曹翔

I am a researcher in the Human-Computer Interaction Group at Microsoft Research Asia. My research is in the general field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), with current focuses being next-generation interaction technologies and digital tools to support creativity. My other interests also include computer-supported cooperative activities and user performance modeling.

I first joined Microsoft in the Computer-Mediated Living Group at Microsoft Research Cambridge (UK), where I was also a fellow at Corpus Christi College in the University of Cambridge. In the past I also worked and interned at other research labs such as in Siemens, IBM, and Intel. I received my PhD from the Department of Computer Science at University of Toronto, supervised by Prof. Ravin Balakrishnan.

Along with other professional services, I currently serve as the vice chair of the China Chapter of ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Human Interaction (SIGCHI), working towards promoting HCI research in China and its connection with the international HCI community.

PUBLICATIONS                    PATENTS                    SERVICES                    SUPERVISION

PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS  

Novel Interaction Technologies and Techniques

Digital Tools to Support Creativity

Living, Playing, and Working in the Social Realm

Measuring and Modeling User Performance

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

Invited Papers/Articles

• Xiang Cao. (2011). 自然用户界面自然在哪儿？(What makes natural user interface "natural"?). Communications of the China Computer Federation (in Chinese). Vol. 7, No. 11, p. 14-18. 
• Minghui Sun, Xiangshi Ren, Xiang Cao. (2010). Effects of multimodal error feedback on human performance in steering tasks. Information Processing Society of Japan (IPSJ) Journal (Paper recommended by FIT 2009). Vol. 51, No. 12, p. 2375–2383.
• Xiang Cao, Ravin Balakrishnan. (2004). VisionWand: Interaction techniques for large displays using a passive wand tracked in 3D. ACM Transactions on Graphics, 23(3). Proceedings of SIGGRAPH 2004 Conference (Invited reprise of UIST 2003). p. 729.

Demos, Posters, Tech Reports, etc.

• Yuhang Zhao, Chao Xue, Xiang Cao, Yuanchun Shi. (2011). PicoPet: "Real world" digital pet on a handheld projector. (Demo). Adjunct Publication of UIST 2011, ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology. p. 1-2. Video
• Xiang Cao, Shumin Zhai. (2006). Modeling human performance of pen stroke gestures. IBM Research Report RJ10392. p. 1-12.
• Xiang Cao, Eyal Ofek, David Vronay. (2005). Evaluation of alternative presentation control techniques. (Poster). Extended Abstracts of CHI 2005, ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. p. 1248-1251.
• Xiang Cao, Guangyou Xu. (2000). Segmentation and tracking of semantic objects in video. Proceedings of NCMT 2000, National Conference of Multimedia Technology (in Chinese).

Theses

• Xiang Cao. (2008). Handheld projector interaction. Ph. D. Thesis. Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto.
• Xiang Cao. (2004). An exploration of gesture-based interaction. M. Sc. Thesis. Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto.
• Xiang Cao. (2000). Segmentation and tracking of semantic objects in video. B. Eng. Thesis. Department of Computer Science and Technology, Tsinghua University.

PATENTS FILED

• Aaron Hoff, Kori Inkpen Quinn, Paul Johns, Asta Roseway, Chen Zhao, Xiang Cao, Jennifer Marlow, John C. Tang. (2011). Proxy for asynchronous meeting participation. U.S. patent application filed 24 November 2011. Pending.
• Xiang Cao, Guang Li, Sergio Paolantonio. (2011). Techniques to facilitate asynchronous communication. U.S. patent application filed 19 October 2011. Pending.
• Xiang Cao, Minghui Sun, Shahram Izadi, Hrvoje Benko, Kenneth P Hinckley. (2011). Multi-touch input device with orientation sensing. U.S. patent application filed 11 February 2011. Pending.
• John Helmes, Shahram Izadi, Xiang Cao, Nicolas Villar, Richard Banks. (2010). User Input Device. U.S. patent application filed 29 October 2010. Pending.
• Xiang Cao, John Helmes, Abigail Sellen, Richard Banks. (2010). Sketching and searching application for idea generation. U.S. patent application filed 3 June 2010. Pending.
• Hrvoje Benko, Shahram Izadi, Andrew D Wilson, Daniel Rosenfeld, Ken Hinckley, Xiang Cao, Nicolas Villar, Stephen Hodges. (2010). Multi-touch user interface interaction. U.S. patent application filed 16 March 2010. Pending.
• John Helmes, Nicolas Villar, Hrvoje Benko, Shahram Izadi, Daniel Rosenfeld, Stephen Hodges, David Alexander Butler, Xiang Cao, Richard Banks. (2009). Indirect multi-touch interaction. U.S. patent application filed 1 October 2009. Pending.
• Xiang Cao, John Helmes, Abigail Sellen, Siân Elizabeth Lindley. (2009). Creating animations. U.S. patent application filed 10 July 2009. Pending.
• Nicolas Villar, John Helmes, Shahram Izadi, Daniel Rosenfeld, Stephen E Hodges, David Alexander Butler, Xiang Cao, Otmar Hilliges, Richard Banks, Benjamin David Eidelson, Hrvoje Benko. (2009). Pointing device with independently movable portions. U.S. patent application filed 16 June 2009. Pending.

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

Program Committees and Referee Duties

• Program committee. ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST) 2012.
• Program committee. ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) 2012.
• Associate program chair. Asia Pacific Conference on Computer Human Interaction (APCHI) 2012.
• Program committee. ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) 2011.
• Referee. Microsoft 2011 Collaborative Research (CORE) Funding Program in Japan.
• Program co-chair. IEEE International Conference on Information and Automation (ICIA) 2010.
• Jury member. Austrian research funding program on Research and Innovation for Information Technologies (FIT-IT) 2009.
• Paper reviewer for numerous conferences and journals, e.g. CHI, UIST, CSCW, TOCHI, SIGGRAPH ...

Conference Organization

• Session chair. Non-Flat Displays paper session at ACM CHI 2011.
• Co-organizer. China Symposium on Human Computer Interaction 2011.
• Co-organizer. Designing Social and Collaborative Systems for China workshop at ACM CSCW 2011.
• Co-organizer. Connecting Families: New Technologies, Family Communication, and the Impact on Domestic Space workshop at ACM GROUP 2010. 
• Demonstrations co-chair. ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST) 2009.
• Demonstrations co-chair. ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST) 2008.

Others

• Vice Chair. ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Human Interaction (SIGCHI) China Chapter. 2011-present.
• Member of governing body, visiting fellows committee, and computer committee. Corpus Christi College, University of Cambridge. 2008-2010.
• Academic supervisor for undergraduate computer science students at University of Cambridge. 2009-2010.

RESEARCH SUPERVISION

• Jun Kato. Research intern at Microsoft Research Asia, from University of Tokyo. 2012.
• Shang Ma. Research intern at Microsoft Research Asia, from Tsinghua University, co-supervised with Ying-Qing Xu. 2012.
• Jessica Cauchard. Research intern at Microsoft Research Asia, from University of Bristol. 2011-2012.
• Teng Han. Research intern at Microsoft Research Asia, from University of Bristol. 2011-2012.
• Jizhou Yan. Research intern at Microsoft Research Asia, from Beihang University, co-supervised with Xin Ma and Chunshui Zhao. 2011-2012.
• Dominik Schmidt. Research intern at Microsoft Research Asia, from Lancaster University. 2011.
• Haimo Zhang. Research intern at Microsoft Research Asia, from National University of Singapore. 2011.
• Adiyan Mujibiya. Research intern at Microsoft Research Asia, from University of Tokyo, co-supervised with Desney Tan. 2011.
• Seokhwan Kim. Research intern at Microsoft Research Asia, from University of Tsukuba, co-supervised with Desney Tan. 2011.
• Nan Zhao. Research intern at Microsoft Research Asia, from RWTH Aachen University. 2011.
• Yuhang Zhao. Research intern at Microsoft Research Asia, from Tsinghua University. 2010-2011.
• Guang Li. Research intern at Microsoft Research Asia, from Chinese Academy of Sciences. 2010-2011.
• Minghui Sun. Research intern at Microsoft Research Cambridge, from Kochi University of Technology. 2010.
• Yan Xu. Research intern at Microsoft Research Cambridge, from Georgia Institute of Technology. 2009.
• Boon Yew Chew. Master's thesis at University College London, co-supervised with Jennifer A. Rode and Abigail Sellen. 2009.
• Serena Kao. Undergraduate research assistant at University of Toronto. 2008.
• Clarissa Mak. Undergraduate research assistant at University of Toronto. 2008.
• Jacky Jie Li. Undergraduate research assistant at University of Toronto. 2007.
• Janek Lasocki-Biczysko. Undergraduate research assistant at University of Toronto, co-supervised with Tomer Moscovich. 2007.
• Shuo Zhao. Research intern at Siemens Ltd., China, from Peking University. 2005.

(This web page last updated on 21st January 2012.)