Bio



Tao Long is an incoming Computer Science PhD Student at Columbia University. I work on human-computer interaction and human-AI interaction stuffs with Dr. Lydia Chilton.

Supporting users' online behaviors and interactions in an accessible way, Tao's works falls into the field of Human-Computer Interaction(HCI). Through a human-centered lens, Tao’s research aims to understand how to design and build AI-powered technical and social supports for collaborative environments and marginalized communities. Please go to the Projects sections to see Tao's works.

 I am a...

I am a researcher.

I am a product manager.

I am a full stack developer.

I am a ux designer.

I am a teaching assistant.

I am a social impact enthusiast.

I am a kpop lover.

I am a tanya chua's big fan.

I am a cornellian.

I am a demon deacon.

I am a shenzhener.

I am a global citizen.

I am a hotpot lover.

Check my CV ! And shoot me an Email !








CV



Here is my CV.
  Last Updated: Dec 05, 2021



Projects



Tao has been contributing to and leading multiple research projects in both collaboration-oriented and accessibility-oriented settings of immigrant affairs, teaching and learning, multicultural and organizational communication, user-centered AI, social media, and digital/wearable health tech.

...

Asylum Seeker's Tech

Advisor: Dr. Natalie Bazarova


Design and build an online digital tool, Right4Health, which addresses asylum seekers’ information asymmetry problems by helping gather and present correct legal and healthcare information.

[Figma] [Website] [Paper(In Progress)]

  • Review literature on similar technologies and conduct a pilot study with the asylum seeker’s technology usages;
  • Conduct semi-structured interviews with legal and healthcare professionals; Code the qualitative data to produce insights towards an ongoing paper for CSCW2022;
  • Hold participatory design workshops to help generate the design and iterations on Figma;
  • Build an accessibility-oriented website with static resources, dynamic search, relational database, and two-version interfaces for both the asylum seekers and the related professionals using React, Node, Express, and MongoDB
...
UPDATES by 12/03: Received $1000 from 2 College-Level Research Awards!       

Virtual Cyberball Task

[Honors Thesis Project] Advisor: Dr. Andrea Won

Design and build a virtual Cyberball task for social science research and examine how avatar customization impact results and inclusiveness while testing interpersonal ostracism and exclusion.
[WebGL Version] [Grant Proposal] [Award 1] [Award 2]

  • Conduct an iterative and qualitative user study for design considerations and avatar embodiment experiences for two versions of a 3D Cyberball task;
  • Design and build an interactive virtual avatar customization using storyboards and Unity Multipurpose Avatar System;
  • Recruit participants to test the environment using Quest and evaluate the usability and their experiences with the design using surveys;
  • Produce quantitative and qualitative data report and iterate the design
...

Immersive Remote Debugging

Advisor: Dr. François Guimbretière


Lead the virtual reality interface design and implementation subproject for a joint-debugging telepresence product, RemoteCode, a rapid prototyping debugging tool


  • Conducted market and literature review on collaboration-oriented virtual world design;
  • Designed and built virtual interfaces including avatars (with body/face orientation tracking), monitors (desktop-sharing), cameras (livestream videos of breadboards and wires) using storyboards and Unity;
  • Implemented the features of hand tracking, screen movement and size adjustment to improve immersiveness with Oculus package;
  • Finished pilot user testing and iterations with 15 users
...

Emotion Translator

Advisor: Dr. Susan Fussell


Develop an AI-powered plug-in application, SenseTrans, that translates emotional and contextual knowledge of social media posts in foreign languages to avoid potential misunderstandings


  • Evaluated the sense-making process of people’s understanding and machine translation;
  • Recruited non-native English speakers for data;
  • Designed and built a Chrome extension with AI-Augmented interfaces and NLP techniques to support better sensemaking of foreign language posts using jQuery;
  • Iterated the interface and reported bugs from insights of usability tests
...

Technology Solution for the Informal Organizational Communication Loss Under COVID

Advisor: Dr. Susan Fussell


Investigate the shifts of the informal communication in organizations under the pandemic and related technology accommodations


  • Conducted 10 semi-structured interviews and created affinity diagrams from to analyze possible technical barriers or benefits in interacting with people virtually during COVID;
  • Reviewed studies and existing marketplace solutions and generate a complete list of literature review;
  • Used speculative design to re-approach user interaction and improve future collaboration experience in remote workspaces from both formal and informal communication pathways
...

Changing Table

Advisor: Dr. Victor Paúl Pauca


Design and prototype a portable, affordable, easy-to-clean diaper-changing table for teenagers with disabilities, which enables their caregivers to change the teenagers’ diapers without putting them on the floor of public restrooms


[Poster]

  • Conducted field studies and interviews with target families in North Carolina;
  • Analyzed user stories and generated design requirements using affinity diagrams and persona studies;
  • Collaborated with the Department of Engineering to physically prototype a foldable, lightweight, and low-cost changing table and performed testing on stability and capacity;
  • Presented poster on Entrepalooza19, the marquee event of the year for Wake Forest’s Center for Entrepreneurship
...

AI-Powered Autosuggest Tool Design for Asylum Seekers

Advisor: Dr. Qian Yang


Design a user-centered autosuggest AI tool for asylum seekers that enables its users with low literacy and little sociocultural familiarity to efficiently search information


  • Re-design the human-AI interaction process from interaction design, interface design, and AI system design to mitigate the up-to-date and correct information from diverse sources as well as in region-specific and time-specific topics
  • Generate AI design guidelines and recommendations to mitigate human-AI interaction problem: data collection complexity and system explainability;
...

I AM

Advisor: Dr. Gilly Leshed


Designed and prototyped an mobile APP for the community with mental health stigma to share mutual support and amplify their voices

[Figma]


  • Identified the deficiency in online resources and community support for people with mental health issues from related literature and preliminary user research
  • Completed semi-structured interviews and participatory design with the students with mental health stigma at Cornell and determined to prototype a digital product that allows users to write journal entries and mental health journey and join “Groups” for guided mental health discussion sessions
  • Established a high-fidelity mobile APP prototype using Figma with usability testing
...

New Health Code

Advisor: Dr. Aditya Vashistha


Designed and prototyped an hybrid solution that addresses the Chinese seniors’ technology difficulties in using QR codes and updating health record regularly under the pandemic

[Presentation Slide] [Figma]


  • Identified technical difficulties of seniors under the Chinese Health QR Code system due to seniors’ unfamiliarity with technology and hardship in help-seeking during COVID
  • Conducted user research from interviews, surveys, user stories, co-design sessions with both the user groups and the related stakeholders especially senior-care industry workers
  • Launched a prototype of a more accessible version of health code with a hybrid set of data management catalog with online webApp and paper-based records
...

VR in Teacher Training

Advisor: Dr. Andrea Stevenson Won


A Review on Virtual Reality Teacher Training Tools

[Slide] [Presentation Video]


  • Review how virtual reality technologies are applied in the field of teacher training and what are the potential implications of using them under both in-class and off-class settings for better teaching equality, classroom engagement, environment inclusiveness, and skills of problem-solving
...

CollegeTown Recipe Cookbook

Advisor: Dr. Kyle J. Harms


Designed and prototyped an copycat recipe progressive webApp for Cornell students to replicate dishes from collegetown restaurants

[User Research & Design Considerations] [Demo]


  • Identified the problem of Cornell students spending too much money and time eating in Collegetown
  • Organized user research through interviews and field studies and programmed a copycat recipe Progressive WebApp using Vue and JavaScript on students’ mobile phones and desktops including ingredient recommendations/substitutions, time/money indicators, cooking steps, and save feature
...

Dynamic Meditation Assistant

Advisor: Dr. Cheng Zhang


Design and implement and prototype a wearable solution for dynamic meditation using microcontrollers, motion sensors, heart rate sensors, and ECG sensors with machine learning to identify meditation success level

[Video] [Poster] [Poster]


  • Design a wearable that improves users’ meditation session quality by analyzing the user’s heart rate and pulse transit time and providing immediate feedback for users to improve their meditation and know their meditation quality and anxiety level changes
  • Prototype the form factor using Fusion 360 and 3D printing that holds the battery, microcontroller, motion sensors, 3 heart rate monitoring sensors, microphone, light projector, and LED screen
  • Programme using Arduino and Processing; Analyze and visualize the data using Weka
...

Some Funny Projects

[AGRIBEST] [Music Analyzer] [VEat (DO Student Company)]