---

---

I am a tenured Associate Professor of Computer Science at the University of San Francisco, where I have created the Human-Computer Interaction teaching and research programs. I am the founder and director of the Human-Computer Interaction Lab where I have a high proportion of women and underrepresented minority undergraduate and graduate students as well as military veterans working in my lab. I have received the National Science Foundation CISE Research Infrastructure Award in 2017. My research has won a Best Paper Award (first author) and a Honorable Mention Award (as lead professor and conceiver of research) at ACM CHI which is the top publication venue in my field of Human-Computer Interaction.

I am the Faculty Advisor of the Women in Tech student organization and I was the founding faculty member of the Diversineers (Diverse Engineers) student organization at USF. During my time at USF I have raised over $1.5 million for Women in Tech and Military Veteran students in terms of tuition scholarships, research and teaching assistantships, academic conference scholarships, coding programs for middle and high school students, and Engineering’s Summer Zero Program. This funding has benefitted students and faculty from multiple departments including undergraduate and graduate Computer Science, undergraduate Data Science, the MSDS program at the Data Science Institute and the new Engineering department.

My work with seven students on investigating full body visuomotor synchrony in virtual reality to reduce implicit gender bias received an ACM CHI 2019 Honorable Mention Award [acceptance rate was 23.8% (705/2958)].

My first authored work on brain-computer interfaces won an ACM CHI 2016 Best Paper Award (top 1%). Here's a few press articles about it:

New Scientist Article
Fast Company Article
The Wintrust Business Lunch, WGN Radio (7:30-13:30 mins)

Research

My Human-Computer Interaction research lab focuses on two branches of research: 1) full body visuomotor synchrony in virtual reality and investigating the effects of this on implicit biases, and 2) using brain-computer interfaces, specifically using functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to detect, analyze, and respond to brain signals in real time using machine learning and deep learning techniques. In addition, we use physiological and affective computing as well as paradigms based in cognitive psychology to build models of user state. These user models provide the computer with an increased knowledge of the user, thus allowing for a more intelligent, personalized and adaptive response from the computer to the human.

Publications

Select Conference and Journal Papers

Using a Virtual Workplace Environment to Reduce Implicit Gender Bias.
Kevin Beltran, Cody Rowland, Nicki Hashemi, Anh Nguyen, Lane Harrison, Sophie J Engle and Beste F Yuksel
Int Journal of Human-Computer Interaction 2022
pdf

Reducing Implicit Gender Bias Using a Virtual Workplace Environment.
Kevin Beltran, Cody Rowland, Nicki Hashemi, Anh Nguyen, Lane Harrison, Sophie J Engle and Beste F Yuksel
Extended Abstracts CHI 2021
pdf | video

Increasing Video Accessibility for Visually Impaired Users with Human-in-the-Loop Machine Learning
Beste F Yuksel, Pooyan Fazli, Umang Mathur, Vaishali Bisht, Soo Jung Kim, Joshua Junhee Lee, Seung Jung Jin, Yue-Ting Siu, Joshua A. Miele, Ilmi Yoon
Extended Abstracts CHI 2020
pdf

Human-in-the-Loop Machine Learning to Increase Video Accessibility for Visually Impaired and Blind Users
Beste F Yuksel, Pooyan Fazli, Umang Mathur, Vaishali Bisht, Soo Jung Kim, Joshua Junhee Lee, Seung Jung Jin, Yue-Ting Siu, Joshua A. Miele, Ilmi Yoon
Proc. DIS 2020
pdf

Honorable Mention Award:
Investigating Implicit Gender Bias and Embodiment of White Males in Virtual Reality with Full Body Visuomotor Synchrony
Lopez, S., Yi, Y., Beltran, K., Kim, S.J., Cruz Hernandez, J., Simran, C., Yang, B. Yuksel, B.F.,
Proc. CHI 2019
pdf | video

Detecting and Adapting to Users’ Cognitive and Affective State to Develop Intelligent Musical Interfaces
Yuksel, B.F. Oleson, K.B., Chang, R., Jacob, R.J.K.
New Directions in Music and Human-Computer Interaction, 2019
link

Using Animation to Alleviate Overdraw in Multiclass Scatterplot Matrices
Chen, H., Engle, S., Joshi, A., Ragan, E., Yuksel, B.F., Harrison, L.
Proc. CHI 2018
pdf

Brains or Beauty: How to Engender Trust in User-Agent Interactions.
Yuksel, B.F., Collisson, P., Czerwinski, M.
ACM TOIT 2016
pdf

Best Paper Award (top 1%):
Learn Piano with BACh: An Adaptive Learning Interface that Adjusts Task Difficulty based on Brain State.
Yuksel, B.F., Oleson, K.B., Harrison, L., Peck, E.M., Afergan, D., Chang, R., and Jacob, R.J.K.
Proc. CHI 2016
pdf | video

DriftBoard: A Panning-Based Text Entry Technique for Ultra-Small Touchscreens.
Shibata, T., Afergan, D., Kong, D., Yuksel, B.F., MacKenzie, S., and Jacob, R.J.K.
Proc. UIST 2016
pdf

Measurings Users' Cognitive and Affective State to Develop Intelligent Musical Interfaces.
Yuksel, B.F., Oleson, K.B., Chang, R., and Jacob, R.J.K.
HCI and Music Workshop at ACM CHI 2016
pdf

BRAAHMS: A Novel Adaptive Musical Interface Based on Users’ Cognitive State.
Yuksel, B.F., Afergan, D., Peck, E.M., Griffin, G., Harrison, L., Chen, N.W., Chang, R., and Jacob, R.J.K.
Proc. NIME 2015
pdf

Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy for Adaptive Human Computer Interfaces.
Yuksel, B.F., Peck, E.M., Afergan, D., Hincks, S.W., Shibata, T., Kainerstorfer, J., Tgavalekos, K., Sassaroli, A., Fantini, S. and Jacob, R.J.K.
Proc. SPIE 2015
pdf

Brain-Based Target Expansion
Afergan, D., Shibata, T., Hincks, S., Peck, E.M., Yuksel, B.F., Chang, R., Jacob, R.J.K.
Proc. UIST 2014
pdf

Using fNIRS to Measure Mental Workload in the Real World.
Peck, E.M., Afergan, D., Yuksel, B.F., Lalooses, F., Jacob, R.J.K.
Advances in Physiological Computing, 2014
link

Building Implicit Interfaces for Wearable Computers with Physiological Inputs: Zero Shutter Camera and Phylter
Shibata, T., Peck, E.M., Afergan, D., Hincks, S., Yuksel, B.F., Jacob, R.J.K.
Proc. UIST 2014
pdf | poster

Using fNIRS Brain Sensing to Evaluate Information Visualization Interfaces.
Peck, E.M., Yuksel, B.F., Ottley, A., Jacob, R.J.K, and Chang, R.
Proc. CHI 2013
pdf | video

Towards a 3-Dimensional Model of Individual Cognitive Differences.
Peck, E.M., Yuksel, B.F., Harrison, L., Ottley, A., and Chang, R.
BELIV 2012
pdf

Optimizing the P300-based braincomputer interface: current status, limitations and future directions.
Mak, J.N., Arbel, Y., Minett, J.W., McCane, L.M., Yuksel, B.F., Ryan, D., Thompson, D., Bianchi, L.,and Erdogmus, D.
Journal of Neural Engineering, 2011
pdf

Novel P300 BCI Interfaces to Directly Select Physical and Virtual Objects.
Yuksel, B.F., Donnerer, M., Tompkin, J., Steed, A.
Proc. of 5th International BCI Conference, 2011.
pdf | poster

Augmenting Gaze Control with a Brain-Computer Interface
Yuksel, B.F. and Steed, A.
Proc. of 5th International BCI Conference, 2011.
pdf | poster

A Novel Brain-Computer Interface Using a Multi-Touch Surface.
Yuksel, B.F., Donnerer, M., Tompkin, J., Steed, A.
Proc. CHI 2010
pdf | video

Technical Report
Implicit Brain-Computer Interaction Applied to a Novel Adaptive Musical Interface.
Yuksel, B.F., Afergan, D., Peck, E.M., Griffin, G., Harrison, L., Chen, N.W., Chang, R., and Jacob, R.J.K.
Technical Report, TR-2015-01, Department of Computer Science, Tufts University.
pdf

---

Awards and Achievements

Jesuit Foundation Grant 2021 Honourable Mention Award ACM CHI 2019
National Science Foundation CRI Award 2017
Best Paper Award ACM CHI 2016
Awarded First Prize at Tufts Ignite 2015 (Inter-departmental Graduate Student Competition)
Awarded Grace Hopper Scholarship 2015 (21% acceptance rate)
Undergraduate Advisee Awarded De Florez Prize in Human Engineering 2015 (1 student/year)
Awarded CRA-W Early Career Mentoring Workshop Scholarship 2015
SPIE Travel Grant Award (PW15B, Yuksel 9319-26)
Awarded Grace Hopper Scholarship 2014 (26% acceptance rate)
Awarded Grant for MS Neuroscience 2011
Awarded Dean's Prize for Biological Sciences 2006 (awarded to top student of Biological Sciences Department)
Awarded Summer Scholarship for research as undergraduate 2005

---

Invited Talks

Worcester Polytechnic Institute, April 2022
Computer Science, SFSU, April 2019
UC Berkeley EDLR Lab, January 2018
Twitter HQ, San Francisco, November 2017
UC Berkeley BiD Lab, EECS, April 2017
Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, Human-Computer Interaction Track, October 2015
Wellesley College, MA, April 2015
Smith College, MA, October 2014
Ipswich Middle School Technology Initiative, MA, July 2014
Tufts University, MA, April 2014
University College London, UK, September 2011
Lincoln University, UK, February 2010

---

Personal

I feel very strongly about supporting women and minorities in Computer Science as it is an area of talent that is very much left untapped.

If you are interested in giving a talk at the University of San Francisco, particularly to our Women in Tech and/or Diversineers student organizations, please contact me.