Keynotes

Germeshausen Professor of Media Arts and Sciences, MIT Media Lab

Pattie Maes is the Germeshausen Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at the MIT Media Lab, where she works at the intersection of human-computer interaction and artificial intelligence and codirects the Lab's Advancing Humans with AI (AHA) research program. She pioneered the concept of software agents in the 1990s and remains focused on how computer systems might augment people: supporting memory, learning, decision making, health, and wellbeing. She has published over 500 peer-reviewed articles and edited four books. Her honors include the ACM Lifetime Achievement Award in Human-Computer Interaction (2025), the AAAI Classic Paper Award (2012), and honorary doctorates from Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Open Universiteit. She has also co-founded several venture-backed companies, including Firefly Networks (acquired by Microsoft) and Tulip.

Web: https://www.media.mit.edu/people/pattie/overview/

Emeritus Distinguished University Professor of Computer Science, University of Maryland

Ben Shneiderman is an Emeritus Distinguished University Professor of Computer Science at the University of Maryland, where he founded the Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory (1983–2000). He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the ACM, AAAS, and the National Academy of Inventors, and has received the ACM SIGCHI Lifetime Achievement Award, the IEEE Visualization Career Award, and honorary doctorates from six universities. His contributions include direct manipulation, the highlighted textual link that became part of Hyperties, a precursor to the web, touchscreen keyboards, dynamic query sliders, and treemaps. His books include Leonardo's Laptop (2002), Designing the User Interface (6th ed., 2016) and its "Eight Golden Rules of Interface Design," and Human-Centered AI (2022).

Web: https://www.cs.umd.edu/users/ben/

Professor of Information, University of Michigan School of Information

Cliff Lampe is a professor in the School of Information at the University of Michigan. Previously, he spent six years as an assistant professor in the College of Communication Arts and Sciences at Michigan State University. He researches the social and technical structures of large scale technology mediated communication, working with sites like Facebook, Wikipedia, Slashdot and Everything2. He has also been involved in the creation of multiple social media and online community projects, usually designed to enable collective action. One of Cliff's core values is combining top quality research with community engagement.

Web: https://www.si.umich.edu/people/clifford-lampe

George Herbert Mead Collegiate Professor Emeritus of Human-Computer Interaction, and Professor Emeritus in the School of Information and the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Mark Ackerman is the George Herbert Mead Collegiate Professor of Human-Computer Interaction and a Professor Emeritus in the School of Information and in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. His major research area is Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), primarily Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW). He has published widely in HCI and CSCW, investigating expertise sharing (including misinformation), collaborative information access, online knowledge communities, medical settings, and most recently, trustworthy AI. Mark is a member of the CHI Academy (HCI Fellow) and an ACM Fellow.

Web: https://www.si.umich.edu/people/mark-ackerman