Hi, my name is Nathan.
I am a PhD student at the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. I am advised by Chris Harrison and am a member of the Future Interfaces Group. Previously, I conducted research in Meta Reality Lab’s input sensing team. I am on the job market for academic or industry research positions starting in 2026.
My research interests involve designing the next generation of interactive hardware technologies to address existing limitations in performance, capability, and usability. New interfaces should not just fix the shortcomings reported by users of current ones but also enable previously impossible and delightful forms of interaction. Application domains I touch upon include context-aware computing, AR/VR, and smart environments. My work has been published at prestigious computer science venues such as ACM CHI and UIST.
Before coming to CMU, I received my bachelors in computer engineering from the University of Michigan, where I was advised by Alanson Sample. Outside of research, I consider myself an avid maker and am always excited about building new things. In my spare time I like to run, hike, and play board games.
research
BibTeX
@inproceedings{DeVrio_2025_ReelFeel,
author = {DeVrio, Nathan and Harrison, Chris},
title = {Reel Feel: Rich Haptic XR Experiences Using an Active, Worn, Multi-String Device},
isbn = {9798400713941},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3706598.3713615},
doi = {10.1145/3706598.3713615},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
month = april,
year = {2025}
}
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BibTeX
@inproceedings{Mollyn_2025_EclipseTouch,
author = {Mollyn, Vimal and DeVrio, Nathan and Harrison, Chris},
title = {EclipseTouch: Touch Segmentation on Ad Hoc Surfaces using Worn Infrared Shadow Casting},
isbn = {9798400720376},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3746059.3747743},
doi = {10.1145/3746059.3747743},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 38th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
month = sept,
year = {2025}
}
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BibTeX
@inproceedings{DeVrio_2025_Contextra,
author = {DeVrio, Nathan and Boldu, Roger and Whitmire, Eric and Kienzle, Wolf},
title = {Contextra: Detecting Object Grasps With Low-Power Cameras and Sensor Fusion On the Wrist},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3743741},
doi = {10.1145/3743741},
journal = {Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact.},
volume = {9},
number = {5},
month = sep,
articleno = {MHCI006},
numpages = {25},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
year = {2025}
}
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BibTeX
@inproceedings{DeVrio_2025_ReelFeel,
author = {DeVrio, Nathan and Harrison, Chris},
title = {Reel Feel: Rich Haptic XR Experiences Using an Active, Worn, Multi-String Device},
isbn = {9798400713941},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3706598.3713615},
doi = {10.1145/3706598.3713615},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
month = april,
year = {2025}
}
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BibTeX
@inproceedings{DeVrio_2023_SmartPoser,
author = {DeVrio, Nathan and Mollyn, Vimal and Harrison, Chris},
title = {SmartPoser: Arm Pose Estimation with a Smartphone and Smartwatch Using UWB and IMU Data},
isbn = {9798400701320},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3586183.3606821},
doi = {10.1145/3586183.3606821},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 36th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
month = oct,
year = {2023}
}
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BibTeX
@inproceedings{DeVrio_2022_DiscoBand,
author = {DeVrio, Nathan and Harrison, Chris},
title = {DiscoBand: Multiview Depth-Sensing Smartwatch Strap for Hand, Body and Environment Tracking},
isbn = {9781450393201},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3526113.3545634},
doi = {10.1145/3526113.3545634},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 35th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
month = nov,
year = {2022}
}
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BibTeX
@inproceedings{Ahuja_2022_ControllerPose,
author = {Ahuja, Karan and Shen, Vivian and Fang, Cathy Mengying and Riopelle, Nathan and Kong, Andy and Harrison, Chris},
title = {ControllerPose: Inside-Out Body Capture with VR Controller Cameras},
isbn = {9781450391573},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3491102.3502105},
doi = {10.1145/3491102.3502105},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
month = april,
year = {2022}
}
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BibTeX
@inproceedings{Varga_2021_Realtime,
author = {Varga, Virag and Vakulya, Gergely and Buergisser, Benjamin and Riopelle, Nathan and Zund, Fabio and Sumner, Robert W. and Gross, Thomas R. and Sample, Alanson},
title = {Real-Time Capture of Holistic Tangible Interactions},
isbn = {9781450382137},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3430524.3440658},
doi = {10.1145/3430524.3440658},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the Fifteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
month = feb,
year = {2021}
}
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EverRing: Powering Highly-Capable Ring Devices with Headset RF Energy
To appear at UbiComp/ISWC '25: Proceedings of the ACM International Symposium on Wearable Computers.
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UIST '25: Proceedings of the ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology
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MobileHCI '25: In Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Mobile Human-Computer Interaction
Best Paper Award
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CHI '25: Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Popular Choice Best Demo Award Honorable Mention
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UIST '23: Proceedings of the ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology
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UIST '22: Proceedings of the ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology
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CHI '22: Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
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TEI '21: Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction
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