Sensory Perception & Interaction, Research Group

SPIN + ODL Social at Karon's!

SPIN has a social in conjunction with the Ocean Dynamics Lab (supervised by Prof. Rich Pawlowicz, Karon's partner). 

Preeti Vyas and Tommy Nguyễn defend their theses!

Congratulations!

Prof. Maja Matarić visits SPIN

SPIN held a demo session for Prof. Maja Matarić, who also gave a public seminar and served as an external examiner for Preeti's thesis defense. Thank you, Maja!

SPIN students receive UBC CS awards!

Congratulations to all SPIN graduate students who have recently won departmental awards!

• Rubia Guerra - Maria Klawe Service Award (2026)
• Devyani McLaren - Student Community Building Award (2025, 2026)
• Tommy Nguyen - Graduate Teaching Assistant Award (2026)
• Rocco Ruan - Student Community Building Award (2026)
• Preeti Vyas - Graduate Teaching Assistant Award (2025)

Best Paper Honourable Mention at CHI 2026!

The paper "Tattered Teddies and Pentagram Charms: How People Use Touchable Comfort Objects and What This Means for Designing Affective Haptic Systems" is recognized as one of the top 3% of papers at CHI 2026.

Congratulations to SPIN members Preeti Vyas, Bereket Guta, Angel Bao, Noor Nalia Imtinan Himam, and Karon MacLean, as well as to collaborators Mara Solen and Andero Uusberg!

Check it out here! 

Visit from Prof. Michael Banissy

SPIN is visited by Prof. Michael Banissy from USC Engineering, who also gave a talk. Thank you for coming!

SPIN Student Rocco Ruan receives graduate TA Award!

Congratulations Rocco!

SPIN student Rubia Guerra receives Maria Klawe Service Award! 

The Maria Klawe award recognizes community service within the department. Congratulations Rubia!

Congratulations to Dr. Laura Cang on her graduation and department awards!

Laura graduated with a PhD, her thesis is titled From devices to data and back again: a tale of computationally modeling affective touch. You can read her thesis here. 

Laura also received a graduate TA award and a Student Community Building Award. 

Congratulations Laura! 

MUX Research Group Demo's work to Scott Hudson and Pam Briggs

The MUX Research group held a demo session for visitors Scott Hudson and Pam Briggs. Thank you to our visitors for attending!