Alex Mariakakis

My Background

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Toronto and an Affiliate Scientist at Techna. I run the Computational Health and Interaction (CHAI) lab, which leverages ubiquitous and emergent technologies to address problems related to people’s health and wellbeing. My main research focus is on health-related sensing. Using sensor data collected from momentary assessments or passive recordings, I employ signal processing and machine learning to generate digital biomarkers related to a person's physiology, context, and behavior. My work also spans other topics at the intersection of ubiquitous computing and human-computer interaction, such as mobile interaction, user-centered design, and novel sensing techniques.

Before joining the University of Toronto, I completed a joint-postdoctoral role under Larsson Omberg and Anind Dey, where I split my time between the Sage Bionetworks and the School of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington. I completed my PhD at the University of Washington under the advising of Shwetak Patel and Jacob O. Wobbrock. I completed my undergraduate studies at Duke University with a double major in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science. During that time, I conducted research under Romit Roy Choudhury.

Recruiting

I have a sizable cohort of graduate students at this time, so it is highly unlikely that I will be recruiting new MSc or PhD candidates during the 2023–2024 academic year. However, exceptions may be made for students who have already demonstrated the ability to conduct research in the areas of HCI or ubiquitous computing.

For information about undergraduate recruiting in the CHAI lab, please refer to the following page.