CMU-Q students present research at premier HCI conference

Two Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar Computer Science seniors, Enoch Catuncan and Malak Ibrahim, co-authored a research paper that was accepted and presented at the CHI 2026 Conference. The Association for Computing Machinery’s (ACM) annual CHI conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems is the leading international conference on human-computer interaction.

With guidance from faculty advisor Amy Melniczuk, assistant teaching professor of computer science, the students’ research introduces a gesture-controlled, augmented reality (AR) robotic puzzle environment designed to help K-12 learners master computational thinking. The platform allows users to bridge the gap between abstract programming and physical consequences by synchronizing a mobile robot with a tablet-based AR world. Based on a formative study analyzing user interaction, the work outlines critical requirements for future mixed-reality educational tools.

Catuncan and Ibrahim graduated in May 2026 with bachelor of science degrees in computer science.