Three faculty members from the Human-Computer Interaction Institute (HCII) have been named to the CHI Academy this year, an honorary group of individuals who have made substantial contributions to the human-computer interaction (HCI) field.
All three of Carnegie Mellon University’s newest CHI Academy members – Jeffrey Bigham, Laura Dabbish and Chris Harrison – are faculty in the School of Computer Science. Learn more about these individuals below.
Each year, the Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group in Computer-Human Interaction (ACM SIGCHI) elects new CHI Academy members whose efforts have shaped the discipline and the industry.
“We are excited to announce this year’s ACM SIGCHI awardees, Academy inductees, and Special Recognition recipients,” said Kentaro Toyama, ACM SIGCHI adjunct chair for awards, in the 2026 ACM SIGCHI Announcement. “The distinctions highlight remarkable achievements in scholarship, service, mentorship, and impact.”
Brad Myers, Charles M. Geschke Director, Professor, and fellow CHI Academy member, is proud to welcome the latest HCII faculty to the honorary group.
“We are delighted that Jeff, Laura and Chris are joining the CHI Academy this year,” said Myers. “Each of their HCI research areas is unique, and this honor is a major recognition of their individual accomplishments and contributions to the field of HCI.”
The trio is in good company and joins ten other CMU faculty who already belong to the CHI Academy, including: Aniket Kittur, Jason Hong, John Zimmerman, Lorrie Cranor, Jodi Forlizzi, Randy Pausch, Scott Hudson, Brad Myers, Robert Kraut and Sara Kiesler.
In addition to the new CHI Academy members, others from the CMU community will be recognized at the SIGCHI Awards at CHI 2026 in Barcelona, Spain.
Lorrie Cranor, director of Carnegie Mellon University’s CyLab Security and Privacy Institute and affiliate faculty with the HCII, has been named a recipient of the 2026 ACM SIGCHI Lifetime Research Award, one of the highest honors in the field of HCI. Learn more in this CyLab announcement.
Darren Gergle, HCII PhD alumnus and now faculty at Northwestern University, was also named to the CHI Academy.
The SIGCHI Academy is a distinguished group of individuals recognized for their significant and cumulative contributions to the advancement of human-computer interaction and their influence on the research of others.
Associate Professor
2026 CHI Academy Member
Jeff Bigham builds systems that advance how people can responsibly work with machine learning to do interesting and useful things. This has taken on a variety of focuses throughout his career — he has worked on applications in accessibility for disabilities, used crowdsourcing to power a wide variety of real-time systems, and most recently developed processes and technologies to create responsible and useful experiences with generative AI. Much of Jeff’s work focuses on accessibility because he sees the field as a window into the future, given that people with disabilities are often the earliest adopters of AI.
Bigham is currently the Director of Human-Centered Machine Learning and Responsible AI at Apple, and an Associate Professor in the Human-Computer Interaction and Language Technologies Institutes in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. He is currently working on InformUp.org to enable everyone to learn about and participate in their own local governments. He earned his B.S.E. degree in Computer Science from Princeton University, and Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Washington.
Professor
2026 CHI Academy Member
Laura Dabbish is a Professor in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, with an appointment in the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy. She directs the Connected Experience Lab, where her research examines the social, organizational, and psychological dimensions of human-AI interaction, digital labor, and collaborative systems.
Her work bridges HCI, organizational behavior, and social computing, focusing on how people experience and shape sociotechnical systems. Laura has contributed to foundational research in social transparency, social cybersecurity, and human computation. She was part of early work on games with a purpose that helped catalyze the human computation field. Her studies on visibility and coordination in platforms like GitHub have influenced how researchers and designers think about identity, equity, and collaboration in digital work. Recent projects examine the invisible labor behind generative AI, sustainability in open-source ecosystems, and the design of systems that promote reflection, accountability, and equitable participation. Her research has appeared in top SIGCHI venues, including CHI and CSCW, and has influenced the design of widely used systems in industry.
A dedicated mentor, Laura founded one of the first HCI-focused Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) programs in the U.S., expanding access to computing research for students from different backgrounds. She holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Human-Computer Interaction from Carnegie Mellon University, and a B.S. in Computer Science and Psychology from the University of Southern California.
Associate Professor
2026 CHI Academy Member
Chris Harrison is a Professor of Human-Computer Interaction at Carnegie Mellon University, directing the Future Interfaces Group. He broadly investigates novel sensing and interactive technologies that foster powerful and delightful interactions between humans and computers. These efforts most often lie in emerging use modalities, such as wearable computing, intelligent environments, and mixed reality. Chris has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed papers, many award winning, including two lasting impact awards. He was co-founder and CTO of Qeexo, a startup working at the intersection of AI and HCI, which had its technology installed on more than 400 million devices. Qeexo was acquired by TDK in 2023. Chris has been awarded fellowships by the Packard and Sloan Foundations, Google, Qualcomm, and Microsoft Research. He has also been named as a top 30 scientist by Forbes, a top 35 innovator by MIT Technology Review, and a World Economic Forum Young Scientist. When not in the lab, Chris can be found welding sculptures, paddling whitewater, visiting remote corners of the globe, or restoring his old house.
Related People
Jeffrey Bigham, Laura Dabbish, Chris Harrison