Principal Investigator
Desmond Ong, Ph.D.
desmond (dot) ong (at) utexas.edu
Desmond is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. A cognitive scientist by training, he is interested in how people empathize with and understand the emotions of those around them (Affective Cognition), with the goal of building better technology that can help us become better versions of ourselves, such as through better empathy or better well-being (Affective Computing).Postdoctoral Researchers
Eliana Hadjiandreou, Ph. D.
eliana (dot) hadjiandreou (at) austin.utexas.edu
I received my PhD at Penn State University as part of the Empathy and Moral Psychology lab. I am also a former visiting Crawford fellow in Ethical Inquiry at the Stanford Social Neuroscience Lab at Stanford University. I consider myself a moral psychologist, broadly interested in altruism, empathy, and prosocial behavior, and specifically studying how we think about, are surprised by, and sometimes (negatively) judge the kindness of others.Graduate Students
Emma Gueorguieva
emmagueorguieva (at) utexas.edu
I am a second-year PhD student broadly interested in using natural language processing (NLP) to study how people’s language use relates to their cognitive states, affective states, and empathic responses. Currently, I’m working on a variety of research projects using large language models, gamification, and more to gain a deeper understanding of empathy. Additionally, I am affiliated with the UT Austin NLP and Computational Linguistics Group.
Mona J. Xue
monaxue (at) utexas.edu
I am a first-year PhD student broadly interested in the evolution and cultural evolution of emotion. I plan to use computational models to simulate how emotions may evolve, and I want to use various empirical approaches, including NLP and experimental methods, to study the origins of cross-cultural differences in emotions.Lab Coordinator
Purna Zaman
purnazaman (at) utexas.edu
Recently having graduated with my BA in Psychology from UT Austin in May 2023, I am interested in social psychology and the impacts our environments have on our cognition. With my minor in sociology, I have grown to be increasingly devoted to understanding how social challenges like implicit biases or other disparities affect our behaviors and our brains. In the CASCog Lab, I believe understanding how machine learning can become biased toward underserved populations is a needed field that must also remain morally and ethically aware.Research Affiliates
Shaina Munin
smunin (at) utexas.edu
I am a fourth-year PhD candidate in Social/Personality Psychology at UT Austin working primarily with Dr. Jennifer Beer. Currently, I am collaborating with the CASCog Lab on projects aiming to understand the language individuals use to express and regulate emotions. I am broadly interested in studying the impacts of emotion in social interactions, with an emphasis on individual differences in emotionality.
Nyx L. Ng
nyx (at) utexas.edu
I am a PhD candidate working primarily with the Social Cognition Lab at UT Austin. My primary research program on morality is concerned with understanding (1) factors underlying moral judgments, beliefs, and perceptions, and (2) the consequences of moral disagreements and misguided moral perceptions. My secondary research program on misinformation is concerned with uncovering (1) factors underlying misinformation susceptibility and (2) potential ways of counteracting the problem. I am currently collaborating with the CASCog lab on projects investigating the links between empathy and morality.
Hongli Zhan
honglizhan (at) utexas.edu
I am a Ph.D. student in Computational Linguistics at The University of Texas at Austin, where I'm advised by Professor Jessy Li. Collaborating with the CASCog Lab, I am interested in building AI systems that promote emotional well-being.
Yoon Kyung Lee
yoonlee78 (at) snu.ac.kr
(Visiting Ph.D. student for 2023-2024)I am passionate about building empathetic AIs that promote people's well-being and productivity. As a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate at Seoul National University, my research interests include using a computational approach (specifically, NLP) to assess empathy, training psychological concepts such as Theory-of-Mind into neural network models, and developing AI chatbots that produce empathetic responses in tune with human preferences. Currently, I am exploring the potential of recent large language models (LLMs) and related methods (e.g., Chain-of-Thought, RLHF) for empathetic conversational AIs.
Varsha Suresh
Former Ph.D. student at NUSHumans are capable of identifying and reasoning about others' emotions. Can we enable computers to do the same? This is the fundamental question that drives my research. Currently, I am working towards modeling emotions at a fine-grained level and transferring knowledge from existing emotion theories into deep-learning models to improve their interpretability. In my free time, I love trying out new recipes and exploring places.
Gerard Yeo
Former Ph.D. student at NUSTo construct truly intelligent machines, I believe we should strive to research and innovate beyond mere perception tasks (computer vision, speech recognition etc.) to cognition (e.g. higher order cognition such as emotion detection and modelling). The primary question that I would like to tackle in my work is how do we model theories of emotions in Artificial Intelligence such that the performance of emotion detection is enhanced? Specifically, could we specify domain theories of emotions (e.g. Appraisal Theory) to model emotion detection and reasoning in computers? Other research interests of mine include emotion detection using data from various modes such as facial expressions, text, speech, and physiology.
Wu Zhengxuan
I am a Ph.D. student in Computer Science at Stanford University. I am interested in explainable and robust deep learning models in NLP as well as sentiment analysis in general. I am also broadly interested in topics bridging cognitive science and computer science. Originally, I am from Hangzhou in China.Research Assistants
Mariana Aguirre
ma59888 (at) my (dot) utexas.edu
I am a third-year undergraduate student at UT Austin majoring in psychology. I am broadly interested in the intersection of personality, cognitive states, and affect. I am also interested in the social psychology behind reality tv shows. In my free time, I enjoy hanging out with my friends, doing crafts, and working out.
Connor Pickett
connor (dot) pickett (at) utexas.edu
I am an undergraduate at UT Austin pursuing a degree in psychology with a keen interest in behavioral and cognitive psychology. Fascinated by how our minds work, I want to understand human behavior and the underlying cognitive processes. I am also drawn to statistics and data science. My goal is to merge my love for psychology with quantitative analysis through the intersection of these fields. In my spare time, I enjoy working out, hanging out with friends, and learning how to cook!
Eleanor Schottman
eleanorschottman (at) utexas.edu
I am a third-year Psychology BA student with a minor in Educational Psychology. I am interested in understanding empathy, compassion, and interpersonal relationships. I hope to explore how these concepts manifest in school settings, with a focus on social-emotional learning. Additionally, I am fascinated by the intersection of psychology and sports, particularly how anxiety, self-esteem, and motivation impact athletes. After graduation, I am planning on attending graduate school. I enjoy playing soccer, reading, and being outdoors in my free time!