I am a pre-doctoral MS student in computer science at the University of Chicago advised by Pedro Lopes.
My research in human-computer interaction (HCI) explores mental models and human cognition using interactive devices. Specifically, I am designing haptic interactions to improve input accuracy of wearable and gestural user interfaces. My work has been published at ACM CHI, the top venue in HCI.
Previously, I spent a year at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory developing signal processing algorithms for wireless sensors to characterize Alaskan snowpacks. I received my BS in engineering and applied mathematics from Swarthmore College. I will start my Ph.D. in Computer Science this Fall at [undecided].
Email: lonniechien@uchicago.edu
Full Paper Publications
Increasing Input Accuracy of Embodied Devices via Electrical Muscle Stimulation
Lonnie Chien, Yudai Tanaka, Noor Amin, Jas Brooks, Pedro Lopes
Proc. ACM CHI 2026
Characterizing Snowpack with 60 GHz FMCW Millimeter-Wave Radar Sensors
Stijn Wielandt, Ivo Marković, Lonnie Chien, Diana Morales, Ryan Landon Crumley, Baptiste Dafflon, Reynold Cooper
Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems, and Computers, 2023
Determination of nonlinearity parameter B/A of liquids by comparison with solutions of the three-dimensional Westervelt equation
Lonnie Chien, John M. Cormack, E. Carr Everbach, Mark Hamilton
Proc. Meetings on Acoustics 2021
Projects
SecureWear: Usable Security and Privacy Study on Wearable Fitness Trackers
Administered surveys, interviews, and educational interventions with users of wearable fitness trackers (e.g., Apple Watch, Strava) to highlight privacy and security concerns. 2nd place project out of 8 groups (people's choice). Teammates: Kevin Davis, Oliver Fong, Parnika Saxena.
HCI, Usable Security and Privacy, User Study
Screen Saviors: Promoting Healthy Screen Habits
Surveyed and interviewed partially visually impaired users to design application with integrated posture tracker to remind users to practice healthy screen viewing habits. Teammates: Jun Asano, Sylvia Kim, Andrew Sun.
User-Centered Design, Accessibility, Python
Eyes-Free Pong Game
Inclusive 2-player (via OSC) eyes-free pong game operating on vocal input and audio output. Gave a blind-folded demonstration.
User-Centered Design, Accessibility, Python
Jeopardy! Embedded Systems Game
Playable trivia game with interactive buzzers, joystick shield, LED matrix, and LCD screen using NUCLEO development board. Teammates: Cara Lee, Quinn Okabayashi.
Hardware, Embedded Systems, C++
Robot Slalom
Autonomous robot that navigates an obstacle course using computer vision and PID control. Teammates: Suraj Kalidindi, Toby Le.
Mobile Robotics, ROS, Python
Panoramic Images from Video
Generate panoramic images from video streams using computer vision techniques. Top-scoring project in class of 16 students. Teammate: Suraj Kalidindi.
Computer Vision, OpenCV, Python