As the Fall 2024 semester draws to a close, I (Dr. Roesler) want to take a moment to reflect on what has been an exciting and transformative few months for our lab. This semester has been filled with progress and plenty of work, all thanks to the incredible effort of our team. While growth always brings challenges, I’m proud of how we’ve managed to maintain the unique, collaborative vibe that makes the lab so special.
Our team has grown, and I’m proud to lead and (co)advise a talented group of five PhD students and six (under)graduate research assistants. This growth has required us to balance our expanding projects while striving to ensure everyone receives the support they need. While it may not have been perfect every time, we put in our best effort—and that dedication is what truly matters.
I want to highlight the voices of the lab with a few achievements from our motivated team:
I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished this semester in my PhD journey. Passing my proposal defense was a huge milestone, and having our abstract accepted in the “Late-Breaking Results” section of the HFES conference was such an exciting moment. Additionally, I created VR stimuli with Unity and collected a lot of data for our studies, which was both challenging and rewarding. These achievements show how much I’ve grown as a researcher, and I couldn’t have done it without the awesome support from my hac lab team! Noushin | PhD student
This was my first semester as a graduate student, and I am immensely proud of all I have accomplished. I presented my first idea presentation for my first experimental study for my PhD. I am refining my proposal and about to start the process of an IRB to ensure that I am all set for data collection next semester. I have laid out the groundwork for my proposed experiment this semester, and I could not be prouder. A special thanks to my HAC lab teammates as they helped me through this process and made me a better researcher! Neha | PhD student
As a second year PhD student in the HAC Lab, I’ve had so many opportunities to learn and grow as a new researcher. I proposed my first project and designed the outline of the task for data collection next semester. I also learned how to write an IRB and received IRB approval for my first study. Also, I built my first ever robot with my team! I’m very thankful for my lab teammates for helping me this semester, I feel I have grown so much during this time and can’t wait to see what the next semester holds. Rydia | PhD student
As a first-year PhD student, I am incredibly happy to start my journey with everyone in the HAC lab. I have my proceeding paper published on the topic of AI Explainability in decision-making, which was also presented at the 2024 HFES conference. I also finished collecting data for my follow-up study on this topic, and I am excited to present the results at the beginning of next semester. Moreover, I also just submitted a late-breaking report related to scale evaluation in HRI research to the 2025 HRI conference. A big thank you to all my HAC Lab teammates! Toey | PhD student
This is my second year in the HAC Lab, and I’m so proud of how much I’ve grown during my time here. I got to present my research idea and refine it with the help of our lab captain and my amazing teammates. I also wrote a proposal for my project and did a deep dive into the literature, which taught me so much. I’m super excited to start collecting data next semester! I’m really grateful to everyone in the HAC Lab for always being so supportive and for helping me become a better researcher along the way. Hendi | Master student