Phdstudent

ATLAS PhD Student Ruhan Yang passed her preliminary exam on August 4. Her work on her dissertation, "Paper Robot Building Kits: Present and Future," is overseen by Professor Ellen Do, Professor Mark Gross and Assistant Professor Daniel Leithinger.

ATLAS Institute PhD candidate Kailey Shara passed her comprehensive exam on August 8. Her work on her dissertation, "Designing New Hardware for Chemical Automation," is overseen by committee members Assistant Professor Carson J. Bruns, Professor Mark Gross, Daniel Szafir, assistant professor of computer science at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Associate Professor Gregory Whiting and Professor Eric Bogatin.

ATLAS Institute PhD candidate Peter Gyory passed his comprehensive exam on August 18. His work on his dissertation, “Developing Tools to Support Approachable Game Controller Design,” is overseen by committee members, Professor Ellen Do, Associate Professor Amy Banic, Associate Professor Joel Swanson, Michael Rivera, Patrick LeMieux and Professor Mark Gross.

Like many people across Colorado, Peter Gyory spent the height of the COVID-19 pandemic sitting at home with nothing to do. Then the ATLAS-based PhD candidate and game designer looked around his apartment: “I was surrounded by cardboard. I thought: ‘How could I make a game out of that?’”

Researchers from ATLAS Institute's Unstable Design, THING, Living Matter and Superhuman Computing labs presented four papers, including three that received “Honorable Mention” awards, at the ACM conference on Designing Interactive Systems (DIS '22).

Prior psychology findings show humans can communicate distinct emotions solely through touch. In this award-winning work presented at DIS'22, THING Lab researchers hypothesize that similar effects might also be apply to robotic touch.

Exploring biofoam as a Material for Tangible Interaction, authored by Eldy S. Lazaro Vasquez, Netta Ofer, Shanel Wu, Mary Etta West, Mirela Alistar and Laura Devendorf introduced the DIS audience to biofoam, a water soluble and biodegradable material that can be made conductive.

“An Introduction to Weave Structure for HCI: A How-to and Reflection on Modes of Exchange,” authored by Assistant Professor Laura Devendorf, director of the Unstable Design Lab, Sasha De Koninck, an ATLAS-affiliated PhD candidate, and Etta Sandry, weaver-in-residence, received a “Best Pictorial Honorable Mention” award at the ACM SIGCHI Conference on Designing Interactive Systems (DIS '22).

“Knitting Access: Exploring Stateful Textiles with People with Disabilities,” authored by Annika Muehlbradt (PhD Comp. Sci’22) and researchers Shaun Kane, director of the Superhuman Computing Lab, Laura Devendorf director of the Unstable Design Lab, and Gregory Whiting, associate professor of mechanical engineering, won a DIS’22 Honorable Mention award.

ATLAS PhD student Peter Gyory's research aims to bridge the gap between game developers and Alt Controls through the use of everyday materials and crafting techniques.