Srishti Palani

Research Abstract:

Searching and exploring online is integral to everyday life, shaping our learning, work and creative endeavors. As generative AI propels the rapid evolution of search and work systems, we stand at a pivotal moment to redefine these tools. Today, people are still drowning in information -- it's hard to find the right details or uncover unknowns, and juggle information across apps, websites and work sessions. Instead, what if the immense knowledge on the web could be distilled to provide contextual guidance as we work? In my doctoral research, I present studies of how people search, synthesize and create using large amounts of disparate information on the internet across multiple sessions and stages of work. Then, I present systems that re-imagine the current web interaction paradigm to more seamlessly integrate knowledge from the web into the user’s work and promote creative exploration, learning, and insight. Join me in ideating how the web can be a cognitive boost to human intelligence and creativity -- empowering everyone to learn, work and create more effectively!

Bio:

Srishti Palani is a PhD Candidate at the University of California, San Diego. Her research focuses on designing and developing intuitive interactions between people, AI and web-based information to amplify creativity and innovation. During her PhD, she has also interned and developed systems with researchers at Microsoft Research, Allen Institute for AI and Autodesk Research. Much of this research has been published at top Human-Computer Interaction conferences such as CHI, UIST and CSCW, and Information Retrieval conferences such as SIGIR and CHIIR. Her doctoral research is supported by the Google PhD Fellowship and NCWIT Collegiate Award. Prior to her PhD, she graduated summa cum laude from Mount Holyoke College double majoring in Computer Science and Psychology, with a specialization in Cognitive Neuroscience. Outside of research, she is passionate about establishing mentorship programs to bridge the gender gap in tech, and teaching computational and design thinking courses to the next generation of innovators.