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About Carlos Aguiar

I am an Assistant Professor in Industrial Design at the School of Art + Design at UIUC. My expertise lies at the intersection of design, science and technology studies, computing, and human behavior. As a researcher, I investigate two main themes:

(a) Design + Technology + Human Behavior: I explore the development of technology-rich artifacts and environments that aims to enable, foster, and assist humans’ interactions, needs, and activities. Some of my research targeted applications such as smart and connected communities, aging in place, and individual and collaborative work. To iteratively design and prototype, and empirically evaluate these technologically-rich systems, I use a variety of qualitative and quantitative methods method including, but not limited to, co-design and participatory design, usability, user-experience design, and ethnography.

(b) Design + Science and Technology Studies + Technology: I also investigate the interaction between technological artifacts and society. Particularly, I explore questions such as (a) what and how values are embedded within artifacts? (b) How do material artifacts mediate our interaction with, existence within, and experience of the world? (c) How do diverse groups negotiate and assign values within artifacts? (d) How the distribution of competencies happens when collaboratively designing an artifact?

In my research, I combine empirical investigation with philosophical analysis to study various aspects of technology’s social and cultural roles.

EDUCATION

Doctor of Philosophy | Design & Human Behavior

Cornell University, College of Human Ecology – Design + Environmental Analysis. Ithaca, NY. (Aug, 2021).

  • Minor: Science and Technology Studies, and Information Science 

  • Relevant coursework: HCI; HRI; Design Technologies for Social Impact; Inside Technology

Doctor of Philosophy | Planning, Design and Built Environment 

Clemson University, College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities. Clemson, SC. (Transferred to Cornell University, 2016)

  • Relevant coursework: Architecture Robotics; Ergonomics and Anthropometrics

Master Science | Design Computing

University of Washington, College of Built Environment. Seattle, WA. (2017)

  • Relevant coursework: Advanced Digital Design and Fabrication; Responsive Environment

Bachelor | Architecture and Urbanism 

Universidade Estácio de Sá, School of Architecture and Urban Planning. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (2012)

  • Honors: Best Undergraduate Thesis of the class of 2012

Memberships

ACM: 7254646

IDSA: 20007121

Ph.D. research, Cornell University (2015-2020)

Project: communIT–a large-scale, cyber-physical artifact, designed to create community engagement and promote civic discourse in underused public spaces.

Roles: conduct user studies, run co-design activities, design, to-scale and full-scale prototyping, conference paper & proposal writing.

Committee: Keith Green (advisor), Trevor Pinch (STS minor), Gilly Leshed (IS minor), Jon McKenzie.

Grant: Lee Gift Research Grant, Cornell $10,000 to support pilot research. 

Research Assistant, Architectural Robotic Lab, Cornell University (2015-2020)

Project: home+, a distributed, assistive technology facilitating aging in place. 

Roles: conduct user studies, design, full-scale prototyping, circuit design and assembly.

Principal Investigator: Keith Green.

Grant: Funded by U.S. NSF Grant

 

M.Sc. research, University of Washington (2015-2017)

Project: Configurable Space– Architectural Robotics at the Scale of Furniture.

Roles: conduct user studies, design, to-scale and full-scale prototyping, circuit design and assembly, conference paper writing.

Committee: Brian Johnson (advisor), Kimo Griggs (co-advisor) and Keith Green (external committee member).

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

PUBLICATIONS

PEER REVIEWED PAPERS IN CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS

[5] Xu, Tong; Dewey, Clara; Vira, Amil; de Aguiar, C. H.; Yoon, JungKyoon. (2019). Erglove: an ergonomic solution for wrist injury prevention.  IASDR 2019 Conference, at Manchester, UK. (In press)

[4] de Aguiar, C. H., Leshed, G., Bernard, A., McKenzie, J., Andrews, C., Green, K. (2018). CoDAS, a Method for Envisioning Larger-Scaled Computational Artifacts Connecting Communities. IEEE Universal Village, Boston USA.

[3] Bernard, A., de Aguiar, C. H., Green, K. (2018). Model for a Rigid, 3D Mechanism Inspired by Pop-Up Origami, and its Application to a Re-configurable, Physical Environment. IEEE CASE, at Munich, Germany.

[2] Verma, S., Gonthina, P., Hawks, Z., Nahar, D., Brooks, J., Walker, I., Wang, Y., de Aguiar, C. H., Green, K. (2018). Design and Evaluation of Two Robotic Furnishings Partnering with Each Other and Their Users to Enable Independent Living. Pervasive Health, at New York, USA.

[1] de Aguiar, C. H., Fateminasab, R., Frazelle, C., Schott, R., Wang, Y. Wooten, M., Green, K., Walker, I. (2016). The Networked, Robotic home+ Furniture Suite: A Distributed, Assistive Technology Facilitating Aging in Place. IEEE CASE 2016, At Fort Worth, Texas, USA, Volume: pp. 1067-1072  

PEER REVIEWED PAPERS FOR WORKSHOP AND LATE-BREAKING SESSION

[5] de Aguiar, C. H. (2018). transFORM -- A Cyber-Physical Artefact Augmenting Social Interaction in Residual Public Spaces. TEI 2019 Proceedings, Graduate Student Consortium, at Temper, USA.

[4] Choueiri, M., Duffy, S., Guria, S., McCarthy, C., Moure, P., Todalbagi, A., Wang, Y., de Aguiar, C. H., Green, K. (2018). Can Interactive Systems Be Designed for Conviviality? A Case Study. DIS 2018 PWiP, at Hong Kong, China.

[3] de Aguiar, C. H., Green, K. (2018). transFORM - A Cyber-Physical Environment Increasing Social Interaction and Place Attachment in Underused, Public Spaces. DIS 2018 PWiP, at Hong Kong, China.

[2] de Aguiar, C. H., Bernard A., Green, K. (2018). EnAct – A Cyber-Physical Environment Increasing Social Interaction and Place Attachment in Underused Outdoor Spaces. CHI 2018, HCI Outdoors Workshop, at Montreal, Canada. de

[1] de Aguiar, C. H.(2016). EnAct. A Responsive, Cyber-physical Architecture as Social Activator of Informal Gathering Spaces in the City. archi-Doct Journal, Transformable Architecture, 7th edition.

BOOK CHAPTER

[1] de Aguiar, C. H.; Green, K. (2020). communIT Building—An Interactive Environment Exemplar Advancing Social Interaction in Underused Public Spaces. In HCI Outdoors: Community, Groups, and Personal Experiences with Interactive Computing in the Outdoors. Ed. Scott McCrickard, Michael Jones, Timothy Stelter.

FELLOWSHIP & AWARDS

  • $1.200,00. Dissertation Grant. DEA, Cornell University. Spring 2020.

  • $25.425,00. Home Economics Extension, Butts, Orrilla Wright Memorial, Jean Failing, Dimelow, Grace C and Virginia F. Cutler Fellowships (Graduate), College of Human Ecology, Cornell University. Award in recognition of academic records. Fall 2019. 

  • $5.568,00. Dimelow, Grace C Scholarship (Graduate), College of Human Ecology, Cornell University. Award in recognition of academic records. Summer 2018.

  • $16.350,00. International Student Tuition Waiver, University of Washington. Spring 2017.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

GENERATIVE DESIGN STUDIO - teaching assistant

Cornell University, Spring 2020

Responsibilities: ran sections weekly, held office hours, assisted with weekly assignments, held desk critique and design review, graded assignments, papers, and design projects.

APPLIED ERGONOMICS - teaching assistant

Cornell University, Spring 2019

Responsibilities: ran sections when necessary, held office hours, assisted with weekly assignments, graded assignments and papers, and maintained the class electronic mailing list.


INTERACTION DESIGN (IxD) SSTUDIO - teaching assistant

Cornell University, Spring 2018

Responsibilities: held design critiques, ran sections when necessary, held office hours, assisted with grading assignments.

 

HEALTH CARE INNOVATIONS - teaching assistant

Cornell University, Spring 2018

Responsibilities: graded midterms and finals, and maintained the class web and blackboard sites.

 

MAKING A DIFFERENCE BY DESIGN - teaching assistant

Cornell University, Fall 2016

Responsibilities: ran weekly sections, held design critique, held office hours, and graded assignments.

 

HUMAN CENTERED DESIGN METHODS - teaching assistant

Cornell University, Fall 2016

Responsibilities: held design critique, held office hours, ran sections when necessary, graded and assisted with weekly assignments and quizzes.

 

ARCHITECTURE COMMUNICATION STUDIO - Instructor

Clemson University, Spring 2016

Responsibilities: designed and ran sections, held desk critique and design review, held office hours, and graded design projects.

 

ACHITECTURAL PORTFOLIO - INSTRUCTOR

Clemson University, Fall 2015

Responsibilities: designed and ran weekly sections, held design critique, held office hours, and graded assignments.

SOCIAL MEDIA