Dan R. Olsen Jr. (born June 22, 1953) is an American

computer scientist A computer scientist is a person who is trained in the academic study of computer science. Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation, as opposed to the hardware side on which computer engineers mainly focus (al ...

who specialized in the fields of

human–computer interaction Human–computer interaction (HCI) is research in the design and the use of computer technology, which focuses on the interfaces between people (users) and computers. HCI researchers observe the ways humans interact with computers and design tec ...

and

information science Information science (also known as information studies) is an academic field which is primarily concerned with analysis, collection, Categorization, classification, manipulation, storage, information retrieval, retrieval, movement, dissemin ...

. He worked in the computer science department of

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

from 1984 until his retirement in 2015, serving as chair of the department (1992–96), and also directed the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

(1996–98).

Education

Dan R. Olsen gained his Bachelor of Science (1976) and Master of Science (1978) in

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

from

and his PhD in computer and information science from

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

(1981).Dan R. Olsen Jr. - Vita
''

'', Retrieved on 21 March 2018

Career and research

In 1981, Olsen became an assistant professor at

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

. In 1984, he moved to

as an assistant professor, rising to associate professor (1986) and professor (1990). He served as Department Chair of Computer Science in 1992–96, and was the director of the Interactive Computing Everywhere) (ICE) Laboratory. During his career at Brigham Young, he also served as a professor and the inaugural director of the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at

(1996–98). He retired in 2015. His research was in the fields of

and

Awards, honours and societies

Olsen was elected as fellow of the

Association for Computing Machinery The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is a US-based international learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 and is the world's largest scientific and educational computing society. The ACM is a non-profit professional member ...

(ACM) in 2006 for his work on user interface technology.Kasper, Elizabeth
"BYU's Dan R. Olsen Jr. named fellow of national computing association"
''

'', Provo, Utah, 18 January 2007. Retrieved on 21 March 2018. He was the inaugural editor of the society's journal, ''

ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction ''ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering research on human–computer interaction. It was established in 1994 and is published by the Association for Computing Machinery. Editors-in-chief ...

'' (TOCHI). He is a CHI Academy member and gained the CHI Lifetime Research Award in 2012.SIGCHI Awards", ''SIGCHI'', Retrieved on 21 March 2018
/ref>

Selected published works

Books

Building Interactive Systems: Principles for Human-Computer Interaction
(2009)
Developing user interfaces: ensuring usability through product & process
(1993)
User Interface Management Systems: Models and Algorithms
(1992)

Research articles

Laser pointer interaction
(CHI, 2001)
Interactive machine learning
(IUI, 2003)
Evaluating user interface systems research
(UIST, 2007)
SYNGRAPH: A graphical user interface generator
(ACM SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics, 1983)
Cross-modal interaction using XWeb
(UIST, 2000)
MIKE: the menu interaction kontrol environment
(ACM Transactions on Graphics, 1986)

References

External links

ACM Digital Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Olsen, Dan 1953 births Living people Brigham Young University alumni University of Pennsylvania alumni Brigham Young University faculty American computer scientists American academic journal editors