Houji

I'm a doctoral candidate (2021 to present) at School of Information, UT Austin. I'm currently advised by Professor Matthew Lease in the AI & Human-Centered Computing research group and as part of the UT NLP community. My broad research interests include Human-AI Interaction, with a particular emphasis on human-centered NLP fact-checking, where I collaborate with fact-checkers to design tools to protect information integrity. More recently, I have begun studying AI-assisted scientific discovery, exploring how LLMs and agentic systems shape research practices.

Previously, I was a Design Researcher in Center for Design at the Northeastern University, advised by professor Miso Kim on designing services grounded in autonomy and Paolo Ciuccarelli on visualizing interactive network graphs. I was also a part-time lecturer teaching Interaction Design in CAMD at Northeastern. Before my academic career, I was an Interaction Designer, working at JD.com and SeetaTech AI.

Selected Work

Designing responsible AI to protect information integrity

Human-centered NLP Fact-checking: Co-Designing with Fact-checkers using Matchmaking for AI | Best Paper Honorable Mention | CSCW 2024 | DOI | Slides

The State of Human-centered NLP Technology for Fact-checking | Information Processing & Management 2023 | DOI

Persuasive and rhetorical design

Rhetorical XAI: Explaining AI's Benefits as well as its Use via Rhetorical Design | Preprint 2025 | arXiv

Argumentative Experience: Reducing Confirmation Bias on Controversial Issues through LLM-generated Multi-persona Debates | Preprint 2024 | arXiv | Slides

Designing for people you can't meet: Persuasive design to nurture seniors' participation in community services during the COVID-19 pandemic | The Design Journal 2023 | DOI

LLM-supported research ideation

Who Owns Creativity and Who Does the Work? Trade-offs in LLM-Supported Research Ideation | Preprint 2026 | arXiv | Slides | Video

How Researchers Navigate Accountability, Transparency, and Trust When Using AI Tools in Early-Stage Research: A Think-Aloud Study | FAccT 2026

Other Research

Updates

[04.2026] Our research poster on Human-in-the-loop Research Ideation is featured at Amazon Research Day 2026, Palo Alto, California, April 30-May 1.

[02.2026] Present our recent work on Trade-offs in LLM-supported Research Ideation at CosmicAI Hybrid Seminar.

[11.2025] Led by Yinan from MIT SCL, our data visualization Biophilia: Mapping the Emotional Pulse of Urban Nature will be exhibited in the Biennial Information + Conference 2025. Location: MIT Media Lab East Lobby, November 14-16.

[03.2025] Honored to receive the UT Outstanding Graduate Research Fellowship.

[02.2025] Our work on Exploring Multidimensional Checkworthiness is accepted at CSCW25. I will present the work at iSchools Doctoral Seminar Series in August and attend this year CSCW in October.

[01.2025] Successfully pass qualifying procedure and enter candidacy. Paper about Rhetorical XAI is accessible at arXiv.