The power of tangible interaction resides in its potential to support cognition and interaction with digital information. This research projects explores how tangible interaction may support information workers in how they manageme their unique and multiple projects on their personal computers. Using an "research-through-design" approach, I've developed "Working Context Manager" (WCM). The system consists of a reader, RFID cards, and a desktop application that provides explicit representations of information workers' project work states (i.e, the specific set of documents, webpages, and applications at a given time). Using WCM, I evaluate how such a system can support information workers to maintain awareness of their projects and understand what this may suggest for the future of tangible user interfaces.

This research project is concerned with how to motivate STEM self-efficacy and interest in high school students through the use of curriculum based based upon the joining of "Making" practices (e.g., community accessible computational fabrication technologies and electronics) alongside production management and engineering concerns (e.g.,production scheduling, inventory, and supply-chain management). Through the "Making as Micro-Manufacture (M3)" model, this project investigates how high-variablity, low-volume product development can be used as a vehicle for STEM learning outcomes in an high-school context. I acted as the coordinator for this project, leading a distance-based high-school class serving as the foci for an longitudinal user study. High-school students act as a "Making-Production Team", as they are taught basic making and production management techniques. The Making Production Team is charged with the responsibility of producing instructional science kits for a partnered local elementary school for 4th grade curriculum.

The 2-day NSF-supported invitation-only workshop investigated the possible future of work that reconceptualizes how we may move from innovation to wealth creation by enabling Micro-Manufacture: the production of high quality manufactured goods at scales of hundreds and thousands in an effective and sustainable manner. The workshop took place in Washington DC. on July 23-24, 2018. The workshop explored how innovation-enhancing technologies associated with the Maker movement (additive manufacture, open-source electronics, and accessible programming) may combine with engineering and business processes to present the possibilities of new scales of manufacture that favors local production and job-creation. The workshop brought together experts across academia and industry together to explore 3 concerns (technical feasibility, education, economic, business, and policy issues). I acted as a support coordinator for this project under the PI, Dr.Francis Quek.

Large Display Technologies (LDTs) are becoming common in public spaces, changing the way we engage and share media content. The end use of LDTs can range from broadcasting information feeds (e.g., news programming) to supporting users in manipulating on-screen content (e.g., an interactive building map). One use residing as a mid-point of this range are non-interactive LDTs with content and interaction driven by users’ own personal devices. LDTs of this type are associated with supportive furniture, connection ports, and the presence of network protocols. Potentially, users can carve out personalized activity spaces in public, allowing them to engage their digital content just as they would at home or at the office. We identify this specific use of LDTs as Publicly Appropriable LDTs (PALs). Stakeholders of PALs might understand what users need in regards to technology support and furniture, but may lack the means of evaluating the outcomes of said installation. Existing literature on LDTs do not provide frameworks on how PALs can support users’ activities. To solve these issues, we need to better understand how PALs are situated in context with respect to users and its surrounding environment. In this study, I conducted an evaluative observation study of a PAL installation at the College of Architecture (CoA) at Texas A&M University.