More than 250 faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends of the Human-Computer Interaction Institute will gather this weekend to celebrate the institute's 20^th anniversary at HCII20. The event kicks off on Friday, Nov. 14, with a day of workshops and tutorials ranging from Fabrication Techniques for HCI Prototyping to Intro to Game Design. Attendees will gather for a cocktail reception that evening in the institute's renovated lab space at 407 South Craig Street.

Saturday and Sunday will feature an HCI-themed conference highlighting how the institute has contributed to the field, how the field has evolved and what the future holds for human-computer interaction. Featured speakers include MHCI alumna Kerry Bodine, who will deliver the talk "From User Experience to Customer Experience"; Stuart Card, a key player in Carnegie Mellon's early HCI days, who will discuss "Theories With a Purpose: Help for Building Stuff"; and HCI luminary Karen Holtzblatt (also the parent of an MHCI alum), who will give the talk "What Makes Things Cool? Unpacking the Cool User Experience." Human-centered design champion Don Norman will deliver the dinner address, "To Be Determined: The Power of Late Binding in Design," at HCII20's Bloomberg-sponsored banquet on Saturday night.

In addition to keynote addresses, HCII20 will feature panel discussions with alumni, faculty, and former and current institute leadership on topics like the growth of HCI as a field, alumni in industry and academia, and what the future holds for the department. Students and alumni will also present posters or demos of their work during lunch on Saturday.

Founded in 1994, the HCII works to understand and create technology that harmonizes with and improves human capabilities, goals, and social environments through interdisciplinary research and education in design, computer science, and behavioral and social sciences. The HCII20 celebration is made possible through corporate sponsorship from Bloomberg, Visa, Google, FXPAL, Disney Research, Microsoft, Pitt Nursing, the Quality of Life Technology Center and InfoSys. While registration for the event is at capacity, a webcast will be available here.

For more on HCII20, visit http://hcii.cmu.edu/hcii20.