Education
PhD: 2021 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Computer Science and Engineering Division
MS: 2015 University of Virginia, Computer Engineering
BS: 2011 Harbin Institute of Technology, China, Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics
About
Dr. Yu Huang is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Vanderbilt University, where she directs the MIND Lab (Mixed INtelligence Development for Programming). Her research focuses on human-centered AI for software engineering, with an emphasis on computationally modeling human cognition and integrating those insights into AI systems for programming. By combining methods such as medical imaging, eye tracking, and cognitive modeling, her work uncovers human cognitive processes to inform the next generation of AI-assisted programming tools. Her research also spans computer science education, human-AI collaboration, and the long-term sustainability of open-source software ecosystems. Dr. Huang has received four ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Awards, the NSF CAREER Award, the 2025 ICPC Vaclav Rajlich Early Career Achievement Award, and recognition as a 2021 EECS Rising Star. Her work has been supported by NSF, GitHub, ARPA-H, and Vanderbilt University. She holds a PhD in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Michigan.
Research Focus
Human-Centered AI for Software Engineering; Human Computer Interaction; CS Education
Publication Highlight
ScanCoder: Leveraging Human Attention Patterns to Enhance LLMs for Code: https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3808150
Does ChatGPT Help With Introductory Programming? An Experiment of Students Using ChatGPT in CS1: https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3639474.3640076
Distilling Neural Representations of Data Structure Manipulation using fMRI and fNIRS: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8812086/