seminar Stanford HCI Group
coursespeopleresearchconnect directions

CS547 Human-Computer Interaction Seminar   (Seminar on People, Computers, and Design)

Fridays 11:30am-12:30pm PT · Gates B3 · Open to the public
Previous | Next
Kristin Williams
Emory University
Sensing Uncertainty in Sustainable Human-Computer Interaction
October 2, 2026

Wouldn't it be great if we could change the computing industry to be more sustainable? One problem: we confront a sustainability paradox. The same technology that enables us to adapt to environmental change could be exacerbating it. To cope, we'll need to work with uncertainty. In this talk, I'll focus on sensing uncertainty. That is, when a sensor may not be reporting on an event as it occurred, and the true characterization could lie within a range of possibilities. Thus, we must contend with how user interfaces (UIs) and their underlying technology shape epistemic position. They structure what ideas can be generated, what information is understood, and what facts can be known by manipulating the system. As we seek to make computing more sustainable, we must reckon with how our designs and prototypes embody uncertainty. We need to imagine and design alternative sustainable futures through prototyping and building the computing future we want to live in. We can face the sustainability paradox by critically designing for what can be substituted, replaced, or imagined otherwise to create a computing ecosystem that is better for the environment. By embracing uncertainty as a central research question, we create opportunities for community resolution and cooperative response.

Kristin Williams is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science in Emory University's College of Arts and Sciences where she directs the Embodied Interaction Lab (EMBI Lab). Her lab designs and develops user interfaces for making the Internet of Things customizable, accessible, and sustainable. Her lab’s research builds on techniques in end user programming, shape changing materials, generative design, and sustainability to investigate fundamental barriers and to create novel approaches. This research builds on Kristin's longstanding interests in agency, DIY publishing, and access to information. Prior to Emory, Kristin earned her PhD in Human-Computer Interaction at Carnegie Mellon University Human Computer Interaction Institute where she used ethnographically informed design to create lightweight, sustainable user interfaces for end user programming of IoT behavior. Beyond Computer Science, she currently holds affiliate appointments in Environmental Sciences and the Center for Mind, Brain and Culture where she actively collaborates across disciplinary boundaries. She hold an MS in Human-Computer Interaction from both Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Maryland, College Park and a BA in Philosophy from Reed College. She was a 2021 EECS Rising Star, an NSF EAPSI Fellow, and an AAUW Career Development Grantee.