Sirui Tao's Crib 🐣

Hello visitor, Sirui here! 👋 (pronounced like “three”)

I’m a first-year Ph.D. student in the Cognitive Science Department at UC San Diego, advised by Prof. Steven P. Dow (ProtoLab). I build tools that augment human capabilities—especially how people think, design, and build—using human-centered AI and mixed reality. ⚡

My main thesis thread is Scaffolding for Taste 🧐: how AI can help people develop taste, discernment, and evaluative judgment in a world of generative abundance. (cr. Don)

Research Focus (2026)

• Human–AI for Design 🎨 — Building interfaces that help people explore and refine generative possibilities in more grounded, legible, and human-centered ways—especially by making meaningful differences, tradeoffs, and consequences easier to see and reason about.
• Method 📐 — Build → measure: designing systems, studying how people use them, and developing metrics for diversity, verification cost, calibration, and appropriate reliance.
• AI & Embodied systems & Mixed Reality for Augmentation 🥽 — Creating interactive systems that support everyday tasks through in-situ intelligence, spatial interaction, and real-world use.

Domains I Love Applying This To

Urban design, architecture, interior & product design, fashion, robotics, education, and creative media—places where ideas move from vibes → variables → value. ✨

Exploring

• Robots 🤖 integrated into everyday life
• Learner-centered generative AI 📚 for education at scale
• Post-deployment iteration 🌍 to maximize benefit and minimize harm
• Community-centered tools 🤝 for real-world collaboration

Research Opportunities @ ProtoLab 🧪

I’m always excited to work with curious, motivated, and kind undergraduate and master’s students. As generative AI expands what one person can build, prototype, and investigate, I’m especially interested in working with driven students who have genuine research curiosity and real passion for a domain, problem space, or question they care about.

You do not need to already be an expert in every part of research. I value people who want to grow into thoughtful, well-rounded researchers—people who are excited to develop taste, judgment, and craft over time, and who are willing to learn across reading, ideation, prototyping, evaluation, analysis, and communication.

Before reaching out, please read my short post on how to start doing research at UC San Diego. Borrowing a nice rule of thumb from Scott Klemmer: when you realize you are repeatedly answering the same questions, writing a short blog post about it is often a good idea. I wrote this one to answer the most common questions I get from prospective undergraduate and master’s interns, and I will keep updating it as new ones come up.

Ready to apply? Email me at s1tao@ucsd.edu with subject “UCSD Research Interest” and include a 1-page CV/resumé (plus a portfolio link, if relevant). In the email, include a short 3–5 sentence note on the research questions or domains you care about, why you think you’d be a good fit, any relevant experience, and what you hope to learn.

I’m happy to chat once I have that quick snapshot!

Advisor Lineage & Past Collaborations

• Ph.D.: Steven P. Dow (HCI)
• Master’s: Steven P. Dow (HCI) & Tzu-Mao Li (Graphics)
• Undergrad: Judith E. Fan (Cognition & Intuitive Physics)

If you’re excited about this space, let’s chat. 🚀