News
Research, people, and ideas in motion.
A concise record of research and funding, awards and recognition, talks, events and milestones, and major lab updates.
Dr. Huang was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure at San José State University.
San José State University
The appointment becomes effective in August 2026.
The BAT Lab received support from the MEMIC Safety Research Center for physical AI and office ergonomics research.
MEMIC Safety Research Center
The project studies smart sensing and adaptive ergonomic interventions for reducing musculoskeletal-disorder risk in office work.
Dr. Huang presented “Who’s in Control? Designing the Future of Transportation with Humans and AI” for the Mineta Summer Transportation Academy.
Mineta Transportation Institute, San José State University
The talk introduced high-school students to human–AI collaboration, intelligent transportation, and interface design.
Dr. Huang was appointed Associate Editor of the IEEE Open Journal of Intelligent Transportation Systems.
IEEE
The two-year appointment supports peer review and editorial development in intelligent transportation systems.
Dr. Huang received the Newnan Brothers Award for Faculty Excellence.
Charles W. Davidson College of Engineering, San José State University
Christine Lo received the AI-Enabled Research Award in the Education category at the CSU Student Research Competition.
California State University Student Research Competition
Christine presented research on patterns in human-written, AI-revised, and AI-generated abstracts in human factors.
BAT Lab students presented research on AI-assisted driving alerts and wheelchair-interface design.
CSU Student Research Competition and SJSU Grad Slam
Jenny Dinh-Tran presented work on personalized AI alerts, and Shirley Tang presented research on wheelchair alert content and signal location.
Dr. Huang presented interface strategies for high-stakes human–AI collaboration at Mississippi State University.
Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Mississippi State University
Dr. Huang joined the 2026 HFES Regional Meeting panel on bridging human-centered AI research and industry.
Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Regional Meeting
Dr. Huang presented human-centered communication strategies for intelligent automation at Hanyang University.
Department of Human-Computer Interaction, Hanyang University
Dr. Huang joined the CRB Nexus panel on artificial intelligence and public policy.
California Research Bureau, California State Library
Dr. Huang presented research on translating system intent into human action at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
Department of Psychology, University of Alabama in Huntsville
New projects expanded BAT Lab research in driver distraction, physical AI, and AI-assisted health analytics.
U.S. Department of Transportation, MEMIC Safety Research Center, and Healthy Americas Foundation
The projects extend the lab’s work across intelligent mobility, office ergonomics, and health-related AI.
Dr. Huang joined a panel on AI, work environments, and well-being at the Global AI Pitch Summit Silicon Valley.
2nd Global AI Pitch Summit Silicon Valley
BAT Lab researchers presented work on human–AI roles, mental states, eye-tracking, and accessible navigation at HFES ASPIRE 2025.
Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, Chicago
Shirley Tang’s paper on haptic navigation for blind or low-vision users was runner-up for the Age and Ability Technical Group Best Student Paper Award.
Dr. Gaojian Huang received a $100,000 Honda grant for a project on AI-driven interfaces in automated driving.
American Honda Motor Company, Inc.
Dr. Huang gave a talk on intelligent mobility at the 2025 SJSU Division of Research and Innovation All-Hands Meeting.
San José State University Division of Research and Innovation
The BAT Lab presented the Triadic Human–AI Collaboration Framework at the IEEE Conference on Artificial Intelligence.
IEEE CAI 2025, Santa Clara
The framework organizes human–AI collaboration through Advisor, Co-Pilot, and Guardian roles.
Dr. Huang received the Early Career Investigator Award and a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition.
SJSU Research Foundation and U.S. House of Representatives
Graduate student Aries Chu presented at the 2025 SJSU Grad Slam as one of ten finalists with her research on assistive technology for hearing-impaired drivers.
San José State University Grad Slam
BAT Lab graduate students Wei-Hsiang Lo, Shirley Tang, and Xinyi Wang attended the 2025 HFES Western Regional Meeting, where Wei-Hsiang won second place in the student poster competition.
Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Western Regional Meeting
Dr. Huang presented BAT Lab research on human factors and driving at the Amazon Automotive UI R&D Lab.
Amazon Automotive UI R&D Lab
Dr. Huang presented at the Human-AI Interactions in Transportation Lunch Event.
Intelligent Transportation Society of California and Mineta Transportation Institute
Graduate student Wei-Hsiang Lo received the 2025 Donald Beall-Rockwell Award for Engineering Accomplishment.
Donald Beall-Rockwell Award
BAT Lab members received this award for four consecutive years.
Dr. Huang received the 2025 College of Engineering Faculty Award for Scholarship.
San José State University College of Engineering
Dr. Gaojian Huang and Dr. Guannan Liu received the 2025–2026 SJSU Vice President for Research and Innovation Teaming Award for an AI-assisted micromobility project.
San José State University Vice President for Research and Innovation
Dr. Huang served as a panelist at the 2nd ERASMUS+ LEONARDO Live Discussion Panel.
ERASMUS+ LEONARDO
LEONARDO is the Learning and Experimentation Open-Access Factory for Industrial Workforce 5.0.
Dr. Huang gave a talk on in-vehicle displays for the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Student Chapter at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Dr. Huang presented his work on human-machine interfaces for the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Student Chapter at Virginia Tech.
Virginia Tech
Aries Chu and Wei-Hsiang Lo received the AutoUI Best Video Award for multimodal feedback research supporting people with hearing impairments.
16th ACM Conference on Automotive User Interfaces, Stanford University
Dr. Huang gave a talk on e-scooters and well-being during a workshop on promoting well-being for mobility users in future hybrid societies at AutoUI 2024.
16th ACM Conference on Automotive User Interfaces, Stanford University
Graduate student Poorva Jain received the 2024 Arnold M. Small Best Student Paper Award from the HFES Aging Technical Group.
Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Aging Technical Group
The award recognized the paper “Exploring Attitudes Towards Smart Home Technology Through Focus Groups: Comparing Older Adults With and Without Health Conditions.”
Aries Chu received first place in Engineering and Computer Science at the CSU Student Research Competition.
California State University Student Research Competition
The study compared tactile, visual, and combined feedback for automated-driving takeover scenarios involving drivers with and without hearing impairments.
Graduate student Zhi Zhang received the 2024 Donald Beall-Rockwell Award for Engineering Accomplishment.
San José State University
Dr. Gaojian Huang and Dr. Egbe-Etu Etu received a U.S. Department of Transportation grant for a project on modeling mental states in automated driving.
U.S. Department of Transportation
The award was made through the University Transportation Centers Program.
Dr. Huang presented his work on multimodal displays for the IT Distinguished Colloquium Series at Kennesaw State University.
Kennesaw State University
Dr. Huang and graduate student Zhi Zhang presented three studies at the 2023 Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting.
HFES 2023, Washington, DC
Graduate student Miaomiao Dong received the 2023 Donald Beall-Rockwell Award for Engineering Accomplishment.
San José State University
Graduate student Miaomiao Dong won the 2023 SJSU Student RSCA Competition.
San José State University Student RSCA Competition
Mia represented SJSU at the 37th Annual California State University Student Research Competition in San Diego.
Graduate students Miaomiao Dong and Minal Shah received the 2022–2023 Davidson Student Scholar Awards.
San José State University
Dr. Huang presented his work on in-vehicle multimodal displays for the Physics Colloquium at the College of Charleston.
College of Charleston
Dr. Huang presented research on automated vehicles and multimodal displays at the North Carolina State University Human Factors and Ergonomics Brownbag Series.
North Carolina State University
BAT Lab alumna Susan Summerville received the 2022 Arnold M. Small Best Student Paper Award from the HFES Aging Technical Group.
HFES 2022, Georgia
The award recognized the paper “Exploring the Use of Public Transportation Among Older Adults During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Pilot Study.”
Graduate students Kimberly Martinez, Miaomiao Dong, and Susan Summerville presented four BAT Lab studies at the 2022 Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting.
HFES 2022, Atlanta, Georgia
Graduate student Kimberly Martinez presented a poster at the 14th AutoUI conference in Seoul, Korea.
AutoUI 2022, Korea
Graduate students Kimberly Martinez, Miaomiao Dong, and Minal Shah received the 2022 STAR Fellowship Awards.
San José State University
Graduate student Kimberly Martinez received the 2022 Donald Beall-Rockwell Award for Engineering Accomplishment.
San José State University
Dr. Huang presented BAT Lab research on aging, automated vehicles, and multimodal displays at the 2022 CHAMP and SAGE Collaborative Symposium.
SJSU CHAMP and Stanford SAGE Research Center
Graduate student Kimberly Martinez received the 2022–2023 Research and Innovation Student RSCA Fellowship.
San José State University
Her proposed project examined human-machine interface design for universal drivers in automated vehicles.
Dr. Huang received the SJSU Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity Level-Up Grant for a project intended to enhance human performance in driving.
San José State University
The project included collaboration with Dr. Egbe-Etu Etu and Dr. Lin Jiang.
Dr. Huang joined an SJSU College of Engineering Small Group Project on teleoperated medical robots.
San José State University College of Engineering
The project involved Dr. Lin Jiang, Dr. Egbe-Etu Etu, and Dr. Joseph D. Miller.
Dr. Huang presented a survey study on age, self-perceived driving abilities, and autonomous vehicle acceptance at the 2021 Technology, Mind & Society Conference.
Technology, Mind & Society Conference 2021
Dr. Huang received his second Mineta Transportation Institute seed grant for a project with Dr. Egbe-Etu Etu on public transportation technology and older adults.
Mineta Transportation Institute
A BAT Lab study on age-related behavioral differences, multimodal signals, physical exercise, and semi-automated vehicle takeover responses was published in Applied Ergonomics.
Applied Ergonomics
Dr. Huang presented a study on aging, physical exercise, multimodal displays, and semi-automated vehicle takeover performance at the 65th HFES Annual Meeting.
HFES 2021, Maryland
Dr. Huang presented a pilot study on non-chronological aging and driving at the IEEE International Conference on Human-Machine Systems.
ICHMS 2021, Germany
The presentation was titled “Driver-Vehicle Interaction: The Effects of Physical Exercise and Takeover Request Modality on Automated Vehicle Takeover Performance.”