Mark Hancock

I am an associate professor in the Department of Management Sciences in the Faculty of Engineering, where I direct the Touchlab, and the Associate Director of the Games Institute at the University of Waterloo. I am also cross-appointed in the Department of Systems Design Engineering and the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science.

My research goal is to design, develop and evaluate technology that can support new ways of interacting with computers and information. A central part of this goal is my interest in providing the ability for richer and faster interaction through the use of one~Rs body, hands, and fingers. The demand for effective interaction is increasing in response to the recent surge in commercial and research hardware that supports the sensing of more and more information about human movement in and around the surfaces ubiquitous in our everyday environment. While this technology has made it possible to interact in interesting and new ways, and even to carry this technology with us everywhere that we go, we have only begun to scratch the surface of what is possible and tend to rely on simple interaction, such as buttons and menus to interact with these new devices. My primary motivation is to harness some of the richness of interaction that is possible with our hands and bodies in how we interact with computers. In my research, I consider the fundamental nature of human movement and perception to help inform the design of interaction for new media.

• human-computer interaction
• computer-supported cooperative work
• tabletop displays
• large-screen displays
• smartphones
• multi-touch interaction
• 3D interaction
• collaboration
• narrative
• games

• 2010, Doctorate, Computer Science, University of Calgary
• 2004, Master of Science, Computer Science, University of British Columbia
• 2002, Bachelor of Science (BSc), Mathematics & Computer Science, Simon Fraser University

• MSCI 121 - Intro to Computer Programming
  • Taught in 2017, 2019, 2020
• MSCI 240 - Algorithms & Data Structures
  • Taught in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020
• MSCI 343 - Human-Comp. Interaction
  • Taught in 2017
• MSCI 630 - Human Computer Interaction
  • Taught in 2019, 2020
• MSCI 720 - Topics in Info & Info Systems
  • Taught in 2017, 2019

• MacArthur, Cayley and Wong, Caroline and Hancock, Mark, Makers and Quilters: Investigating Opportunities for Improving Gender-Imbalanced Maker Groups, Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 3, 2019, 1 - 24
• Mehta, Hrim and Bradley, Adam and Hancock, Mark and Collins, Christopher, Metatation: Annotation as Implicit Interaction to Bridge Close and Distant Reading, ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI), 24(5), 2017, 35 - 41
• Bradley, Adam James and Kirton, Travis and Hancock, Mark and Carpendale, Sheelagh, Language DNA: Visualizing a Language Decomposition., DHQ: Digital Humanities Quarterly, 10(4), 2016
• Nacenta, Miguel A and Hancock, Mark and Gutwin, Carl and Carpendale, Sheelagh, The effects of changing projection geometry on perception of 3D objects on and around tabletops, ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI), 23(2), 2016, 1 - 54
• Ruvimova, Anastasia and Kim, Junhyeok and Fritz, Thomas and Hancock, Mark and Shepherd, David C, " Transport Me Away": Fostering Flow in Open Offices through Virtual Reality, Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1 2020, 1 - 14
• Harris, John and Hancock, Mark, To asymmetry and beyond! Improving social connectedness by increasing designed interdependence in cooperative play, Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1 2019, 1 - 12
• Alzayat, Ayman and Hancock, Mark and Nacenta, Miguel A, Quantitative measurement of tool embodiment for virtual reality input alternatives, Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1 2019, 1 - 11
• Surale, Hemant Bhaskar and Gupta, Aakar and Hancock, Mark and Vogel, Daniel, TabletinVR: Exploring the design space for using a multi-touch tablet in virtual reality, Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1 2019, 1 - 13
• Soroush, Milad and Hancock, Mark and Bohns, Vanessa K, Investigating Game Mechanics that Target Players' Self-Control While Maintaining Engagement, Proceedings of the 2018 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play, 10 2018, Melbourne, Australia, 489 - 502

• Currently considering applications from graduate students. A completed online application is required for admission; start the application process now.