معرفی
Nikita Soni is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Illinois Chicago. She is a Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) researcher whose work intersects natural user interfaces, human-AI interaction, interaction design, creativity-support tools, and learning sciences.
- B.Tech in Electronics and Communications from Jaypee University of Engineering and Technology (2015)
- MS in Computer Science from University of Florida (2016)
- Ph.D. in Human-Centered Computing from University of Florida (2021)
Her research focuses on designing natural user interfaces for education and creativity technologies, particularly for children and adults. She investigates mental models and interaction behaviors with novel technologies, developing applications that support learning and creative expression. Key projects include the TIDRC framework for children's touchscreen design and collaborative exploration of geospatial data on spherical displays.
The articles highlight her work on spherical display interactions in educational settings (2021) and children's touchscreen design guidelines (2019). Both demonstrate her focus on user-centered design for educational technology and collaborative learning environments.
- Honorable Mention, ACM CSCW 2021
She actively mentors students across disciplines and has secured funding from NASA (Illinois Space Grant Consortium), Microsoft Research, and Adobe Research. Her lab, the ELiCIT Lab, develops next-generation interaction technologies for education and creativity.
