Haowei Hsieh centers his research on the interdisciplinary area between information science and computer science. As an assistant professor in the School of Library and Information Science, Hsieh is interested in extending knowledge through information tools such as digital libraries.

“Understanding how information can be effectively used and found, and how information tools should be designed to efficiently serve our needs, is becoming more important than ever,” said Hsieh, who holds a Ph.D. in computer science from Texas A&M University.

For the past decade, Hsieh has been the main developer of a spatial hypermedia tool called Visual Knowledge Builder (VKB). It’s a visual information workspace aimed at researching human-computer interaction issues when dealing with knowledge management, information triage, and document organization tasks.

During his free time, Hsieh enjoys woodworking. The hobby emerged because of his enthusiasm for driving simulations. Hsieh built a driving cockpit to mount the necessary equipment and immerse himself in the “sport.” With some additional construction experience, he designed something he considers more useful: a piano pedal extender for his kids.