{"id":445,"date":"2014-02-11T10:57:00","date_gmt":"2014-02-11T10:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.technet.microsoft.com\/inside_microsoft_research\/2014\/02\/11\/microsoft-research-sends-3-to-chi-academy\/"},"modified":"2016-08-26T13:30:07","modified_gmt":"2016-08-26T20:30:07","slug":"microsoft-research-sends-3-to-chi-academy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/blog\/microsoft-research-sends-3-to-chi-academy\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft Research Sends 3 to CHI Academy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Posted by Rob Knies<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\"SIGCHI (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>Each year, SIGCHI (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>, the international society for professionals, academics, and students interested in human technology and human-computer interaction (HCI), announces a short list of individuals who have been elected to the CHI Academy.<\/p>\n

You might wonder: How are the recipients notified? Oscar winners get the drama of a famous celebrity who tears open an envelope, bends into a microphone, and intones a name. Nobel laureates get an early-morning phone call with a Swedish accent. I checked with John Tang<\/a>, Ken Hinckley<\/a>, and Richard Harper (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a> of Microsoft Research to find out how they learned of their 2014 election to the CHI Academy.<\/p>\n

As it turns out, the notifications vary, from the prosaic to the personalized.<\/p>\n

\"Richard (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>Take Harper, for example. A principal researcher at Microsoft Research Cambridge<\/a>, he learned of his election to the CHI Academy\u2014joining principal leaders of the HCI field whose efforts have shaped the discipline and led its innovation\u2014via email.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey send a private email before the announcement,\u201d he explains, adding, tongue in cheek, \u201cIt felt a bit awkward. It\u2019s nice, indeed\u2014but it also means you are old.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tang, too, got the word via email.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in my office when I received the email informing me that I was inducted into the CHI Academy,\u201d says Tang, a senior researcher based in Silicon Valley, although he works in the neXus<\/a> group located at Microsoft Research Redmond<\/a>. \u201cI would say I was joyfully honored upon reading the message!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ken (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>Hinckley, a principal researcher at the Redmond lab, enjoyed a more tailored experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cSaul Greenberg\u2014himself an Academy member and current chair of the SIGCHI Achievement Awards Committee\u2014copied me once the Academy vote was official,\u201d Hinckley says. \u201cIt took me by surprise, because it looked like routine correspondence from the journal editorial board we both sit on, but then, suddenly, my name was on the list.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was great fun to hear about it from Saul, whom I\u2019ve collaborated with on a few papers and is someone in the field whom I really look up to and respect\u2014as well as being a great guy who shares my fondness for ribbing Bill Buxton<\/a> whenever we get the chance!\u201d<\/p>\n

Microsoft Research\u2019s three 2014 honorees were among eight named to the CHI Academy as individuals who have made substantial contributions to the HCI field. The criteria for selection are fourfold:<\/p>\n