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Cindy Hsin-Liu Kao
Assistant Professor at Cornell University
Dr. Cindy Hsin-Liu Kao is an Assistant Professor in Human Centered Design at Cornell University, where she also has graduate field faculty appointments in Information Science and Electrical & Computer Engineering. Her research themes focus on the convergence of function, culture, and aesthetics on the skin surface, blending cultural and social perspectives into the design of on-body interfaces that aim for more inclusive and diverse wearables. Cindy Kao is also the founder and director of the Hybrid Body Lab, where she develops novel digital fabrication processes for crafting technology close to the body.
With a Ph.D. from the MIT Media Lab and two Bachelor's degrees in Computer Science and in Technology Management, all from National Taiwan University, Kao's expertise lies in hybrid body craft, wearable technology, digital fabrication, human-computer interaction, and design research. Her lab's research has won several Honorable Mention and Best Paper Awards in top-tier Computer Science conferences while receiving media coverage by Forbes, CNN, TIME Magazine, Fast Company, WIRED. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Pompidou Centre in Paris, the Boston Museum of Fine Art, and on the New York Fashion Week runway, receiving recognitions from the design community through awards like the A'Design Award, the Fast Company Innovation by Design Award Finalist, an Ars Electronica STARTS Prize Nomination, and the SXSW Interactive Innovation Award.
Cindy Kao also served as the program chair for the ACM International Symposium of Wearable Computers (ISWC), the premier conference for wearable computers. Before joining Cornell, she was a research intern at Microsoft and a research assistant at National Taiwan University.
Highlights
🧶 Sign up for a FREE workshop at Tompkins County Public Library in downtown Ithaca on making biodegradable functional threads for sustainable smart textiles, based on our EcoThreads project (CHI'24) & led by #HybridBodyLab PhD Jingwen Zhu
🧶 Sign up here (spots limited!): http://shorturl.at/T86fl
🌏 Supported by Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability AVF & Cornell University - College of Human Ecology Sustainability Research Grant
I had a wonderful time being back at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in April to share Hybrid Body Lab's recent work at the CSAIL MIT HCI Seminar. Thanks to Crystal L. for being a wonderful host and Hiroshi Ishii for the wonderful conversation and encouragement! It was also great to see all the exciting new work at the MIT Media Lab! (Photo Credit: Hiroshi Ishii)
I also was able to take a better look at my alma mater first time after my graduation in 2019... Kendall Square has been TOTALLY transformed, and the new MIT Museum is VERY cool as well (it's Free for alums and affiliates)! Attached image of a core memory unit (WOVEN) from Project WhirlWind - one of the largest, most expensive early computers developed at MIT during WWII!
