Michelle Boyoung Huh

Michelle Boyoung Huh is an Assistant Professor in the Interior Design Program at Virginia Tech’s School of Design. She is both NCIDQ-certified and a licensed interior designer (MID), and brings ten years of retail-industry experience as a designer and project manager to her academic role.

Education

• Master of Interior Design (post-professional), University of Texas at Austin
• Bachelor of Architecture, Korea University

Research Interests

Michelle’s scholarship investigates the intersection of technology and physical space, with a particular emphasis on how immersive technologies—virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI)—can transform design pedagogy. She also conducts EEG-based experiments to measure human responses to interior interventions, aiming to generate evidence-driven design strategies. Additional lines of inquiry include the adaptive reuse of vacant buildings through circular-economy frameworks and the cultural narratives embedded in Korean public bathhouse interiors.

Publication Focus

Across five peer-reviewed works from 2023–2025, her research spans immersive learning technologies, cultural space analysis, metaverse spatial perception, and sustainable housing strategies for vacant structures. Collectively these publications bridge human-centered design, technology integration, and socio-environmental resilience.

Grants & Funding

• “Artificial to Conceptual Intelligence,” $34,900, Angelo Donghia Foundation Grant (2023)
• “Inattentiveness Reduction through Environmental Interventions: Workplace Designing for Inattentive Type ADHD,” $30,000, AIA Upjohn Research Initiative (2023)

Teaching & Labs

Michelle teaches Design Research for Interiors and Design Studio III, integrating her research on VR/AI and EEG methodologies directly into the curriculum. While no formal lab group is explicitly named, her grant activities and EEG experimentation imply active collaboration within Virginia Tech’s immersive design and health-centered research clusters.