Associate Professor Elected SIGCHI President

School of Interactive Computing joint Associate Professor Neha Kumar was elected president of the Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (SIGCHI) for 2021-24. She will serve a three-year term for the group, which is the premier international society for professionals and academics interested in human-computer interaction.

SIGCHI sponsors numerous conferences, publications, web sites, and other services that advance HCI through workshops and outreach. In a blog post for SIGCHI, Kumar said that she and the other incoming executive committee members aim to continue the long history of advancing the group’s key missions.

“We hope to continue to expand the excellent work that our many colleagues in this (executive committee) have done, with their commitment (among other things) to accessibility, equity and inclusion, to the safety of our community, global community building, and a #SIGCHI4ALL,” she wrote. “Together the six of us represent a wide range of perspectives; our hope is that this representation with ensure that we remain answerable to our entire global membership as we work towards supporting and fostering participation and growth locally and globally.”

Past Georgia Tech members of the committee include Jim Foley and Beth Mynatt. Georgia Tech alum Casey Fiesler served as associate chair for community engagement in 2020-21.

Kumar’s research at Georgia Tech lies at the intersection of human-centered computing and global development. She has produced research that improves technology design for historically underserved communities. Her TanDEm Lab – short for Technology and Design towards ‘Empowerment’ – has focused on health and wellbeing on the margins, centering topics such as gender, stigma, and knowledge production.

Kumar has received other honors, such as the National Science Foundation’s CAREER Award, and also chairs the Association of Computing Machinery’s Future of Computing Academy.

Georgia Tech Ph.D. graduate Tamara Clegg is also on the SIGCHI executive committee, serving as the vice president of membership and communication.