Hong Z. Tan

Hong Z. Tan is a distinguished Professor in the Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University, with courtesy appointments in Mechanical Engineering and Psychological Sciences. She holds the Keysight Professorship and has held visiting roles at institutions like Microsoft Research Asia and Google LLC. Her research focuses on haptic human-machine interfaces, haptics psychophysics, and applications in robotics, medicine, and education. She pioneered the TAPS system for tactile speech communication and developed innovative haptic devices like the Sensing Chair and SlickFeel touchscreen feedback.

Educations: BEng from Shanghai Jiao Tong University (Biomedical Engineering), MEng and PhD from MIT (Electrical Engineering & Computer Science). Prior to Purdue, she was a Research Scientist at MIT Media Lab.

Research interests include tactile signal design, crossmodal perception, and haptic communication systems. Her work bridges engineering and psychology, emphasizing perceptual foundations for technology development. Over 160 peer-reviewed publications span journals like IEEE Transactions on Haptics, Proceedings of the IEEE, and Perception.

Key awards: NSF CAREER Award, Chinese National Natural Science Funds' Distinguished Young Scholar, IEEE Fellow, and multiple Best Paper Awards. Editor roles include IEEE Transactions on Haptics and World Haptics Conference. Active in professional service, she co-founded the IEEE Technical Committee on Haptics.

Grants include funding from NSF, Google, and Microsoft. Her Haptic Interface Research Laboratory (HIRL) at Purdue explores cutting-edge haptics applications, including VR sports training and emotional haptic communication. Current projects include tactile speech transmission and wearable haptic arrays.