<aside> 🐣 Sunniva Liu is a Sophomore majoring in Psychology and HCI. Beside working as a content creator for UXA Newsletter, Sunniva is also a research assistant at CoEX lab and Morphing Matter Lab.

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➡️ Before everything ... what to expect from HCI education?

It is hard to define the BHCI student body at CMU, as our background ranges from business to art, from engineering to psychology. Yet, we all come together to pursue the study of HCI.

As a student with primary major in psychology, I was initially unsure what I can gain from this major, but Talking to Professors and Participating in UX Hackathon helped me find answer to the following questions:

• How to know if HCI is a right major for me?
• What are some core skills to learn in HCI?
• What are some soft skills to learn in HCI?

➡️ HCI is so broad ... How might I explore it even before taking classes?

The immensity of topics within the HCI field sound intriguing yet intimidating to me at first. It’s true that taking different HCI classes can help finding my focused interest. However, as some of you have already experienced, one of the “tradition” of being a BHCI student is to get waitlisted.

Through my experience working on the newsletter team, I chatted with more experienced HCI practitioners and researchers to explore HCI beyond taking HCI classes.

• Research Direction: Which sub-field to focus on?
• Career Choice: UX Design vs. UX Research?
• One more note for those who read through this piece!

➡️ Some Final Words

I believe everyone has their own way of exploration, and I hope you may echo some of the following questions I raised and get inspirations along your journey exploring HCI.