Bjoern Hartman - CS

Stanford’s PhD program is unique among its peers in that it gives students an enormous amount of freedom to shape their own research program. Since my work is interdisciplinary in nature, this freedom allows me to branch out from my core expertise in Computer Science to other engineering disciplines, and even other programs in the social sciences. Stanford also has a strong nexus of human-centered design expertise in the d.school that matches my research interests particularly well.

What I Work On

I am a second year PhD student in Computer Science, where I work in the Human Computer Interaction group. My principal research interest is in physical computing, bridging the disparate worlds of bits and atoms. More specifically, my goal is to develop tools that enable designers and do-it-yourself hobbyists to work with physical and digital artifacts in concert. I am currently building a rapid prototyping system that allows product designers to build functional mock-ups of information appliances in a matter of minutes. Beyond technical work, I am also collaborating with researchers in the communication department to uncover principles and guidelines for embodied interaction design.

Whats Great About Studying Here

There are a tremendous number of stimulating ideas circulating around campus. Stanford also offers students all the resources to turn those ideas into realities through places like the Product Realization Lab. Being embedded in Silicon Valley makes it possible to work directly with innovative companies to test your research in a larger context.

What I Hope to Do

Inspire others to focus on the human side of information technology.