Skip to main content
The Design Lab The Design Lab
  1. HOME
  2. Research
  3. 2025 Highlights From Faculty and Research

2025 Highlights from Faculty and Research

 

Steven Dow teaching a classroom of undergraduate students

Design Lab faculty continued to shape national and international conversations across housing, public health, AI, HCI, and civic design. Faculty published in leading venues including CHI, CSCW, DIS, UIST, HCOMP, and Collective Intelligence, while also contributing research expertise to regional and national policy dialogues.

Across AI and HCI, faculty research showed how design informs responsible technology development, advancing applied work in models of care, responsible data practices, and clinical and community-centered innovation.

Human-Centered AI, HCI & Intelligent Systems

  • Design Lab at CHI 2025

    • Design Lab–affiliated faculty contributed to UC San Diego’s strong research presence at ACM CHI 2025, with peer-reviewed papers and presentations spanning human-computer interaction, human-AI collaboration, creativity support, and responsible technology design. https://cse.ucsd.edu/about/news/cse-research-shines-strong-chi-2025

  • Steven Dow

  • Philip Guo

    • Advanced research in computing education and human-centered AI in 2025, contributing work at ACM CHI 2025 in collaboration with Haijun Xia and at SIGCSE examining how learners reason about and engage with programming systems. He was promoted to Full Professor in 2025. https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3641554.3701784

  • Parinaz Naghizadeh

    • Conducted research in 2025 on algorithmic decision-making and human-centered AI, examining how people respond to and interact with automated systems. As one example, she co-authored with Kristen Vaccaro a paper at ACM FAccT 2025 titled “The Double-Edged Sword of Behavioral Responses in Strategic Classification: Theory and User Studies.” https://dl.acm.org/doi/full/10.1145/3715275.3732056

  • Haijun Xia

    • Continued his 2025 research advancing human-computer interaction and human-AI co-creation environments, contributing multiple peer-reviewed papers to ACM CHI 2025 on topics such as malleable overview-detail interfaces and generative, evolving interaction models. One example of this work is “Malleable Overview-Detail Interfaces,” which explores flexible interactive structures to support human-AI collaboration. https://programs.sigchi.org/chi/2025/search/content?searchKey=Haijun%20Xia

  • Nadir Weibel

  • Edward Wang

  • Jim Hollan, David Kirsh, Scott Klemmer

    • Continued to provide foundational intellectual leadership within the Design Lab in 2025, shaping research at the intersection of cognition, interaction, and design practice through scholarship, mentorship, and service to the research community.

    • Jim Hollan co-authored a 2025 peer-reviewed paper published in ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI), contributing new insights into collaborative sensemaking and interactive design tools that support creative work in practice. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3727979

Health, Digital Health & Responsible Technology

  • Eliah Aronoff-Spencer

  • Eric Hekler

    • Advanced research on adaptive, personalized digital health interventions in 2025, focusing on how data-driven systems can support sustained behavior change at scale. His work integrates behavioral science, control theory, and human-centered design to inform next-generation health technologies. As one example, he co-authored a 2025 peer-reviewed protocol in JMIR Research Protocols describing an individualized, adaptive physical activity intervention study designed to optimize intervention timing and content. https://www.researchprotocols.org/2025/1/e70599

  • Camille Nebeker

  • Elizabeth Eikey

Housing, Urban Futures & Policy Engagement

  • Mai Nguyen

  • John Arroyo

    • Advanced scholarship and public engagement in urban history, housing, and environmental justice in 2025, with research examining how race, power, and planning have shaped U.S. cities and regions. His work was recognized through a 2025 Member Spotlight by the Society for American City and Regional Planning History (SACRPH), highlighting his contributions to planning history and equity-focused urban scholarship. https://sacrph.org/archives/6036

  • Teo Wickland

    • Continued his research and teaching in urban planning, transportation systems, and the social dimensions of infrastructure in 2025 as Assistant Professor of Urban Studies and Planning at UC San Diego. His work contributes to understanding how transportation networks, planning processes, and infrastructural systems shape equitable and resilient cities. https://profiles.ucsd.edu/teo.wickland

Arts, Media, History & Critical Design

  • Lisa Cartwright

    • Advanced interdisciplinary scholarship at the intersection of art, science, and environmental humanities in 2025 through her leadership of Embodied Pacific, a multi-site curatorial and research platform examining extraction, ecology, and visual culture across the Pacific. In 2025, this work included Embodied Pacific: Extraction, a public exhibition at Gallery QI (UC San Diego) that brought together artists, scientists, and scholars to explore ocean systems, environmental change, and cultural narratives as part of the PST ART: Art & Science Collide initiative. https://www.embodiedpacific.com/

  • Pinar Yoldas

    • Continued her practice of speculative design and ecological art in 2025, presenting work in Embodied Pacific: Extraction, a cross-disciplinary exhibition at UC San Diego’s Gallery QI that engaged ecological futures and cultural narratives through art and research. Her creative practice was also featured in the 2025 Night of Research and Creative Activities at the School of Arts and Humanities, highlighting her contributions to public creative scholarship and the intersection of art, technology, and environmental inquiry. https://www.embodiedpacific.com/ ; https://artsandhumanities.ucsd.edu/news-events/2025_norca.html

  • Heather Ponchetti Daly

    • Contributed new scholarship in 2025 through a published review in the American Historical Review, one of the field’s leading journals, examining historical research on Indigenous recognition and governance in California. Her work highlights how historical narratives shape contemporary debates about authority, policy, and social justice—bringing critical historical perspective to the Design Lab’s interdisciplinary work on institutions and governance. https://academic.oup.com/ahr/issue/130/2

  • Manuel Shvartzberg Carrió

  • Michael Meyer

Social Justice, Governance & Community Engagement

  • Keolu Fox

  • Lilly Irani

  • Clémence Idoux

    • Made significant research contributions in 2025 on education economics and racial disparities in school choice, co-authoring an NBER Working Paper that examines how diverse peer environments can mitigate racial gaps in school selection outcomes. https://www.nber.org/papers/w33179

  • Megan Ybarra

    • Advanced interdisciplinary scholarship and public engagement in 2025 at the intersection of environmental justice, borders, and political ecology, bringing critical geographic perspectives into conversations on design, migration, and place-based struggle. She published a new 2025 scholarship in Dialogues in Human Geography examining solidarity-driven approaches to place and environmental justice. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/20438206251345548

  • Don Norman

    • Continued to shape global conversations on humanity-centered design in 2025, delivering invited international talks and participating in high-profile forums addressing the role of design in an AI-enabled world. His leadership through the Don Norman Design Award (DNDA) further amplified design work that advances social good, equity, and human values, reinforcing the Design Lab’s emphasis on responsible, people-centered innovation. https://dnda.design/

 

Follow us for the latest updates and news about the Design Lab: