Pedro Lopes is an Associate Professor in Computer Science at the University of Chicago. Pedro focuses on integrating interfaces with the human body—exploring the interface paradigm that supersedes wearables. These include: muscle stimulation wearables that allow users to manipulate tools they have never seen before or that accelerate reaction time, or a device that leverages the smell to create an illusion of temperature. All these examples leverage computers to augment the user’s body, not just cognitively, but also physically (e.g., our wearable that accelerates one’s reaction time made it to the Guinness Book of World Records). Pedro’s work has received several academic awards, such as six CHI/UIST Best Papers, the Sloan Fellowship and the NSF CAREER award, and captured the interest of the public (e.g., New York Times, exhibited at Ars Electronica, etc.; more: https://lab.plopes.org).

Learn more about Professor Lopes here.