Katherine Song

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I am a PhD candidate in Computer Science @ UC Berkeley specializing in Human-Computer Interaction. I work with Professor Eric Paulos in the Hybrid Ecologies Lab. My research centers around the creation of sustainable, backyard-degradable interactive systems that can be made and un-made at home by the everyday maker. My work embraces smart and natural materials, along with themes such as decay and slowness. Before entering Berkeley and the world of HCI, I was a hardware researcher and engineer, completing my undergraduate and master’s theses in optoelectronic materials and devices and then working full-time as a Display Electrical Engineer at Apple.

I’m currently on the academic job market. I am searching for tenure-track faculty positions in North America or Europe, with a start date in fall/winter 2024. Please reach out to me via e-mail with openings and relevant opportunities!

news

Dec 25, 2023 Interested in unmaking, biodesign, designing with more-than-human agents, and/or designing for the disassembly and repair of electronics? Join us on May 11, 2024 at CHI for a workshop on Sustainable Unmaking: Designing for Biodegradation, Decay, and Disassembly! See here for more details and the full call for participation. Submissions due February 28.
May 7, 2023 I’m delighted to be part of an awesome team (Steve Jackson, Kristina Lindström, Eric Paulos, Samar Sabie, Åsa Ståhl, and Ron Wakkary) of editors for a TOCHI special issue on Unmaking & HCI: Techniques, Technologies, Materials, and Philosophies Beyond Making. Call for papers here. Deadline June 30!

selected publications

  1. CHI
    Füpop: "Real Food" Flavor Delivery via Focused Ultrasound
    Katherine W. Song, Szu Ting Tung, Alexis Kim, and Eric Paulos
    In Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (to appear), 2024
  2. UIST
    Decomposable Interactive Systems
    Katherine W Song
    In Adjunct Proceedings of the 36th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology, 2023
  3. CHI
    Lotio: Lotion-Mediated Interaction with an Electronic Skin-Worn Display
    Katherine W. Song*, Christine Dierk*, Szu Ting Tung, and Eric Paulos
    In Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2023
  4. CHI
    Vim: Customizable, Decomposable Electrical Energy Storage
    Katherine W. Song and Eric Paulos
    In Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2023
  5. CHI
    Towards Decomposable Interactive Systems: Design of a Backyard-Degradable Wireless Heating Interface
    Katherine W. Song, Aditi Maheshwari, Eric M. Gallo, Andreea Danielescu, and Eric Paulos
    In Proceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2022
    🏅 Best Paper Honorable Mention (top 5%)
  6. CHI
    Unmaking: Enabling and Celebrating the Creative Material of Failure, Destruction, Decay, and Deformation
    Katherine W. Song and Eric Paulos
    In Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2021
  7. CHI
    Crank That Feed: A Physical Intervention for Active Twitter Users
    Katherine W. Song*, Janaki Vivrekar*, Lynn Yeom*, Eric Paulos, and Niloufar Salehi
    In CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Extended Abstracts, 2021