Eugenia Rho Professional Headshot

Gilbert Place, 220 Gilbert Street, Blacksburg, VA, 24060

About Me

I am a Computer Science professor studying how AI mediates human communication and how people adapt to it, developing computational frameworks and interaction systems that make language generation responsive to social dynamics, user reasoning, and real-world outcomes. I currently lead the Society + AI & Language (SAIL) Lab in the Department of Computer Science at Virginia Tech.

My research is driven by an interest in how language shapes thought, interaction, and decision-making. I combine methods from NLP, HCI, and statistics to model the consequences of language, design AI systems that support human interaction, and ground model reasoning in diverse human contexts. These directions advance a foundation for AI that seeks to understand not only what language means, but what it does. My work has been featured in NPR, CNN, Forbes, PBS, Newsweek, Scripps News, and the Scientific American.

Before joining Virginia Tech, I was a Computer Science postdoc in the Stanford NLP Group, working with Dan Jurafsky. I received my Ph.D. from the University of California, Irvine, and my B.A. from Columbia University.

Education

  • Postdoc, Department of Computer Science, Stanford University
  • Ph.D., University of California, Irvine
  • B.A., Columbia University

Professional Appointments and Affiliations

  • Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science, Virginia Tech
  • Core Faculty, Sanghani Center for Artificial Intelligence, Virginia Tech
  • Affiliate Faculty, Center for Autism Research, Virginia Tech
  • Affiliate Faculty, Center for Human-Computer Interaction, Virginia Tech
  • Research Affiliate, SPARQ, Stanford University

Selected Grants, Awards, and Fellowships

  • Designing Large Language Models as a Mental Health Resource for Autistic Adults
    Role: PI; $45,000, World Health Consortium, 2024
  • Enhancing the Privacy of Users with Disabilities Through Transparent Web Advertisement
    Role: Co-PI; $75,000, Commonwealth Cyber Initiative, 2024
  • Integrating Neurodivergence into the STEM Workforce
    Role: Co-PI; $75,000, Oak Ridge Associated Universities, 2023
  • Empathy-Driven Human-AI System for Countering Negative-Self Talk for Autistic Adults
    Role: PI; $25,000, Center for Human-Computer Interaction, Virginia Tech, 2023
  • Understanding Linguistic Patterns in COVID-19 Public Health Discourse
    Role: PI; $15,000, Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention, Virginia Tech, 2021
  • ACM CHI Best Paper Honorable Mention, 2020
  • Kling Endowed Memorial Fellowship, 2020
  • Doctoral Consortium Fellowship, 2019
  • Roberta Ellen Lamb Memorial Fellowship, 2018

Selected Talks

Publications

[2025j]
Xiaohan Ding, Kaike Ping, Buse Çarık, and Eugenia H. Rho†.
Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing (EMNLP), 2025 (Accepted).
[2025i]
Taufiq Daryanto, Sophia Stil, Xiaohan Ding, Daniel Manesh, Sang Won Lee, Tim Lee, Stephanie Lunn, Sarah Rodriguez, Chris Brown, and Eugenia H. Rho†.
IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing (VLHCC), 2025 (Accepted).
[2025h]
Lance T. Wilhelm, Xiaohan Ding, Kirk McInnis Knutsen, Buse Carik, and Eugenia H. Rho†.
ACM Conference on Conversational User Interfaces (CUI), 2025 (Accepted).
[2025g]
Adnan Abbas, Caleb Wohn, Donghan Hu, Eugenia H. Rho†, and Sang Won Lee.
ACM Conference on Conversational User Interfaces (CUI), 2025 (Accepted).
[2025f]
Buse Carik, Victoria Izaac, Xiaohan Ding, Angela Scarpa, and Eugenia H. Rho†.
AACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), 2025.
[2025e]
Xiaohan Ding, Kaike Ping, Uma Sushmitha Gunturi, Buse Carik, Ms Sophia Stil, Lance T Wilhelm, Taufiq Daryanto, Dr James Hawdon, Sang Won Lee, and Eugenia H. Rho†.
IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing (VL/HCC), 2025 (Accepted).
[2025d]
Buse Carik, Kaike Ping, Xiaohan Ding, and Eugenia H. Rho†.
ACM International Conference on Supporting Group Work (GROUP), 2025.
[2025c]
Taufiq Daryanto, Xiaohan Ding, Lance T Wilhelm, Sophia Stil, Kirk Knutsen, and Eugenia H. Rho†.
ACM International Conference on Supporting Group Work (GROUP), 2025.
[2025b]
Kaike Ping, James Hawdon, and Eugenia H. Rho†.
ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing (CSCW), 2025 (Accepted).
[2025a]
Kaike Ping, Anisha Kumar, and Eugenia H. Rho†.
ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI), 2025 (Accepted).
[2024d]
Xiaohan Ding, Buse Carik, Uma Gunturi, Valerie Reyna, and Eugenia H. Rho†.
ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), 2024.
[2024c]
Mina Lee, Katy Ilonka Gero, John Joon Young Chung, Simon Buckingham Shum, Vipul Raheja, Hua Shen, Subhashini Venugopalan, Thiemo Wambsganss, David Zhou, Emad A. Alghamdi, Tal August, Avinash Bhat, Madiha Zahrah Choksi, Senjuti Dutta, Jin L.C. Guo, Md Naimul Hoque, Yewon Kim, Simon Knight, Seyed Parsa Neshaei, Agnia Sergeyuk, Antonette Shibani, Disha Shrivastava, Lila Shroff, Jessi Stark, Sarah Sterman, Sitong Wang, Antoine Bosselut, Daniel Buschek, Joseph Chee Chang, Sherol Chen, Max Kreminski, Joonsuk Park, Roy Pea, Eugenia H. Rho, Shannon Zejiang Shen, and Pao Siangliulue.
ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), 2024.
[2024b]
Marx B Wang, Md Momen Bhuiyan, Eugenia H. Rho, Kurt Luther, and Sang Won Lee.
ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing (CSCW), 2024.
[2024a]
Uma Gunturi, Anisha Kumar, Xiaohan Ding, and Eugenia H. Rho†.
ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing (CSCW), 2024.
[2023d]
Eugenia H. Rho, Maggie Harrington, Yuyang Zhong, Reid Pryzant, Nicholas P. Camp, Dan Jurafsky, and Jennifer L. Eberhardt.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), 2023.
[2023c]
Xiaohan Ding, Mike Horning, and Eugenia H. Rho†.
AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media (ICWSM), 2023.
[2023b]
Uma Gunturi, Xiaohan Ding, and Eugenia H. Rho†.
Extended Abstract, Workshop on Combating Toxicity, Harassment, and Abuse in Online Social Spaces, ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), 2023.
[2023a]
Rohan Leekha and Eugenia H. Rho†.
Extended Abstract, Workshop on Combating Toxicity, Harassment, and Abuse in Online Social Spaces, ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), 2023.
[2020c]
Eugenia H. Rho and Melissa Mazmanian.
ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), 2020, Best Paper Honorable Mention.
[2020b]
Yao Li, Eugenia H. Rho, and Alfred Kobsa.
Journal of Behavior and Information Technology, 2020.
[2020a]
Eugenia H. Rho.
Position Paper, Doctoral Consortium: Companion Publication of the 2019 Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing, ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW), 2020.
[2019b]
Eugenia H. Rho and Melissa Mazmanian.
ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing (CSCW), 2019.
[2019a]
Ted Grover, Elvan Bayraktaroglu, Gloria Mark, and Eugenia Ha Rim Rho.
Journal of Computer Supported Cooperative Work Vol 28, Issue:3-4, 2019, p. 317-355.
[2018d]
Eugenia H. Rho, Gloria Mark, and Melissa Mazmanian.
ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing (CSCW), 2018.
[2018c]
Eugenia H. Rho, Alfred Kobsa, and Carolyn Nguyen.
Proceedings of the European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS), 2018.
[2018b]
Krithika Jagannath and Eugenia H. Rho.
Position Paper, Voice-Based Conversational UX Studies and Design Workshop, ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), 2018.
[2018a]
Yao Li and Eugenia H. Rho.
Position Paper, Moving Beyond a “One-Size Fits All” Approach: Exploring Individual Differences in Privacy, ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), 2018.
[2017b]
Eugenia H. Rho, Oliver L. Haimson, Nazanin Andalibi, Melissa Mazmanian, and Gillian R. Hayes.
ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), 2017.
[2017a]
Eugenia H. Rho.
Position Paper, Networked Privacy Workshop, ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW), 2017.

Selected Press

Teaching