Thank you for your interest in the HCI research opportunity at FIU!
I am seeking to hire 1 - 2 Ph.D. students in Computer Science (starting from Spring/Summer/Fall 2026) and Undergrad/Master Research Assistants to collaborate on exciting projects in HCI, XR, and Accessibility. The Computer Science Ph.D. program at FIU is fully funded 🤑. More details can be referred to this page.
Committing to a Ph.D. program is a bold decision. I compiled several key information in this page that you may find useful. If you are interested, please email me: chechen@fiu.edu with your CV. Please refer to this page for more details. For any administrative/logistic questions, please contact the University Graduate School: gradadm@fiu.edu.
The official admission deadline for Summer 2026 (starts in May 2026) is December 1, 2025 .
If you are a current undergraduate/master student at FIU and are interested in HCI research, feel free to also email me.
🔬 Research
My research seeks to understand how XR and AI can seamlessly extend our thoughts, behaviors, and activities by augmenting today's information interaction experiences. I focus on both general-purpose tasks and those oriented toward the needs of specific or marginalized users. Ultimately, I envision future information interaction experiences as intuitive, seamless and context-aware. I design, build and evaluate intelligent XR systems grounded on real-world applications using user-centered design approach. More details about my work can be referred to my website.
You will be working on exciting HCI projects, and contributing to top-notch SIGCHI and SIGACCESS venues such as CHI, UIST, etc. In some cases, you might also collaborate with other institutions and industry research labs.
Example topics include:
- Context-aware information experience in MR
- Interactions with agents and AI
- Augmenting workspace/productivity applications, as well as creativity-supporting tools with AI
- Computer-supported tools (for example enabled by XR and voice-based virtual assistants) for accessibility, aging, health and health science educations
- Understanding and designing headset-free XR experience (such as CAVE)
🔎 Requirement
Candidates are preferred to have experiences in either of the following;
- Experience in developing XR applications with of game engine like Unity.
- Experience in full-stack web app development using commonly used JS and Python frameworks like Flask and React.js.
- Experience in inferencing and/or fine-tuning with existing foundation AI models.
- Experience in reading/writing academic papers. It will be a bonus if you have experience working on SIGCHI/SIGACCESS papers.
For other requirement such as GPA and standardized exam(s), please refer to this flyer.
🏫 Florida International University (FIU)
FIU is a top-50 public and top-100 university in the US according to 2025's US News & Report, recognized with an "R1" designation for a decade. FIU is part of the State University System (SUS) of Florida, the public university system in the state. It is the eighth-largest university in the US and a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI).
FIU includes three major educational/research campuses including Modesto A. Maidique Campus (MMC), Biscayne Bay Campus (BBC), and Engineering Center (EC), along with another 11 sites across the world. Our new Engineering building will be added to the college starting in Fall 2025 (see right).
School of Computing and Information Sciences is primarily based on MMC. Our department operates a life-sized CAVE XR, called FIU-ICAVE. FIU also operates the world’s most powerful fan system for simulating a Category 5 hurricane, called "Wall of Wind", as well as the world-only underwater habitat, called "Aquarius Reef Base" which is deployed 60 feet beneath the surface in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, and provides unparalleled means to study the ocean 🌊.
🏝️ Miami, South Florida, and Housing
Miami is located in South Florida (SoFlo), nestled between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay. The Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach is the top-10 largest metropolitan statical area in the US with 6M+ of population. The area is the home to several tech industry, such as Magic Leap, Citrix, Microsoft, Sony, Wix, Oracle and Apple. The city is renowned for its beaches, dynamic neighborhoods, and rich cultural diversity shaped by influences from Latin America, the Caribbean, and beyond. Miami is also a minority-majority city and known as the "Capital of Latin America" and "Wallstreet South" due to its strategic location and multicultural population.
Miami International Airport (MIA), Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport (FLL), and Palm Beach International Airport (PBI) are three major airports in the area, ranked as the #10, #17, and #51 busiest airports in the US. Alongside the world-renowned Key West – the southernmost point of the US – you will find two major national parks right next to Miami including the Everglade 🐊 and Biscayan 🐚 National Park. You will also find major theme park resorts 🎢 like Universal Studio Orlando, Walt Disneyland World Resort (the largest Disney park in the world), Legoland, and Sea World in Orlando, which is just a 3-hour train ride 🚆 by Brightline – Florida's (and the US's only) high-speed rail system.
Finally, you may also want to visit the university’s website for information on both on-campus and off-campus housing.
