University of Maryland

HCIL Membership

The HCIL brings together researchers from a variety of fields across the University of Maryland campus. Our current faculty come from Computer Science, Information Science, Education, Psychology, English, American Studies and a variety of other departments. Faculty and researchers from all departments are welcome!

What brings us together is a core interest in the design of new technologies and studying the intersection of computing and social issues. We are also a community, where you will find support and sharing of ideas that enrich all of our work.

How do you become a faculty member of the HCIL?

Membership is relatively low-key. Our only request is that you participate and help build a supportive HCIL community! There are a few simple things we ask of faculty/researchers to maintain their HCIL membership.

  1. Tell us you want to be a member. Just email hcil-info@cs.umd.edu and tell us about your interest in joining the lab!
  2. Give us some information so we can list you on the HCIL website.
  3. Note your affiliation with HCIL on your own personal website(s) and publications when appropriate.
  4. Attend 2 HCIL faculty meetings per year (if not on sabbatical). We have a monthly FaBBL (Faculty Brown Bag Lunch), that also serves as an informal meeting. We share lunch and chat informally, about lab initiatives. We ask that you attend at least 2 per year to keep abreast of the lab activities and keep connected with other faculty.
  5. Participate in the HCIL community! We have several events and lab activities throughout the year, and we invite everyone to chip in and participate. (note: you don’t have to do all of these activities, they are just opportunities to contribute socially and intellectually to the group) These include:
    1. Giving a talk about your work at our weekly Brown Bag Lunch series
    2. Giving a talk, workshop, or tutorial at our annual HCIL Symposium
    3. Serving as an Assistant Director and/or leading a critical activity in the lab such as organizing paper review clinics, practice talks etc.
    4. Helping us promote the lab through tweets/social media, adding news to the site etc.
    5. Participating in our annual CHI Paper clinic – where we help each other prepare publications for the premier conference for human-computer interaction research (CHI)
    6. Pointing us to potential sponsorship and partnership opportunities with industry and the wider community

How do you become a HCIL student?

Students who work on a research project with an HCIL faculty automatically become members of the HCIL. Make sure that you are to the added HCIL student page. In addition, students who volunteer to work with the HCIL coordinator to help out become HCIL members as well. If you are a student in a different university see the page about long term visitors.

What a bout a long term visit?

We host academic visitors and industry visitors who visit the HCIL for several months or years. See the page for long term visitors.

Why should I join?

There are many benefits of being an HCIL member, but we highlight a few ways that the lab has traditionally helped UMD faculty and researchers:

  • Recognition – We are the oldest HCI lab in the country, and one of the most well-known and prestigious groups in the field. We work hard to grow and maintain the recognition and prestige of our lab, and in turn, promote your research to the wider world.
  • Intellectual Connections -The HCIL serves as a hub for events and networking, to share ideas, develop collaborations, and develop connections to other research communities that will expand the impact of your work. Our intellectual heritage is in HCI, and our expertise in design & innovation can enrich the work done in other disciplines. In addition, our faculty come from a wide range of departments that study issues of social impact including health, education, information, and communication. Our focus on social issues – as they intersect with technology – invites a wide variety of scholars that has helped create a vibrant and diverse atmosphere at HCIL.
  • Community – Foremost, we are a supportive community of friends and colleagues. Our weekly brown bags, informal chats, and annual symposium bring us together as a family. But the lab is largely a connector – helping people find collaborators, new ideas, and friends – that largely happen over hallway chats, coffee runs to Starbucks, or an informal lunch amongst colleagues. We welcome anyone who would like to be a part of our community!
  • Expanding the Reach of your Scholarship: Our faculty publish in a wide variety of high impact venues. Lab members often work together to prepare, review, and submit manuscripts to these venues (e.g., through paper clinics and informal groups) – helping you to successfully publish in these highly visible venues and increase the impact of your scholarship. Our faculty often publish in:
    • ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI)
    • Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW)
    • IEEE Information Visualization Conference (IEEE Vis)
    • Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing (UbiComp)
    • Interaction Design & Children (IDC)
    • Conference on Web and Social Media (ICWSM)
    • International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS)
    • Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL)
    • and many others…

Alumni Events and Linkedin Group

Once in a while we organize an Alumni event.
If you are not in the alumni list contact hcil-info@cs.umd.edu and join the Linkedin group.

HCIL T-Shirts

Every member gets a green HCIL t-shirt.
Others can get one for ~$20. They come in S, M, L, and XL

To purchase contact: hcil-info@cs.umd.edu