André van der Hoek

André van der Hoek is a Professor in the Department of Informatics at the University of California, Irvine, within the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences. His work focuses on software design creativity, collaboration tools, and environmental sustainability education. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Colorado Boulder (2000), and a B.S./M.S. in Business-Oriented Computer Science from Erasmus University Rotterdam (1994).

Research Interests:

• Software design and creativity
• Collaboration and teamwork
• Environmental sustainability education
• Human aspects of software engineering

Recent projects include developing tools like Calico for software design sketching, Daily Smirk for peer assessment, and TeamCAST for project visualization. His work addresses challenges in remote software teams, developer wellbeing, and accessibility for blind/low-vision professionals. He collaborates with institutions like PUCRS (Brazil) and Colorado College.

Teaching: Courses include Software Design, Human Aspects of Software Engineering, and Climate XR. His pedagogy emphasizes practical, industry-relevant skills and integrates research findings into curricula.

Advising: Mentors over 20 graduate and undergraduate students across Informatics and Software Engineering. Key advisees include Vicki Jackson (PhD), Yu Lu (PhD), and Nai-Yu Cheng (MS).

Lab/Team: Leads a vibrant research group exploring software creativity, collaboration tools, and sustainability education. Collaborators include Marian Petre, Rafael Priknadlicki, and Bill Tomlinson.