Ching-Hua Chuan

My academic journey is quite unconventional. I have B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science. I am now in the Department of Interactive Media in the School of Communication at University of Miami. Below lists three main tracks of my research interests: 

I started my research in Music Information Retrieval and Audio Signal Processing when I was a Ph.D. student in Computer Science at the University of Southern California. My work focuses on creating computational solutions such that a computer can perceive music as humans do (e.g., recognizing musical elements such as keys, chords, and styles). 

I believe that machine learning applications should always be human-centered. For example, instead of having a piece of music fully composed and created by a computer program, I created a system that accompanies an original melody from a user in the style that he or she defines. I also created systems that recognize American Sign Language (ASL) to help people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing and their families to learn ASL together.

Since I joined the Department of Interactive Media at University of Miami, I have collaborated with social scientists across different communication fields. My interdisciplinary collaborations focus on either computational methodologies in communication research, or artificial intelligence applications and immersive technologies such as AR and MR in communication. I have worked on projects such as social media analytics, augmented reality advertising, and conversational agents (aka chatbots) in consumer engagement and health communication.