CHCI welcomes three new faculty affiliates

Zikai Alex Wen is a new postdoc in the Department of Computer Science, working with CHCI member Yaxing Yao. He previously worked as a postdoc at the HKUST Visualization Lab. He received his Ph.D. degree in computer science from Cornell University. Before that, Zikai received a joint first-class Honors bachelor's degree in computer science from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, U.K., and BUCT, Beijing, China.

Wen's research in human-centered computing seeks to improve how young users (i.e., children, teenagers, and special education students) engage with AI agents. His research addresses two critical challenges: (1) safeguarding usable privacy and security in AI interactions and (2) dismantling barriers to AI accessibility for learners with neurodevelopmental disabilities.

Junghwan Kim is an assistant professor in the Department of Geography. Kim received his PhD in Geography (2021) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). He also holds a B.S. in Urban Planning and Engineering (Summa Cum Laude) from Yonsei University (2016) in South Korea and a Master of Urban Planning (MUP) from the UIUC (2018).

Before joining Virginia Tech, Kim was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Geographic Analysis (CGA) at the Institute of Quantitative Social Science (IQSS) at Harvard University. In addition to his academic career, he worked as a transportation planning modeler (internship) at Champaign County Regional Planning Commission (CCRPC) for about two years.

Kim says: "My research lab, Smart Cities for Good, aims to solve urban social and environmental challenges through smart city technologies. My research interests include human mobility, environmental health, geospatial data science methods, and geospatial data privacy and ethics."

Pinar Yanardag Delul is an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science working on generative AI. Prior to Virginia Tech, she was a postdoc at MIT. She received her Ph.D. in Computer Science at Purdue. During her graduate studies, Delul also worked at Amazon (P13N team) and VMware. She is a Fulbright PhD Fellow and Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholar.

Delul's work mainly explores the controllability and interpretability of generative AI systems, paving the way for meaningful human-AI collaboration. This focus is perfectly aligned with pioneering work in the field of HCI, especially within the sphere of creativity.