resume panda@payodpanda.com

Hi! I'm Panda. I design.
I work at the intersection of design, engineering, and research to study the future of collaborative work, with a specific focus on tools for thought using GenAI and spatial computing technologies.

As a Design Engineering Researcher, I lead artefact-led research in the Tools for Thought team at Microsoft Research. I disseminate to both academic and general audiences. My work has been awarded patents, best paper awards, and gotten shout-outs from Microsoft Research senior leadership.

Here's my resume, updated October 2024. I can provide a full PDF CV upon request, but scroll down for an interactive CV with project and paper list, with some writeups and external links. Feel free to get in touch for more details about specific projects and tenures.

  • Broadly, my research so far has focused on collaboration and knowledge work, with specific focus on using emerging technologies like VR and GenAI. While many recent projects have an associated HCI paper, several of my older projects do not. I think it's still worth sharing those, so they're included here as well.
  • Through grad school, I was fortunate to gain experience with several forms of teaching: I've TA'd for design studios, offered my own advanced graduate seminar, taught independent study classes, and developed and ran several workshops in the Raleigh area.
  • I've always been interested in the intersection of art and technology. These projects are a mix of personal explorations and collaborations with artists, some of which have been exhibited at museums in Raleigh, NC.
  • In the course of my work in the industry, I have applied for several patents. Two have been granted, four have been submitted to USPTO, and I have another six applications under review.
  • What have I been up to? A list of invited talks, conferences, seminars, internships, new jobs, awards.

Grinding the paper mill... (aka under prep or review)

  • 📄 Simple and lo-fidelity sketching tool for rapid ideation in VR.
  • 📄 Design space for GenAI-driven experiences for meeting intentionality.
  • 📄 Novel GenAI-driven meeting interfaces for staying on track.
  • 📄 Effects of meeting goal elicitation with GenAI.

2025

  • 📄 (to appear) Nods of Agreement: Webcam-Driven Avatars Improve Meeting and Avatar Satisfaction Over Audio-Driven or Static Avatars in All-Avatar Work Videoconferencing. CSCW 25.
  • 📖 On Program Committee for ACM Creativity and Cognition 2025 (C&C 25).

2024

  • 📖 Invited talk at NYU Tandon HCI Seminar Talk Series (topic TBD). (November '24)
    🔗Seminar series page
  • 📖 Invited talk at University of Bath (topic TBD). (November '24)
  • đŸĻĨ Attended CSCW in Costa Rica! I presented Hybridge, a cross-lab project (between MSR Cambridge and MSR Redmond) that I led and concluded. (November '24)
  • 📄 Hybridge: Bridging Spatiality for Inclusive and Equitable Hybrid Meetings. CSCW 24.
    📰MSR Portal 📄pdf 🔗doi
  • 📄 AvatarPilot: Decoupling One-to-One Motions from their Semantics with Weighted Interpolations. ISMAR 24 (poster).
    📰MSR Portal 📄pdf
  • 📄 MRTransformer: Transforming Avatar Non-verbal Behavior for Remote MR Collaboration in Incongruent Spaces. ISMAR 24 (poster).
    📰MSR Portal 📄pdf
  • 🧜‍♀ī¸ Attended DIS in Copenhagen. My intern Warren Park is presenting our work from summer 2023 (Coexplorer). (July '24)
  • 📄 CoExplorer Technology Probe: A Generative AI-Powered Adaptive Interface to Support Intentionality in Planning and Running Video Meetings. DIS 24.
    📰MSR Portal 📄pdf 🔗doi
  • 🏖ī¸ Attended CHI in Hawaii! I have several things being presented here. (May '24)
  • 📄 Comparing the Agency of Hybrid Meeting Remote Users in 2D and 3D Interfaces of the Hybridge System. CHI 24.
    📰MSR Portal 📄pdf 🔗doi
  • 📄 CoExplorer Generative AI Powered 2D and 3D Adaptive Interfaces to Support Intentionality in Video Meetings. CHI 24.
    📰MSR Portal 📄pdf 🔗doi
  • 📄 An Equal Seat at the Table: Exploring Videoconferencing with Shared Spatial Context combined with 3D Video Representations. CHI 24.
    📰MSR Portal 📄pdf 🔗doi
  • 📄 Virtual Games, Real Interactions: A Look at Cross-reality Asymmetrical Co-located Social Games. CHI 24.
    📄pdf 🔗doi

2023

  • 🏆 Beyond Audio: Towards a design space of headphones as a site for interaction and sensing. DIS 23, best paper.
    📰MSR Blog 📄pdf 🏆doi
  • Šī¸ Patent (granted): Headset virtual presence
    🔗US11792364B2
  • Šī¸ Patent (granted): Computing device headset input
    🔗US11669294B2
  • 📖 Attended the Dagstuhl seminar on Social XR: The Future of Communication and Collaboration. (November)
    🔗Seminar page
  • 📖 Invited talk at Virginia Tech on "Technology at the Intersection of Design and Research". (October)
    â–ļī¸Video (YouTube)
  • 🔧 Led a workshop on tech tinkering and AI for the undergrad and graduate design programmes at Virginia Tech and NC State University. (October)

2022

  • 📄 RemoteLab: A VR remote study toolkit. UIST 22.
    🔗GitHub 📄pdf 🔗doi
  • 📄 AllTogether: Avatars in mixed-modality conferencing. CHIWORK 22.
    🔩Project page 📄pdf 🔗doi
  • đŸ’ŧ Started at Microsoft Research Cambridge as Design Engineering Researcher in the BREW team @ Collaborative Intelligence!
    ☕BREW team page

2021

  • 🎓 Received my PhD in Design!
  • 📄 Morphaces: Exploring morphable surfaces for tangible sketching in VR. C&C 21.
    🔩Project page 📄pdf 🔗doi
  • 📄 Immersive Analytics: A user-centered perspective. VRST 21.
    📄pdf 🔗doi
  • ⚙ī¸ MXR Lab: Projects.

2020

  • 📄 MoveBox: MoCap for RocketBox Avatars. AIVR 2020.
    🔗GitHub 📄pdf 🔗doi
  • 📄 MR in Edu: Hybrid SVEs as Collaborative Learning Spaces for Design Education.
  • 📖 August: I'm teaching an advanced graduate seminar on Virtual Reality and tech tinkering to masters and PhD students.
    📖Syllabus
  • 📖 March: Gave an invited lecture at Meredith College to introduce Interior Design students to Graphic Design.
    📖Lecture

2019

  • đŸ’ŧ Summer. I interned at Google Brain Robotics, working on a VR interface for remotely controlling industrial robotic arms.
  • 📄 Multisensory Reality-Virtuality Continuum in VR.
  • ⚙ī¸ Valdese Weavers: AR factory tour application.
  • 🎨 From Teosinte to Tomorrow: VR corn maze @Gregg and @NCMA.

2018

  • đŸ’ŧ Summer. I interned with the Google Editors team, working on autocorrect suggestions for Docs and Gmail, and building a unified editor for Docs x Sheets.
  • 🔧 Moogfest 2018, May: Led a workshop on "Coding 3D Landscapes of Sound".
    🔗Workshop

2017

2016

2015