Acclaimed Human-Computer Interaction Scholars to Join UCI Faculty
April 8, 2008 / By Jason Mednick
Irvine, Calif., April 8, 2008 -- Gary and Judy Olson, pioneers in the fields of human-computer interaction and computer-supported cooperative work, will join the UC Irvine faculty as Donald Bren Professors of Information and Computer Sciences, effective July 1.
The couple comes to UCI from the University of Michigan. Gary Olson is the Paul M. Fitts Collegiate Professor of Human-Computer Interaction in the School of Information and former associate dean for research. Judy Olson is the Richard W. Pew Collegiate Professor in Human Computer Interaction and associate dean for academic affairs in the School of Information. They also hold joint appointments in the Department of Psychology, and Judy Olson holds an additional joint appointment in the Ross School of Business.
In 1992, the Olsons founded the Collaboratory for Research on Electronic Work at University of Michigan. The CREW studies how new technologies such as e-mail and nomadic computing change the way people work.
Both professors are members of the prestigious CHI Academy, and they received CHI Lifetime Achievement Awards in 2006 from the Association for Computing Machinery’s Computer-Human Interaction special interest group. The award is the organization’s highest honor recognizing those who have shaped the field of human-computer interaction. Gary Olson also was recently selected as an ACM Fellow, an honor that recognizes members for their achievements in computer science and information technology.
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Gary Olson earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Minnesota in 1967. He received his master’s and doctoral degrees in psychology from Stanford University in 1968 and 1970, respectively, and has been at the University of Michigan since 1975.
Olson, author of more than 100 published research articles, has dedicated his work to understanding how technology can support remote collaboration. He also has made important contributions to the studies of management practice and the cultural aspects of collaboration, as well as the complex socio-technical issues surrounding technology design.
“I have long admired the group at the School of Information and Computer Sciences at UCI, and have always felt a special affinity for many who work in similar areas,” he said. “It is now a delight to be joining all these people as a colleague.
“I look forward to becoming an active partner with many of the faculty here on various projects, and to working with students who want to help uncover the interrelationships of information, people and technology. It is a most exciting venture.”
Judy Olson, who received her bachelor’s degree in mathematics and psychology from Northwestern University in 1965 and her doctorate from the University of Michigan in 1969, began her research training as a Stanford postdoctoral fellow in cognitive psychology emphasizing the study of human memory.
She later shifted her attention to human interaction with computers, and achieved international acclaim for her studies that compared office workers in geographically distributed organizations to those working in the same location. Judy Olson has published about 110 peer-reviewed research articles and is best known for her work on distance collaborations.
At UCI, the Olsons will be professors in the informatics department at the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences. Judy Olson will also hold joint appointments in the Paul Merage School of Business and the School of Social Ecology.
“The Bren School is very excited about the Olsons coming to UC Irvine,” Dean Debra Richardson said. “There is no doubt that appointing Judy and Gary Olson as Bren Chairs will transform the Department of Informatics, the Bren School of ICS and even UCI to some extent through broad collaborations.”
The Olsons are the 11th and 12th Donald Bren Professors at UCI. Other Bren Professors include Francisco J. Ayala, evolutionary biologist and 2002 National Medal of Science honoree; Thomas J. Carew, a leading researcher in the neurobiological field of learning and memory; F. Sherwood Rowland, atmospheric chemist and 1995 Nobel Laureate in chemistry; and Douglas Wallace, a National Academy of Science member and one of the world’s top geneticists.
The Olsons fill the second and third of 10 professorships created by Bren’s $20 million gift to the computer science school at UCI that bears his name. Computer scientist Ramesh Jain, a renowned pioneer in multimedia information systems, image databases, machine vision and intelligent systems, was named the first Bren Professor in ICS in January 2005.
Gary and Judy Olson will team up with Jain and other informatics faculty members to build new video systems to support long-distance work and study the impact of these types of systems on people from different cultures.
“I am thrilled to be joining the faculty at UC Irvine,” Judy Olson said. “The university presents such an abundance of exciting opportunities.
“We have long been studying the social impact of using technologies in long-distance collaborations – both scientific and corporate – and by joining UCI, we now have the opportunity to work closely with system builders and computer scientists as well.”