Xuhai “Orson” Xu’s passion for exploring the realm of human-computer interaction (HCI) and ubiquitous computing took root during his undergraduate studies at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. His journey in this field was further enriched by an internship at Carnegie Mellon University, where he met Anind Dey, now the Dean and Professor at the University of Washington’s Information School (iSchool). It seemed fate drew them both to UW.
“We realized our research interests aligned and I saw there was a great opportunity to learn from someone I admire,” Xuhai says.
From his undergraduate days, Xuhai has been deeply interested in observing human behavior to better understand its impact on mental well-being. He dreams of a future where technology can effortlessly blend into our daily lives, offering a comprehensive view of our routines and potentially enhancing our health.
Xuhai followed his passion and completed his Ph.D. at the UW iSchool. He dedicated himself to crafting a comprehensive intelligent intervention system. With the prevalence of smartphones and wearable devices tracking steps, heart rate, and other activities. Xuhai and his team asked, “Can we detect mental well-being from such everyday behavior data?” Early existing research failed because of several gaps in the modeling and the design, which Xuhai sought to address with two gaps in his research.
“I wanted to build better behavior models that predict mental health outcomes like depression,” Xuhai says. “Based on those results, I also proposed new designs to encourage healthy behaviors such as reduced phone usage time.”
Xuhai’s goal was to create a behavior model that makes the health prediction, and then interactive user experience based on the prediction to build a comprehensive human-AI interaction pipeline to create an intelligent intervention system. He sees his Ph.D. thesis as an initial step towards this larger vision of technological advancement.
“I’m a big sci-fi fan, so I hold this strong belief that this is possible,” Xuhai says. “It’s exciting to work with advisors who led me to HCI and learn more about these possibilities.”
As this year’s Distinguished Dissertation Award and Innovation in Technology Award recipient, Xuhai attributes this honor to the great support and guidance of his advisors. These awards celebrate exceptional scholarship and research at the doctoral level across UW and the Western Associated Graduate Schools.
“Being able to get this award is a great encouragement for me and my advisors, that the work we have done has brought impact to the real world.” Says Xuhai. “This a great payoff for our efforts.”
Xuhai stresses the importance of recognizing the collective efforts of his team, particularly expressing gratitude towards his advisors, Anind Dey and Jennifer Mankoff, and the support from the departments and the Graduate School at the University of Washington. This support has allowed him to concentrate on his research without other concerns. Furthermore, Xuhai advocates for the HCI and Ubiquitous Computing community to prioritize real-world applications and open-source initiatives. Currently, as a postdoc at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he continues his work in HCI, ubiquitous computing, applied AI and health.
By Tatiana Rodriguez, UW Graduate School
Published on March 1, 2023