Ryan T. Woo

Arizona State University (ASU) Tempe, AZ 85281

Brickyard Engineering
(BYENG) 351AC 699 S Mill Ave

Helmick Center (HLMK) 541A 660 S College Ave

I work at the intersection of educational technology, human-computer interaction, and applied machine learning. I build and study how adaptive learning, personalized tutoring systems, interactive learning environments, collaboration tools, information visualization, immersive training, and other forms of technology-enhanced learning can help diverse learners and educators succeed across formal education and workforce training contexts.

Currently, I split my time between the Sonoran Visualization Lab (SVL) led by Dr. Chris Bryan in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence and the Construction Workforce and Technology (CWT) Lab led by Dr. Ricardo Eiris in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment at ASU.

If you’re interested in collaborating, please feel free to reach out: rtwoo@asu.edu

Selected Publications

Evaluating Adaptive Personalization of Educational Readings with Simulated Learners

Ryan T. Woo^*, Anmol Rao^*, Aryan Keluskar, and Yinong Chen

arXiv preprint. Accepted to the ACL SIGEDU 21st Workshop on Innovative Use of NLP for Building Educational Applications (BEA 2026)

arXiv Bib
@article{woo2026adaptive, title = {Evaluating Adaptive Personalization of Educational Readings with Simulated Learners}, author = {Woo, Ryan T. and Rao, Anmol and Keluskar, Aryan and Chen, Yinong}, journal = {arXiv preprint}, year = {2026}, }

Do Student Emotions Influence Learning During Virtual Field Trips? A Computer Vision Analysis of Emotion States in Desktop-based Virtual Reality

Ryan T. Woo, Foysal Ahmed, Parth Bhadaniya, Ricardo Eiris, and Masoud Gheisari

In ASCE International Conference on Computing in Civil Engineering (i3CE 2026). Accepted.

Bib

@inproceedings{woo2026studentemotions,
  title = {Do Student Emotions Influence Learning During Virtual Field Trips? A Computer Vision Analysis of Emotion States in Desktop-based Virtual Reality},
  author = {Woo, Ryan T. and Ahmed, Foysal and Bhadaniya, Parth and Eiris, Ricardo and Gheisari, Masoud},
  booktitle = {ASCE International Conference on Computing in Civil Engineering (i3CE 2026)},
  year = {2026},
}

Explainable Human-in-the-Loop Segmentation via Critic Feedback Signals

Pouya Shaeri, Ryan T. Woo, Yasaman Mohammadpour, and Ariane Middel

arXiv preprint. Submitted to The IEEE/CVF Winter Conference on Applications of Computer Vision (WACV 2026).

arXiv Bib

@article{shaeri2025explainable,
  title = {Explainable Human-in-the-Loop Segmentation via Critic Feedback Signals},
  author = {Shaeri, Pouya and Woo, Ryan T. and Mohammadpour, Yasaman and Middel, Ariane},
  journal = {arXiv preprint},
  year = {2025},
}

Awards & Recognition

2025 Outstanding Undergraduate Student Poster OpenMRT, Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research ASM Poster Symposium
2024 Certificate of Excellence: Outstanding Innovation Undergraduate Teaching Assistant Program, Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, ASU
2024 Generator Award: Outstanding Team Leader Engineering Projects in Community Service, ASU
2024 SUN Award for leadership and innovation School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, ASU
2023 Most Creative Use of GitHub sunhacks, ASU
2023 Devils Invent, 2nd Place Attendance Management System, ASU

What I'm up to now

Research Highlights

Investigating gaps in knowledge, skills, and dispositions of students studying computing disciplines through the Hidden Curricula-Addressing Unseen Challenges within Computer Science Education project.
Modeling learning processes in immersive training environments through the NSF-funded iVisit: Situated Learning Experiences through Web-based Virtual Field Trips project.
Designing retrieval-augmented question generation pipelines (RASQAL) and AI teaching assistants (SAGE) that support faculty at scale with Teaching Professor Dr. Yinong Chen.
During my undergrad, co-developed OpenMRT with Pouya Shaeri, an NSF CAREER project advancing human thermal exposure modeling with street-level imagery under Dr. Ariane Middel and the SHaDE Lab.

Teaching & Outreach

I’ve supported courses ranging from introductory programming (CSE 110) to upper-division distributed software development (CSE 445), and supervise/mentor student design teams through the Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) program and year-long CS Capstone course.

As an organizer with the Software Developers Association (./SoDA) at ASU, I have led planning of local hackathons, workshops, and coding contests and contribute to STEM outreach initiatives like the SCAI Robotics Camp and Desert CodeSprouts.

I am also a student member of ACM SIGCSE, IEEE CS, IEEE EdSoc, and ACL SIGEDU.