Thijs Roumen

Thijs Roumen is an Assistant Professor of Information Science at Cornell Tech in New York City and a field member of Computer Science. He serves as Director of the Matter of Tech lab. Previously, he completed his PhD at the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) under Patrick Baudisch and worked as a Research Assistant with Shengdong Zhao at the National University of Singapore (NUS) on Portable Laser-Cutting projects.

Roumen's research focuses on digital fabrication as a subfield of human-computer interaction (HCI), with particular emphasis on creating technological foundations that allow designers and engineers to build upon each other's work in laser-cut 3D modeling. His work aims to increase model complexity and adoption of digital fabrication technology, making it more accessible and useful for broader populations. His research spans several interconnected areas including laser cutting techniques, structural integrity of fabricated objects, cross-machine compatibility, assembly optimization, and assistive technologies.

His publication record reveals a strong trajectory of impactful contributions to the field, with numerous papers at top-tier HCI venues including ACM CHI, UIST, and HRI conferences. His work demonstrates consistent innovation in addressing fundamental challenges in digital fabrication, with particular focus on making fabrication processes more robust, accessible, and collaborative. Several of his papers have received best paper honorable mentions (top-5%) and other awards, including a best demo jury award.

• Best paper honorable mention (top-5%)
• Best demo jury award (#1)

Roumen is deeply engaged with the academic community through extensive service activities. He has served as subcommittee chair for DIS '24 and CHI'23-'26, UIST'21-'25, and as Doctoral Symposium Chair for UIST'25. He has also held leadership roles including General chair of SCF'23, Demo chair for UIST'21-'24, and various best paper committee positions. His reviewing contributions have been recognized multiple times across major conferences including CHI and UIST. Beyond academia, Roumen is an accomplished marathon runner, having completed major marathons in Chicago (2023, 2:51:22), Berlin (2019), and New York City (2018).