Why HCI?

As of today, my junior year of college has come to an end. In just a few months, I’ll start applying for graduate school. Yup, another tragic college app season is coming up.

Anyways, it recently made me pause and reflect—where did this all begin?
How did I first encounter Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), and what made me so certain that I want to pursue it as a research career?

Summer 2022

It was only a few months before my senior year of high school, and yet, I was still uncertain about my future (though that’s not uncommon for a teenager).

I always knew I enjoyed programming, but that was about it. I even considered majoring in Physics or Architecture instead of Computer Science. At the time, “liking programming” was the only signal I had.

Everything changed when I accidentally came across Prof. Chris Harrison's personal website.

My first encounter with HCI

It almost felt magical to see a version of computing that wasn’t confined to a screen. His work existed in the physical world, involving constant human interaction. How had I gone so long without knowing coding wasn't only about competing on Codeforces (which, to be fair, was still fun)?

One paper in particular stopped me:

"Enabling Hand Gesture Customization on Wrist-Worn Devices"

At the time, I didn’t understand every technical detail, but I understood more than enough to be amazed.

Assistive Touch

Months later, I realized Apple had already introduced a similar feature (AssistiveTouch) on their WatchOS.

That was the moment everything sparked.

The idea I had seen in a research paper was now living on my wrist. It was real, tangible, and impactful.

This experience made me certain: this was what I wanted to pursue.

Since Summer 2022

Ever since, I’ve aligned my direction toward HCI and sensing: from my college decisions to switching my major to Computer Engineering and focusing on embedded systems.

More importantly, working at the ISC Lab later on only reinforced my excitement for HCI. As I prepare to write my grad school applications this winter, it feels like a return to the college app struggles back in high school, but I hope everything works out :)