Hello, I’m Irene Hou! I’m a second-year Cognitive Science PhD student in The Design Lab at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), advised by Dr. Philip Guo. I am also a recipient of the 2025 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF GRFP).

My research interests span Human–Computer Interaction, Human-Centered AI, and computing education. I study how AI systems are used in learning and scientific work, and how their design shapes social interaction, agency, and expertise. I am particularly interested in participatory approaches to AI that support non-experts and underrepresented users.

In 2025, I was a visiting researcher at ETH Zürich in Dr. April Wang’s PEACH lab. Before my PhD, I was a Research Lead in Dr. Stephen MacNeil’s HCI Lab, and UX Lead at FluentPet in collaboration with the Comparative Cognition Lab. I received my B.S. from UCSD in Cognitive Science (Design and Interaction) with a minor in Computer Science. Outside of my research, I’m a fiction writer/poet and was one of America’s youngest published authors at age 14.