Wednesday / CS Seminar

March 5th / 12:00 PM

Hybrid / Mudd 3514

Speaker

Jas Brooks, University of Chicago

Talk Title

Expanding Human & Computer Senses through Perceptual Engineering

Abstract

"Imagine a future where sensory experiences are as easily customizable as adjusting phone settings--reducing sweetness to encourage healthier eating, modulating perceived temperature for comfort, or extending sensory range to detect imperceptible noxious gases. Despite the transformative potential of such advancements, today's computer interfaces struggle to integrate rich and intimate senses like temperature, touch, taste, and smell due to persistent challenges such as power inefficiency, miniaturization difficulties, and the inability to target specific sensory effects.

I argue that entirely new interfacing techniques are needed. To address these barriers, I focus on perceptual engineering--the design and implementation of interfaces that precisely alter sensory mechanisms to systematically change perception in a controlled and reproducible manner. My research first explores this through chemical interfaces, a new class of wearable systems that induce sensory feedback by interacting directly with the body's chemical pathways. Unlike traditional mechanical stimulation or sensory substitution, chemical interfaces are power-efficient, versatile, and selective: they reduce energy consumption for temperature feedback (CHI'20 Best Paper), create diverse haptic sensations with a single miniaturized actuator (UIST'21), and precisely modify taste, such as reducing sweetness perception to promote healthier diets (UIST'23 Demo Honorable Mention).

However, perceptual engineering extends beyond chemical interactions. My work demonstrates that this approach generalizes across multiple stimulation modalities--from electrical stimulation of the septum to evoke smell-like sensations (CHI'21) to thermal modulation of the nose that alters perceived airflow (UIST'24). These interfaces not only overcome technical limitations but also open new possibilities in health, training, and immersive experiences. For example, taste retargeting offers a novel approach to improve eating habits (UIST'23), stereo-smell could enable users to detect and localize harmful gases in high-risk environments (CHI'21), and interfaces that make one feel like they are breathing more air than they actually inhale could support health interventions like anxiety management or improved face mask compliance (UIST'24).

Perceptual engineering lays the foundation for the future I envision where users can actively shape their perceptions to improve health, enhance comfort, and enrich their interactions with both digital and physical environments."

Biography

Jas Brooks (they/them) is a Computer Science Ph.D. candidate at the University of Chicago. Their research reimagines how technology integrates with human senses--temperature, touch, taste, and smell--by focusing on perceptual engineering, a framework for designing technologies that precisely fine-tune sensory perception by combining methods from computer science, neurobiology, and psychophysiology. Jas's research has been published at top-tier HCI venues such as ACM CHI and UIST, earning two Best Paper Awards, and has been recognized with honors like the 2023 Rising Star in EECS, 2024 Siebel Scholar distinction, and an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Their work has attracted media coverage from outlets like WIRED and Fast Company. Beyond their doctoral work, Jas studies and conserves historical scent technologies like AromaRama and Smell-O-Vision, documents early 20th-century scent-enhanced media, and curates exhibitions bridging historical and modern olfactory practices.

Research/Interest Areas

Human-Computer Interaction; Embedded Systems; Wearable Computing; Bio-Inspired Computing

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Zoom: https://northwestern.zoom.us/j/95683661668?pwd=HyBG6Stkwd7E68xHqrwNFh17mt5Tsr.1

Panopto: https://northwestern.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=2a308f86-ce8c-44cc-8566-b2890118aeaa

Community Connections Topic: Intersectionality and Identity