User: Behnam

My passion lies at the overlap of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the challenge of integrating the two fields. Currently, I'm pursuing my Ph.D. at the University of Pittsburgh's School of Computing and Information, under the guidance of Dr. Peter Brusilovsky, head of the PAWS Lab.

My research focuses on building and evaluating search and recommender systems that are user-centric and intelligent. I design solutions that integrate AI algorithms with user-friendly interfaces, effectively bridging the gap between high-level AI technologies and their practical applications. This approach underlines my commitment to making advanced technologies accessible and beneficial for everyone in their everyday contexts.

Having been fortunate to receive support from esteemed institutions such as National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), National Library of Medicine (NLM), and Amazon Research Awards (ARA) among others, my work is a testament to the potential of combining UX principles with the robustness of AI. These projects range from design and implementation of multiple online systems for healthcare (addressing IBD, ovarian cancer, and aphasia) and education (involving student advisement, e-readers, and the exploration of academic and medical documents), as well as more theoretical research on probabilistic models and simulation-based evaluation of interactive recommender systems.

The fusion of AI and HCI offers a promising horizon, and I am enthusiastic about the advancements we can achieve in this domain. With every research project and publication, I am committed to pushing this frontier, ensuring technology is more aligned with its users.