Zhitong "Klara" Guan
1616 Guadalupe St., Shool of Information, UT Austin. Austin, TX 78701
I am a PhD student at the the School of Information at UT Austin. I am extremely fortunate to be advised by Prof. Soo Young Rieh. My research focuses on advancing Human-Computer Interaction and Search. Specifically, I am interested in rethinking technologies that can bridge thinking and reflection.
Previously, I was a research associate at the APEX Group of Hong Kong University of Science and Techology (HKUST) in Guangzhou, China, working on accessibility technology research, advised by Prof. Mingming Fan. I also worked as a Product Manager in the WeChat Group of Tencent Holdings Ltd., overseeing a myriad of products.
Before I joined WeChat, I obtained a Master's degree in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from UC Berkeley, where I was advised by Prof. Zeyu Zheng working on practical machine learning and optimization problems. I earned my B.A. degree with Honors from UC Berkeley as well, where I double majored in Math and Data Science.
news
Our work on studying human cognition vs GenAI was accepted to the Tools for Thought Workshop at CHI 2025. See you in Yokohama!
Our work on a mobile application system that helps blind and low-vision users to fetch packages from parcel lockers was nominated as the Best Paper Honorable Metion at CHI 2024. Checkout our demo video HERE. See you in Honolulu!