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leah.chong@austin.utexas.edu
Office Location: ETC 4.116A

Leah Chong

Assistant Professor

Department Research Areas

Advanced Design and Manufacturing

Research Interests

Human-AI collaboration; Human-centered engineering design; Computational design methods; Cognition and decision-making; Design theory and methodology

Bio

Dr. Leah Chong is an Assistant Professor in the Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas (UT) at Austin. Prior to joining UT in 2025, she was a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Chong received her Ph.D. and MS degrees at Carnegie Mellon University in 2022 and 2020, respectively, and a BS degree at Rice University in 2017, all in Mechanical Engineering. Throughout her academic career, Dr. Chong has been recognized for her contributions to research through ASME Design Theory and Methodology Best Paper Awards and Carnegie Mellon University's Milton Shaw Ph.D. Research Award and Presidential Fellowship.

Dr. Chong's research primarily focuses on human-AI collaboration in engineering design and human-centered engineering design, using a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods such as computational modeling and human subject experiments. She is interested in understanding how the integration of computational tools/agents in the engineering design process affects the way designers think, feel, and make decisions, as well as exploring opportunities for complementary partnership between human designers and AI to enable effective and human-centered design. Some ongoing topics of research include: AI-assisted decision-making, qualitative design with AI, and artificial empathy.

Educational Qualifications

  • Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, 2022
  • M.S., Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, 2020
  • B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Rice University, 2017

Select Awards & Honors

  1. Design Theory and Methodology Best Paper Award - ASME IDETC Conference (2024)
  2. Milton Shaw Ph.D. Research Award - Carnegie Mellon University ME Department (2022)

Related Websites

https://sites.utexas.edu/huco/
https://leah-chong.com/

Select Publications

Google Scholar