Shumeng Zhang

Ph.D. Candidate, Computational Media and Arts

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou) · Guangzhou / Hong Kong

Visiting Researcher, Department of Information Engineering

University of Trento · Trento, Italy

M.Phil. in Computational Media and Arts (transferred to Ph.D.)

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou) · Guangzhou / Hong Kong

Master of Science in Design in Industrial Design

Arizona State University · Tempe, AZ, USA

Bachelor's Degree in Product Design

Wuhan University · Wuhan, China

From Beadwork to Music Creation: A Longitudinal Co-Design Study with Teachers at a School for Blind and Low-Vision Students

Zhang, S., Liu, T., Masu, R., & Fan, M.

International Journal of Human-Computer Studies.

NarraStone: Reimagining the Stone Stele as an AI-Era Apparatus of Synthetic Memory

Liu, T., Zhang, S., Qu, H., & Zhou, H.

Proceedings of the SIGGRAPH Asia 2026 Art Papers.

Entangled Ballet: A Data-Driven Choreography of Embodied Entanglement

Zhang, S.*, Mao, W.*, Lin, H., Wu, Z., & Hui, P.

Proceedings of the 19th International Symposium on Visual Information Communication and Interaction.

To Perform/To Live: Decolonizing of Digital Music Instruments and Feminism with Human-AI Co-Created Embodied Experience of Daily Objects

Zhang, S., Lin, S., Liu, T., Fan, M., & Masu, R.

Proceedings of the ACM on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques, 9(3), 1–12. Presented at SIGGRAPH 2026.

FinHERtip: Embodied Identity and Human-AI Co-Creation in Accessible Musical Performance

Zhang, S., Liu, T., & Fan, M.

Proceedings of the SIGGRAPH Asia 2025 Art Papers, pp. 1–8.

Accessibility and Social Inclusivity: A Literature Review of Music Technology for Blind and Low Vision People

Zhang, S., Masu, R., Bettega, M., & Fan, M.

Proceedings of the 27th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility, pp. 1–22.

Beadwork Bridge: Understanding and Exploring the Opportunities of Beadwork in Enriching School Education for Blind and Low Vision (BLV) People

Zhang, S., Lin, W., Li, Z., Jiang, R., Liang, C., Fan, M., & Masu, R.

Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility, pp. 1–14.

OdorV-Art: An Initial Exploration of an Olfactory Intervention for Appreciating Style Information of Artworks in Virtual Museum

Zhang, S., Wang, Z., Zhou, Y., Cui, H., Fu, S., Wang, Z., & Fan, M.

Proceedings of the 16th International Symposium on Visual Information Communication and Interaction, pp. 1–8.

Beyond Upright VR: Understanding Direct Interaction and Hand Redirection Strategies in Supine Posture

Wu, Z., Li, J., Zhang, S., Xiong, P., Li, Z., & Fan, M.

IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics.

BruSHŪ: Cross-Modal Translation of Implicit Micro-Actions in Chinese Calligraphy

Liu, T., Zhang, S., & Merendino, N.

Proceedings of the ACM on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques, 9(3), 1–13. Presented at SIGGRAPH 2026.

Quantifying Structural Aesthetic Features and Personality Trait Preferences in Kai Shu Calligraphy

Liu, T., Ye, J., Zhang, S., Zhang, K., & Liang, C.

Proceedings of the 33rd ACM International Conference on Multimedia, pp. 6730–6739.

InteRecon: Towards Reconstructing Interactivity of Personal Memorable Items in Mixed Reality

Li, Z., Li, J., Xiong, Z., Zhang, S., Faruqi, F., Mueller, S., Liang, C., Ma, X., & Fan, M.

Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 1–19.

Exploring the Impact of Artificial Intelligence-Generated Content (AIGC) Tools on Social Dynamics in UX Collaboration

Wang, Z., Shen, L., Kuang, E., Zhang, S., & Fan, M.

Proceedings of the 2024 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference, pp. 1594–1606.

Toward Making Virtual Reality (VR) More Inclusive for Older Adults: Investigating Aging Effect on Target Selection and Manipulation Tasks in VR

Wu, Z., Wang, D.*, Zhang, S.*, Huang, Y., Wang, Z., & Fan, M.

Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 1–17.

Can Machines Interpret Chinese Calligraphy Pieces via Computational Aesthetics?

Liu, T., Yan, S., Zhang, S., Liang, C., & Zhang, K.

Leonardo.

Overseas Research Award (ORA) at HKUST(GZ)

Award Recipient

Funded collaborative research at the University of Trento, Italy, on accessible computing and embodied design; authored research papers, delivered invited talks, and established international academic collaborations.

Overseas Research Travel Grant (RTG) at HKUST(GZ)

Award Recipient

Supported publications and presentations at leading international conferences and academic exchange.

Guangzhou–HKUST(GZ) Joint Research Fund (2024A03J0617)

Project Participant

Developed accessible interaction prototypes, conducted field studies and data analysis, and contributed to conference papers.

CCF–Lenovo Blue Ocean Research Fund (CCF-Lenovo OF 202302)

Core Team Member

Researched VR/AR technologies; developed prototypes, conducted user studies, contributed to ACM ASSETS and CHI papers, and supported project proposals and reports.

HKUST(GZ) Practice Research Project: Exploring RBM Talent Development (HKUST(GZ)-ROP2023030)

Project Participant

Contributed to interdisciplinary, practice-based course design and supported innovation-oriented graduate education.

Guangzhou Science and Technology Program: City–University Joint Research Fund (2023A03J0001)

Core Team Member

Conducted co-design and social innovation research with people with disabilities; organized user studies and contributed to multiple ACM ASSETS and SIGGRAPH publications.

Teaching Assistant

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou) · Guangzhou, China

• Supported instruction, tutorials, and grading for the graduate course Interactive Music Systems Design and undergraduate course Introduction to Experimental Animation.

Lecturer and Administrator

Wuhan Donghu University · Wuhan, China

• Lectured in the School of Media and Art Design and the School of International Education; also served in the Office of International Exchange and Cooperation.
• Delivered Chinese–English bilingual teaching for the undergraduate course Animation Design.
• Supervised undergraduate capstone projects and graduation thesis.

Teaching Assistant

Arizona State University · Tempe, AZ, USA

• Assisted with undergraduate instruction and grading for Design Awareness.

Conference Program Committees

• ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ACM ASSETS)
• International Conference on Human-Engaged Computing (ICHEC, formerly Chinese CHI)

Reviewer

• ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2025, 2026, 2027 (ACM CHI ’25, ’26, ’27)
• ACM Interactive Surfaces and Spaces Conference 2026 (ACM ISS ’26)
• ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility 2026 (ACM ASSETS ’26)
• International Conference on Human-Engaged Computing 2025 (ICHEC ’25)
• ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology 2024 (ACM UIST ’24)

Invited Academic Talks

• May 2026: Embodied design and accessible computing, jointly hosted by the Conservatorio di Musica “F. A. Bonporti” and the University of Trento, Italy.
• Aug 2026: Accessible computing and technologies supporting older adults and people with disabilities, University of Bath, United Kingdom.
• Sep 2026: Accessible design, Italian Union of the Blind and Partially Sighted (UICI), Brescia Branch, Italy.

Academic Event Organization

Organized an international lecture series on art, design, and media arts at Wuhan Donghu University; coordinated invited speakers, schedules, and on-site delivery.

User Experience Designer

Bright Dream Robotics (Country Garden)

Conducted user research, interaction prototyping, and product iteration; gained industry experience in product development and UX, applicable to supervising student industry–academia projects.

Visual Designer

Yelp

Worked on brand visual identity and digital marketing design, gaining experience in end-to-end commercial design workflows.

Visual Design Intern

FiberHome

Contributed to interaction design and brand visual design projects.

User Experience Design Intern

Electronic Arts (EA)

Contributed to interaction design and UX optimization for a recommendation system; gained familiarity with industry design implementation workflows.

BeadBand V2.0 at Spazio Ramé

Invited Performer · Trento, Italy

Performed with BeadBand V2.0, an audiovisual music system controlled via a beadwork-inspired tangible interface I designed.

InnoCharity Art Exhibition and Charity Auction

Exhibiting Artist · Guangzhou, China

Exhibited the interactive digital music interface BruSHŪ. The design was published at SIGGRAPH 2026.

“Second Life” Sustainable Art Festival and Market

Invited Performer · Guangzhou, China

Performed FinHERtip, an interactive digital musical interface. The design was published in a SIGGRAPH Asia 2025 Art Paper.

Machine Learning & Interactive Music Concert

Invited Performer · Guangzhou / Hong Kong

Performed Abacus, an abacus-like digital music interface I designed. The design was published at SIGGRAPH 2026.

Write On Downtown Art Magazine

Visual Designer · Tempe, AZ, USA

Member of the design team for Issue 13, responsible for cover design, illustrations, and layout design.

Clear Channel Outdoor Public Service Campaign

Graphic Designer / Team Lead · Tempe, AZ, USA

Led a team to complete the design of a public service billboard in Arizona.

Overseas Research Award (ORA)

HKUST(GZ)

Second Prize and Charity Award, CCF Technology for Charity Hackathon

Finalist, Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition

HKUST(GZ)

Postgraduate Studentship

HKUST(GZ)

International Student Scholarship

Arizona State University

Excellence Award, 8th National College Student Advertising Art Competition

Excellence Award, National College Student Industrial Design Competition

Third-Class Scholarship, School of Urban Design

Wuhan University

Volunteer STEM Educator

Tongren No. 1 High School · Tongren, China

Independently designed and taught two courses, Large Language Models for Innovation in Miao Embroidery and Human–AI Co-Creation of Original English Drama, connecting AI literacy with intangible cultural heritage and language arts education.

Volunteer Teacher and Charity Fundraising Coordinator

Jianxin Primary School, Xinqing Town, Teng County · Wuzhou, Guangxi, China

Conducted volunteer teaching in rural communities and coordinated charitable fundraising initiatives to support rural primary education.

Volunteer Teacher

Jiuji Junior Middle School, Jiuji Town, Nanzhang County · Xiangyang, Hubei, China

Delivered general art education to promote art literacy and appreciation.

Programming & Hardware

Python; C/C++ (Arduino, ESP32); JavaScript; HTML/CSS.

Interactive Development

Unity; Pure Data; TouchDesigner; Processing; p5.js.

Interaction & Visual Design

Figma; Photoshop; Illustrator; Premiere Pro; InDesign; Axure.

3D Modeling & PCB Design

Rhino; Blender; Alias; CAD; KiCad.

Languages

Mandarin Chinese (native); English (fluent spoken communication, academic writing, and bilingual teaching).