UX Speaker Series: A Fireside Chat on Human Centered Design for Civic Tech
Each winter, the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering welcomes designers, researchers, and technology leaders to campus for a 10-week UX Speaker Series. Join us on Thursday afternoons to hear how industry experts are shaping the future of user experience across sectors.
All events are free and open to the public.
Note: This event was originally scheduled as a talk by Brad Jacobson. Due to speaker illness, the session will now be a fireside chat with Professor Julie Kientz and Emily Lin.
JANUARY 29
Julie Kientz
Professor & Chair, HCDE
Emily S Lin
Senior Research Director, Civic Power Lab, Harvard Kennedy School
A Fireside Chat on Human Centered Design for Civic Tech
Join Professor Julie Kientz and Emily Lin for a fireside chat on Human-Centered Design for Civic Tech. The conversation will explore how human-centered design methods can shape technologies that serve communities, institutions, and the public good.
Julie Kientz is a Professor and Chair of the department of Human Centered…
Event interval: Single day event. Campus location: Sieg Building (SIG). Campus room: 134 Sieg Building. Accessibility Contact: mewing3@uw.edu. Event Types: Lectures/Seminars.
Thursday, January 29, 2026, 4:30 PM – 5:20 PM.
For more info visit www.hcde.washington.edu. Hackathon to design adaptations for people w/ disabilities
Save the date for a hackathon where teams will design adaptations to everyday challenges for people with disabilities!
Students interested in learning about the design and fabrication of such adaptations are encouraged to attend. Saturday, January 31, 12:30-5 p.m. , Bellevue Library Makerspace , Sign-up info to be provided, Attendees will be coached in fabrication skills, including: 3D printing , CAD , lo-fi prototyping , soldering , basic circuitry , sewing , coding, CREATE and HuskyADAPT are partnering with the King County Library System for a second year to host this event.
Bus route suggestion:
From the 15th Ave NE & NE 40th St stop (across from the Population Health building), take the 271 bus until the NE 8th St & 106th Ave NE stop. From there, it is approximately an 11 minute walk to the final destination (1111 110th Ave NE, Bellevue, WA, 98004).
Questions? Email apfist8@uw.edu.
Interested in volunteering to support teams in design and fabrication? Apply by Friday, January 9 at 11:59 p.m.
Event interval: Single day event. Accessibility Contact: apfist8@uw.edu. Event Types: Diversity Equity Inclusion. Special Events. Student Activities. Target Audience: Teams & individuals interested in design/fabrication of adaptations for people w/ disabilities.
Saturday, January 31, 2026, 12:30 PM – 5:00 PM.
Bellevue library.
For more info visit forms.cloud.microsoft. UX Speaker Series: Julie Zhuying, Google Workspace Platform, "Beyond the Screen: UX Leadership in the Era of AI"
Each winter, the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering welcomes designers, researchers, and technology leaders to campus for a 10-week UX Speaker Series. Join us on Thursday afternoons to hear how industry experts are shaping the future of user experience across sectors.
All events are free and open to the public.
Talk titles and descriptions will be added as they become available.
FEBRUARY 5
Julie Zhuying
Staff UX Manager, Gemini & Enterprise Security
Google Workspace Platform
Beyond the Screen: UX Leadership in the Era of AI
The designer’s mandate is evolving from crafting static interfaces to orchestrating dynamic, intelligent systems. This session examines the unique challenges of designing for "probabilistic" technologies, focusing on how to maintain user agency and trust within agent-based workflows. Crucially, we will cover how to navigate the changing landscape of the tech industry, bridge the gap between engineering constraints and human needs, and cultivate influence in a rapidly…
Event interval: Single day event. Campus location: Sieg Building (SIG). Campus room: 134 Sieg Building. Accessibility Contact: mewing3@uw.edu. Event Types: Lectures/Seminars.
Thursday, February 5, 2026, 4:30 PM – 5:20 PM.
For more info visit www.hcde.washington.edu. Signals & Society | Personal Robots — Is It Finally Time? | with Ryan Calo and Maya Cakmak
Society + Technology at UW is pleased to promote the next event in the Signals & Society series, Personal Robots — Is It Finally Time? on Monday, February 9, 2026, at 5:30 PM at Lonely Siren (1501 Pike Pl, Level 2, #200, Seattle, WA 98101).
Join us for a conversation with Ryan Calo (Law & Information, University of Washington) and Maya Cakmak (Computer Science, UW Seattle) on what's at stake when robots are the gatekeepers to our intimate routines and confidential secrets.
Free and open to the public. No registration required.
Event interval: Single day event. Accessibility Contact: rcalo@uw.edu. Event Types: Special Events. Target Audience: Anyone interested in conversations on technology, robots, and the future.
Monday, February 9, 2026, 5:30 PM – 8:30 PM.
1501 Pike Pl Level 2 #200, Seattle, WA 98101.
Katz Distinguished Lecture: Emily M. Bender, "Resisting Dehumanization in the Age of "AI": The View from the Humanities"
The production and promotion of so-called "AI" technology involves dehumanization on many fronts: the computational metaphor valorizes one kind of cognitive activity as “intelligence,” devaluing many other aspects of human experience while taking an isolating, individualistic view of agency, ignoring the importance of communities and webs of relationships. Meanwhile, the purpose of humans is framed as being labelers of data or interchangeable machine components. Data collected about people is understood as "ground truth" even while it lies about those people, especially marginalized people. In this talk, Bender will explore these processes of dehumanization and the vital role that the humanities have in resisting these trends by painting a deeper and richer picture of what it is to be human.
Emily M. Bender is the Thomas L. and Margo G. Wyckoff Endowed Professor in Linguistics and an Adjunct Professor in the School of Computer Science and the Information School at the University of Washington, where she has…
Event interval: Single day event. Campus location: Kane Hall (KNE). Campus room: 210. Accessibility Contact: Simpson Center, 206.543.3920, schadmin@uw.edu. Event Types: Lectures/Seminars.
Tuesday, February 10, 2026, 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM.
UX Speaker Series: Nicole Washington, Product Designer II, Xbox
Each winter, the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering welcomes designers, researchers, and technology leaders to campus for a 10-week UX Speaker Series. Join us on Thursday afternoons to hear how industry experts are shaping the future of user experience across sectors.
All events are free and open to the public.
Talk titles and descriptions will be added as they become available.
FEBRUARY 12
Nicole Washington
Product Designer II, Xbox.
Event interval: Single day event. Campus location: Sieg Building (SIG). Campus room: 134 Sieg Building. Accessibility Contact: mewing3@uw.edu. Event Types: Lectures/Seminars.
Thursday, February 12, 2026, 4:30 PM – 5:20 PM.
For more info visit www.hcde.washington.edu. UX Speaker Series: Yuan Zhuang & Rajiv Pennathur, Senior Manager, User Experience Research, Expedia
Each winter, the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering welcomes designers, researchers, and technology leaders to campus for a 10-week UX Speaker Series. Join us on Thursday afternoons to hear how industry experts are shaping the future of user experience across sectors.
All events are free and open to the public.
Talk titles and descriptions will be added as they become available.
FEBRUARY 19
Yuan Zhuang & Rajiv Pennathur
Senior Manager, User Experience Research, Expedia.
Event interval: Single day event. Campus location: Sieg Building (SIG). Campus room: 134 Sieg Building. Accessibility Contact: mewing3@uw.edu. Event Types: Lectures/Seminars.
Thursday, February 19, 2026, 4:30 PM – 5:20 PM.
For more info visit www.hcde.washington.edu. UX Speaker Series: Dr. Matt Klenk & Dr. Matt Hong, Toyota Research Institute
Each winter, the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering welcomes designers, researchers, and technology leaders to campus for a 10-week UX Speaker Series. Join us on Thursday afternoons to hear how industry experts are shaping the future of user experience across sectors.
All events are free and open to the public.
Talk titles and descriptions will be added as they become available.
FEBRUARY 26
Dr. Matt Klenk & Dr. Matt Hong
Toyota Research Institute
Director, Future Product Innovation (HCAI) (Matt Klenk)
Senior Research Scientist (Matt Hong).
Event interval: Single day event. Campus location: Sieg Building (SIG). Campus room: 134 Sieg Building. Accessibility Contact: mewing3@uw.edu. Event Types: Lectures/Seminars.
Thursday, February 26, 2026, 4:30 PM – 5:20 PM.
For more info visit www.hcde.washington.edu. UX Speaker Series: Carolyn Wei, UX Research Lead, Instagram, Meta
Each winter, the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering welcomes designers, researchers, and technology leaders to campus for a 10-week UX Speaker Series. Join us on Thursday afternoons to hear how industry experts are shaping the future of user experience across sectors.
All events are free and open to the public.
Talk titles and descriptions will be added as they become available.
MARCH 5
Carolyn Wei
UX Research Lead, Instagram, Meta.
Event interval: Single day event. Campus location: Sieg Building (SIG). Campus room: 134 Sieg Building. Accessibility Contact: mewing3@uw.edu. Event Types: Lectures/Seminars.
Thursday, March 5, 2026, 4:30 PM – 5:20 PM.
For more info visit www.hcde.washington.edu. Digital/Data Humanities Lecture: Tonia Sutherland, "Resurrecting the Black Body: Race and the Digital Afterlife"
In this talk, Resurrecting the Black Body, Sutherland examines the consequences of digitally raising the dead. Attending to the violent deaths of Black Americans–and the records that document them–from slavery through the present, Sutherland explores media evidence, digital acts of remembering, and the rights and desires of humans to be forgotten.
Tonia Sutherland is an Associate Professor and Associate Dean for Faculty Development in the School of Education and Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is the author of Resurrecting the Black Body: Race and the Digital Afterlife (University of California Press, 2023). In addition to being the Founder and Director of PENDULUM and The Black Memory Collective. She also serves as Co-Director of the Community Archives Lab at UCLA and Co-Founder and Co-Director of AfterLab at the University of Washington Information School.
Event made possible by the Walter Chapin Simpson Center for the Humanities. This event is free and open to the…
Event interval: Single day event. Campus location: Henry Art Gallery (HAG). Accessibility Contact: Simpson Center for the Humanities, 206-543-3920, schadmin@uw.edu. Event Types: Lectures/Seminars.
Thursday, March 12, 2026, 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM.
UX Speaker Series: Jess Hollbrook & Mike Davidson, Microsoft AI
Each winter, the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering welcomes designers, researchers, and technology leaders to campus for a 10-week UX Speaker Series. Join us on Thursday afternoons to hear how industry experts are shaping the future of user experience across sectors.
All events are free and open to the public.
Talk titles and descriptions will be added as they become available.
MARCH 12
Jess Hollbrook & Mike Davidson
Head of UX Research for Microsoft AI (Jess Hollbrook)
Corporate Vice President, Design & User Research, Microsoft AI (Mike Davidson).
Event interval: Single day event. Campus location: Sieg Building (SIG). Campus room: 134 Sieg Building. Accessibility Contact: mewing3@uw.edu. Event Types: Lectures/Seminars.
Thursday, March 12, 2026, 4:30 PM – 5:20 PM.
For more info visit www.hcde.washington.edu.