Druin Elected to SIGCHI Academy

Allison Druin, a professor in the College of Information Studies (iSchool) with an appointment in UMIACS, was recently named a 2016 member of the SIGCHI Academy.

SIGCHI is an Association for Computing Machinery special interest group, and is considered the world’s leading organization focused on human–computer interaction.

Election to the Academy is reserved for individuals who are the principal leaders of the field, whose efforts have shaped the disciplines and/or industry, and led the research and/or innovation in human-computer interaction.

Druin was one of eight human-computer interaction experts chosen for 2016. She will be officially recognized at CHI 2016, held May 5-12 in San Jose, California.

Druin is currently on leave from the University of Maryland, serving as Special Adviser for National Digital Strategy for the National Park Service.

Her exemplary record of research and scholarship at Maryland includes leading design teams of children and teens, computer scientists, educators and others to develop new educational technologies for young people with co-design methods. The focus has been to develop innovative co-design methods that give a voice to children in the technology development process. Over the years, Druin and her collaborators have created a variety of new technologies that include new mobile storytelling devices, digital libraries to support cultural tolerance, and robotic toys for active learning.