Computational and Affective Cognition Lab (CASCogLab)

Principal Investigator

Desmond Ong, Ph.D.

desmond (dot) ong (at) utexas.edu

Desmond is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. A cognitive scientist by training, he is interested in how people empathize with and understand the emotions of those around them (Affective Cognition), with the goal of building better technology that can help us become better versions of ourselves, such as through better empathy or better well-being (Affective Computing).

Postdoctoral Researchers

Eliana Hadjiandreou, Ph.D.

eliana (dot) hadjiandreou (at) austin.utexas.edu

I received my PhD at Penn State University as part of the Empathy and Moral Psychology lab. I am also a former visiting Crawford fellow in Ethical Inquiry at the Stanford Social Neuroscience Lab at Stanford University. I consider myself a moral psychologist, broadly interested in altruism, empathy, and prosocial behavior, and specifically studying how we think about, are surprised by, and sometimes (negatively) judge the kindness of others.

Graduate Students

Emma Gueorguieva

emma (dot) gueorguieva (at) austin.utexas.edu

I am a third-year PhD student broadly interested in what language use reveals about people's feelings, motivations, and behavior. Additionally, I am affiliated with the UT Austin NLP and Computational Linguistics Group.

Mona J. Xue

monaxue (at) utexas.edu

I am a second-year PhD student broadly interested in the evolution and cultural evolution of emotion. I plan to use computational models to simulate how emotions may evolve, and I want to use various empirical approaches, including NLP and experimental methods, to study the origins of cross-cultural differences in emotions.

Research Affiliates

Hongli Zhan

honglizhan (at) utexas.edu

I am a Ph.D. student in Computational Linguistics at The University of Texas at Austin, where I'm advised by Professor Jessy Li. Collaborating with the CASCog Lab, I am interested in building AI systems that promote emotional well-being.

Research Assistants

Katherine Zubiaur

katherinezubiaur06@gmail.com

Hello! I am an undergraduate at UT Austin majoring in psychology and minoring in English. I am entirely fascinated and passionate about personality and how a person's characteristics contribute to the way they live their life as well as how they practice skills such as empathy. I will use these interests for the betterment of industries in the future. In my free time, I adore reading, puzzles, and games!

Lab Alumni

Nyx L. Ng

: Was: Affiliated PhD Student at UT Austin, Now: Postdoctoral Researcher at New York University

Shaina Munin

: Was: Affiliated PhD Student at UT Austin, Now: Visiting Assistant Professor at Ohio Wesleyan University

Purna Zaman

: Was: Lab Manager at UT Austin

Ryan Truong

: Was: Research Assistant at UT Austin, Now: Ph.D. Student at Harvard University

Connor Pickett

: Was: Research Assistant at UT Austin, Now: Lab Staff at UT Austin

Emily Yang

: Was: Research Assistant at UT Austin, Now: Research and Administrative Assistant at NTNU

Yoon Kyung Lee

: Was: Visiting Graduate Student from Seoul National University

Wu Zhengxuan

: Was: Research Assistant; Now: Ph.D. Student in Computer Science at Stanford

Gerard Yeo

: Was: Ph.D. Student in Data Science at NUS

Varsha Suresh

: Was: Ph.D. Student in Computer Science at NUS

Dennis Teo

: Was: Ph.D. Student in Information Systems at NUS

Phoebe Chua

: Was: Ph.D. Student in Information Systems at NUS

Lim Hui Yan

: Was: Research Assistant at NUS

Kingsley Kuan Jun Hao

: Was: NUS Undergraduate Research Programme (UROP) student

Ang Zheng Yong

: Was: NUS Undergraduate Research Programme (UROP) student

Kong Yan San

: Was: NUS Final Year Project (FYP) student (SoC Outstanding Computing Project Prize!)

Terence Lim

: Was: NUS Final Year Project (FYP) student (NUS Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher!)

Tan Zhi-Xuan

: Was: A*STAR Research Engineer, Now: Assistant Professor at the National University of Singapore