The Association for Computing Machinery has named Professor Daniel Vogel a Distinguished Member for his fundamental contributions to human-computer interaction and applications of novel forms of interaction. He is among 52 individuals recognized internationally by ACM for their outstanding scientific contributions to computing.
“Congratulations to Dan on this much-deserved recognition from ACM for his pioneering human-computer interaction research,” said Raouf Boutaba, Professor and Director of the Cheriton School of Computer Science. “Dan has made many fundamental contributions to user interfaces that have been adopted widely by industry. His vision also extends to the future as he has developed methods for large-display interaction using one’s body for input to wearable Bluetooth-enabled displays to prototyping novel interfaces using spatial augmented reality.”
Professor
Daniel
Vogel’s
research
focuses
on
fundamental
characteristics
of
human
input
and
novel
forms
of
interaction
for
current
and
future
computing
form
factors
such
as
touch,
tangibles,
mid-air
gestures,
and
whole-body
input,
for
everything
from
on-body
wearable
devices
and
mobile
phones
to
large
displays
and
virtual
reality.
Professor
Vogel
held
a
Cheriton
Faculty
Fellowship
from
2019–22,
was
recognized
as
a
2018
Outstanding
Young
Computer
Scientist
by
CS-Can
|
Info-Can,
received
the
2018
Faculty
of
Mathematics
Golden
Jubilee
Research
Excellence
Award,
and
the
2010
Bill
Buxton
Best
Canadian
HCI
Dissertation
Award.
As
of
January
2024,
his
journal
and
conference
papers
have
been
cited
collectively
more
than
5,900
times
with
an
h-index
of
34
according
to
Google
Scholar.
About Professor Vogel’s research
Professor Vogel is an internationally recognized HCI researcher known widely for his work on novel forms of interaction that have been adopted by industry in currently used devices as well as futuristic user interfaces that fuel yet-to-be-created and prototype devices. The overarching goal of his work is to inspire a future where interfaces are embedded in and seamlessly integrated with our surrounding environment.
A prolific researcher, Professor Vogel and his students have published more than 100 articles, including 46 at ACM CHI and 19 at ACM UIST, two annual international conferences in which presentation is synonymous with publication in the best journals of the field. His publications have received 16 best paper and honourable mention awards, including four best papers and eight honourable mentions at ACM CHI. His 2004 paper on interactive ambient displays is one of the ten most-cited papers in the history of the UIST conference.
Professor Vogel’s success is attributable in part to his rare but highly complementary background. He is a computer scientist by training, but he also holds two undergraduate degrees in visual art and has experience as a professional artist. Before starting graduate school, he worked as a graphic designer, creative director, 3D animator, and information architect. In both his research and teaching he blends his background in art and computer science. His rare fusion of skills and education were instrumental in his success in garnering support to build a $1.8 million physio–digital facility to explore the intersection of HCI and fine arts in spatial augmented reality — technology where everything around you can be augmented with digital information without need of special goggles.
Professor Vogel’s first two publications — one on context-based whole-body input for large displays and another on mid-air bare-hand pointing — are seminal works. These papers portrayed a vision for digital displays that can be controlled using one’s body, an input technique now used in the latest generation of smart TVs.
His reputation in designing novel interaction techniques was established early with his highly cited Shift technique, a touchscreen input method. This research not only received a best paper award in 2007 at CHI, but the technique is also protected by Microsoft through a 2010 patent. The shift technique may have inspired the “bubble” that appears above your finger when you fine-tune text selections on a smartphone.
Professor Vogel’s 2008 article on how a computer mouse transfers movements to an on-screen cursor is now a well-known reference. Another fundamental challenge for user interfaces is filtering noisy input device sensors. His extensively cited 2012 paper solved this challenge by developing a novel speed-based filter for interactive systems. The method he developed has been integrated into major commercial software including Vicon Tracker, Unreal Engine, and Google Chrome.
In addition to his many scholarly contributions, Professor Vogel also serves the HCI community. He has twice been a papers subcommittee chair for CHI, twice a posters co-chair for UIST, has served on the UIST doctoral consortium panel and regularly on many technical paper program committees.
Professor Vogel is the 12th faculty member at the Cheriton School of Computer Science to be recognized as a Distinguished Member by ACM, following Professors Khuzaima Daudjee (2022), Florian Kerschbaum (2019), Ian Goldberg (2017), Kenneth Salem (2017), Jo Atlee (2016), Charles Clarke (2015), Ihab Ilyas (2014), Mark Giesbrecht (2013), Don Cowan (2010), Anna Lubiw (2009), and Jeffrey Shallit (2008).
The
Association
for
Computing
Machinery
is
the
world’s
largest
and
most
well-known
scientific
and
educational
computing
society.
To
be
recognized
as
an
ACM
Distinguished
Member,
awardees
must
have
achieved
a
significant
research
accomplishment
or
made
a
substantial
impact
in
computing,
computer
science,
or
information
technology.