Hello, I'm DJ!

I am an Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Michigan, also affliated with the School of Information and Michigan Medicine.

I study how AI systems move off the screen and into everyday life. My research examines how people interact with AI that is embedded in environments, devices, and workflows—especially when those systems shape how users perceive information, make decisions, and act in the world.

My work spans two areas. First, I study interpretive continuity in human-AI interaction: how adaptive systems such as smart home technologies, voice assistants, and assistive tools can evolve with user routines and intent without becoming confusing or unpredictable over time. Second, I develop AI for hearing and perceptual augmentation: building technologies for hearing aids and consumer hearables that support real-time sound and speaker understanding, on-device intelligence, and long-term personalization in everyday listening environments.

Across these areas, I combine human-computer interaction, audio AI, accessibility, and hearing health to design AI systems that are not only technically capable, but also useful, reliable, and deployable in the real world. I lead this work through the Soundability Lab.

My research has led to real-world deployments across accessibility, healthcare, and consumer technologies. The SoundWatch app for sound awareness on smartwatches has been downloaded by over 4,000 users, and our indoor navigation system for visually impaired users has supported more than 100,000 interactions in museums across India. Our clinical communication tools are being deployed at Michigan Medicine, and features pioneered in my work for people with paralysis are now integrated into widely used consumer devices such as the iPhone. My research has also informed real-time captioning systems used in industry.

I completed my PhD at the University of Washington and my MS at the MIT Media Lab, and have conducted research at Microsoft Research, Google, and Apple. My work has been recognized with the SIGCHI Outstanding Dissertation Award (2023), the Microsoft Research Dissertation Grant (2021), and the CRA–Microsoft Trustworthy AI Fellowship (2025). My research is supported by Microsoft, Google, OpenAI, Meta, Samsung, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the William Demant and Oberkotter Foundations.

See my curriculum vitae, lab website, Google Scholar page, or contact me at profdj [at] umich [dot] edu.