Andrew Head

Assistant Professor @ UPenn

head@seas.upenn.edu

Publications (Semantic Scholar)

@drewmikehead

Areas of specialization: Human-computer interaction · Interactive programming tools · Reading tools · Applications of AI.

My research group studies how computers can help us comprehend complex texts—like science papers, source code, clinical notes, and mechanized proofs. We develop new interaction mechanisms by which people can inquire about the meanings of these texts.

For example, could reading interfaces help people understand equations in math texts? In one project, we explore just this question. We characterized how authors already augment formulas to explain them, developed tools to help them do it more easily, and integrated these explanations into an interactive reading application.

We have a heavy systems-building focus—we build our ideas into usable systems in order to refine those ideas, and test out their effect on users. Our systems often incorporate empowering techniques from text processing and program analysis. We ground our ideas in careful formative observations and interviews with prospective users.

Projects in our group are led by Ph.D. students Alyssa Hwang, Litao Yan, Hita Kambhamettu, Jeff Tao, Harry Goldstein, and Jessica Shi and master’s student Zed Wu.

Ph.D. student applicants: I will not be taking on new students in fall 2024. I encourage your application to Penn, though I myself will not be able to consider you as a prospective advisee.
Penn master's and bachelor's students: If you are interested in the work that our group does, I encourage you to take Penn's class in human-computer interaction—CIS 4120/5120—to learn the essential skills we bring to our research, and then to apply to do research with our group here.