Michael Hoefer

Welcome

I am an Assistant Professor of Computer and Information Sciences at The University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Previously, I finished a dual PhD in computer science and cognitive science at CU Boulder, and worked in the TMI lab advised by Professor Stephen Voida.

My research focus is in human-computer interaction and human-AI interaction, and in particular, personal informatics. I design, build, deploy, and evaluate reflective personal informatics systems that support meaningful reflection, in domains ranging from health and mood, dreams, time-use, needs, values, and virtues. I am particularly interested in studying how technology can support (and not hinder) personal development. I am also a founding member of the SPIRITED Collective, a research collaborative working at the intersection of design, technology, and spirituality/religion.

In a former life I worked as an industrial engineer and data scientist for Boeing and completed a masters in industrial engineering using machine learning for manufacturing and mechanical design.

News

2025

March

  • Will be traveling to Cagliari, Italy for ACM Intelligent User Interfaces 2025
    • Presenting a full paper, “TellTime: An AI-Augmented Calendar with a Voice Interface for Collecting Time-Use Data”
    • Participating in a workshop, Strengthening Engineering Psychology for Human-AI Interactions (STEP-HAI)

2024

December

  • Awarded an Innovation Fellowship for a project to improve intro computing course operations at St. Thomas

November

August

  • Started a faculty role at the University of St. Thomas, in St. Paul, MN

June

  • Defended my dissertation

February

2023

July

June

May

  • Proposed my dissertation work about Personal Informatics for Personal Development.

April

January

  • Teaching CSCI 1300 again this spring.

2022

August

  • Excited to teach CSCI 1300 again this fall, this time with 360 students!

July

May

2021

2020