Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - May/June 2013 - (Page 18)

magical & research in Computer science You might think your computer is fast and that your smart phone is smart. You might feel pretty confident that you’ve secured your digital information with an unbreakable lock and key. But at universities across the country, there are computer science students who think there’s plenty of room for improvement in these and many other areas. In their research, they envision the path from what is to what is possible. Here, four of these graduate students share their work, what led them to it, and how computer science is helping them create the future they imagine. HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION BY JULIA SCHWARZ When I entered college, I was certain that I would never study computer science or anything computer-related. Then, as a sophomore, I grudgingly took an introductory computer science course at my parents’ urging. To my surprise, writing programs felt like solving puzzles, which I’ve always enjoyed, and the immediate feedback of running a program and seeing results was quite rewarding. The following summer, I attended Microsoft’s TechFest, where researchers show off their coolest inventions, and students and professionals get a glimpse of the future. One project in particular drew me in: Soap (www.patrickbaudisch.com/projects/soap), a mouse that could easily be controlled in midair. The mouse was wrapped in a fabric hull, and to control the pointer, the user simply needed to move the surface (the fabric hull) along the mouse. The cleverness and elegance of this device captivated me and planted a seed of interest in my mind that has grown into a passion for Human-Computer Interaction. Sitting at the intersection of several disciplines—computer science, cognitive science, social science, and design—Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) involves studying how people use computers and designing tools to improve that interaction. My work is closer to the computer science side of HCI and falls into two categories. First, I am working on developing new sensing systems and interaction techniques for mobile devices. For example, I helped develop a sensing technique called FingerSense that determines which part of your finger you are using when touching a mobile device. This adds a secondary input to touch, similar in function to right and left mouse buttons. For example, you could knuckle-tap on an image or email message to bring up a menu of options, eliminating the need for press-and-hold or a menu bar. The second part of my research involves developing systems for handling different types of user input. Consider touch input: When you touch a screen with your finger, most systems treat that contact area as a single point, but 18 imagine it’s really larger than that. There may be better ways—such as modeling the intended touch as a probability distribution—to more precisely infer what the user is trying to touch and therefore make an interface that more accurately and reliably responds to the user’s intent. What draws me to HCI is also the thing that makes it most difficult: Because HCI combines many disciplines, it’s not enough to be a good programmer. A good HCI practitioner must be a programmer, a designer, a statistician, and an artist. HCI practitioners are the Renaissance men and women of the Information Age. And because we all interact with computers and information on a daily basis, innovation in this field is incredibly important. Just think about how much of an impact the iPhone—a device that popularized innovations in Human Computer Interaction— has had on our daily lives. I plan to continue pursuing research on new interaction techniques for touch and in-air gesture. In the future, I hope to build and perhaps bring to market some of the interfaces we see in movies (think Minority Report and Cloud Atlas) in a way that is both magical and practical. Julia Schwarz is a PhD student studying Human Computer Interaction at Carnegie Mellon University. She has worked as an associate researcher at Microsoft Research and on the Xbox NUI Platform team, and is co-founder and research director of Qeexo. She participated in several CTY programs as a teen and credits CTY for several key turning points in her education. may/Jun 2013 http://www.patrickbaudisch.com/projects/soap

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - May/June 2013

Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - May/June 2013
Contents
Big Picture
In My Own Words
Code Me In
Getting Started With Computational Problem Solving
Coding for Gold
The Computer Science Connection
Magical & Practical
The Creative, Collaborative Universe of Minecraft
Going Mobile
Connecting Students and Cultures Through Technology
Selected Opportunities & Resources
Words With Friends
Off the Shelf
Word Wise
Exploring Career Options
One Step Ahead
Planning Ahead for College
Students Review
Creative Minds Imagine
Mark Your Calendar
Knossos Games

Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - May/June 2013