHCI provides a platform for collaboration and cross-pollination. The CHCI maintains a weekly faculty meeting for such exchange and a weekly seminar for student presentations.
- By supporting learning in the area of HCI through coordinated curricula and student projects, the CHCI enables member faculty to prepare the next generation of HCI researchers. As a University Center, the CHCI will help to ensure that students have access to the requisite training and support for their research. The CHCI maintains a HCI certificate program that is recognized by the University to appear on Virginia Tech diplomas in recognition of concentration in HCI studies.
- By providing support to member faculty in their grant preparation efforts, the CHCI enables more effective use of faculty time to produce high quality proposals.
- By coordinating broader interaction across the campus through group activities such as technology open-houses and meetings with other Virginia Tech departments, research centers, and academic units, the CHCI stimulates new interdisciplinary collaborations across the University.
In the National and International Arena
A key goal of the CHCI is to enhance the visibility and prestige of Virginia Tech as a premier institution for HCI research and activity. Ultimately, there is no ‘magic bullet’ for achieving this. Such visibility and prestige needs to be earned in the eyes of the dispassionate beholder through the substantive scholarship, innovation, prominence of our faculty, and success of our students. In a sense, the environment and infrastructure that the CHCI provides within the University serve this goal by nurturing the research of the member faculty and realizing the potential of both individuals and teams within the Center.
Corporately, the CHCI can enhance the visibility and highlight the excellence of our faculty by providing platforms for recognition and avenues for networking. The CHCI accomplishes this:
- By sponsoring HCI seminars at Virginia Tech with distinguished invited HCI scientists and engineers. This will give the CHCI exposure to broader research community.
- By organizing and hosting events like workshops, socials, demonstrations, and poster sessions at major conference venues.
- By coordinating open houses and presentations for federal and state funding agencies and industry.
Contact us
Dr. Francis Quek, Director
Dr. Andrea Kavanaugh, Associate Director
2202 Kraft Drive, KWII Building (0106)
Blacksburg, VA 24061-0106
tel: (540) 231-3188 or 231-1806
fax: (540) 231-6075