I am a HCI researcher interested in Virtual Reality (VR), Social Computing and Artificial Intelligence (AI). My enthusiasm lies in exploring how VR and AI-mediated technologies can influence an individual’s perception and behavior, and the potential of this influence to enhance communication among people. Two of my papers, for which I was the first author, received Honorable Mention Awards at CHI 2024 and CHI 2021 🏆.

I recently completed my Master’s degree in Computer Science at the University of British Columbia, under the co-supervision of Prof. Joanna McGrenere in eDAPT and Dr. Dongwook Yoon in D-lab. For my thesis, I developed a VR system named LegacySphere. The system offers a perspective-taking approach aimed at enhancing younger adults’ understanding and empathy towards their elder family members by allowing them to experience their family members’ viewpoints. The paper is accepted by CHI 2024.

Prior to this, I completed my undergraduate degree in Computer Science at the University of Toronto, under the guidance of Prof. Daniel Wigdor in the Dynamic Graphics Project and Dr. Zhicong Lu. During this time, 3 of our Social Computing papers were accepted by CSCW and CHI conferences.

Contact: elise.shen007@gmail.com