Jacob O Wobbrock

Jacob O. Wobbrock is a Professor at the Information School at the University of Washington and an Adjunct Professor in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering. A renowned scholar in the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), his research focuses on mobile and accessible computing. His work encompasses text input, pointing, touch, and gesture interaction, human performance measurement and modeling, and HCI research and design methods. He is a co-creator of the Ability-based Design concept, emphasizing the design of interactive systems based on users' abilities rather than their limitations. He also developed the $1 and $P gesture recognizers, Slide Rule touch screen reader, and the ART toolkit for nonparametric statistics. Professor Wobbrock has received numerous international honors, including ACM Fellow, CHI Academy, and the SIGCHI Social Impact Award, among others. He has authored over 220 research papers and holds 19 patents. He is a co-founder of the DUB Group and the MHCI+D degree program and serves as the Director of the ACE Lab and CREATE Center.

• 2017–Present·Information School, University of Washington·Professor
  • Research areas include HCI, accessibility computing, mobile computing, virtual reality, and more. Serves as the Director of the ACE Lab and was a founding co-director of the CREATE Center.
• 2012–2015·AnswerDash (formerly Qazzow)·CEO & Co-Founder
  • Co-founded a company providing cloud-based context-sensitive help and customer support tools, serving as venture-backed CEO.
• 2006–2017·Information School, University of Washington·Associate Professor / Assistant Professor
  • Conducted research on HCI and accessibility technologies, mentoring doctoral students.
• 1999–2001·DoDots & Google·Software Engineer
  • Worked in software development at Silicon Valley startups.

• 2001–2006·Carnegie Mellon University·Ph.D.
  • Field of Study: Human-Computer Interaction
  • Advisor: Brad A. Myers
  • Dissertation: The EdgeWrite Text Entry System, recipient of Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science's Distinguished Dissertation Award.
• 1998–2000·Stanford University·M.S.
  • Field of Study: Computer Science (Human-Computer Interaction)
  • Advisor: Terry Winograd
• 1994–1998·Stanford University·B.S.
  • Field of Study: Symbolic Systems (with honors)
  • Advisor: Tom Wasow
  • Awarded the Stanford University Robert M. Golden Medal for Excellence in Humanities and Creative Arts.

Jacob O. Wobbrock has had a profound impact in the field of accessibility computing and interaction technology design. He developed the Slide Rule system, the world’s first touch screen reader, which was later adopted by Apple and Android platforms. His Ability-based Design philosophy has influenced major companies such as Microsoft and Google. Additionally, he is a recipient of numerous international conference and academic honors, including ACM Fellow, CHI Academy membership, and the NSF CAREER Award.