Recent News

  • TunePad Playbooks published at CHI
    March 2022 — Our paper on TunePad's computational notebook architecture ("Playbooks") was accepted at the ACH CHI 2022 conference! We share our design principles and artifact interviews with undergraduate TunePad mentors who talk about their creative processes. Read More
  • Street Code Jam Fest launches in Chicago
    March 2022 — The TunePad team just launched the first Street Code Jam Fest at Chicago's Studio 2112! Thirty Chicago middle school students shared original music videos created with TunePad and Python code. Check out the program, partners, sponsors and live stream recording! Read More
  • TunePad wins NSF grant to explore collaborative coding in informal learning spaces
    March 2022 — The TunePad team just won a 3-year NSF RETTL grant with Meta Media (McGaw YMCA) to study "coding in concert", collaborative coding at the intersection of music, art, and Python coding. Read More
  • Our CHI paper with the Adler Planetarium wins Best Paper Award
    March 2022 — Our paper with Mmachi Obiorah, Jim Hammerman, and Adler Planetarium's Zooniverse team won a Best Paper Award at CHI 2021! Read More
  • Intro to Digital Music with Python published!
    March 2022 — Mike, Cameron, and Melanie's book, Introduction to Digital Music with Python is now out in print! Check out the book on Routledge. Read More
  • Tern Tangible Programming mentioned in WIRED
    August 2016 — Tern was mentioned in a WIRED writeup of Google's new Project Bloks release. Read More
  • Invasions of the Energy Monsters wins GLS Showcase Award
    August 2016 — Our game, Invasions of the Energy Monsters, was awarded 1st place in the showcase competition at the Games, Learning, and Society (GLS'16) conference!
  • TIDAL Lab Mentioned in WIRED
    May 2016 — TIDAL Lab mentioned in a WIRED article about the release of Osmo Coding. Read More
  • Tangible Play releases Osmo Coding based on Strawbies
    May 2016 — Tangible Play, creators of the Osmo system, just released their latest game called Coding based on TIDAL Lab research. Read More
  • Crain's Chicago Business Article
    December 2015 — Mike Horn's research profiled in Crain's Chicago Business Read More
  • NSF CAREER Award
    June 2015 — Mike Horn received an NSF CAREER award to study computational literacy in informal learning environments. The project will study existing cultural forms of literacy with the goal of broaden participation in computation. Read More
  • PBS NOVA Labs Launched!
    May 2015 — Our Build-a-Tree and DeepTree exhibits are now featured as part of a PBS NOVA Lab on evolution. Read More
  • Best Paper Award (CHI 2015)
    March 2015 — Our Fluid Grouping paper was just awarded Best Paper at ACM CHI 2015 in Seoul, Korea.
  • PBS NOVA blog post
    July 2014 — Our Life on Earth exhibits were featured in a PBS NOVA blog post by Ralph Bouquet: "imagine doing a family tree project that took into account all the biodiversity and history of 3.5 billion years of life..." Read More
  • Best Short Paper Award (IDC 2014)
    June 2014 — Our Frog Pond Evolution paper was awarded Best Short Paper at the Interaction Design and Children Conference (IDC 2014) in Aarhus, Denmark. Congratulations, team!
  • Best Paper Award (IDC 2014)
    June 2014 — Zeina Atrash Leong's paper, Waiting for Learning, was awarded Best Full Paper at the 2014 Interaction Design and Children Conference in Aarhus, Denmark. Congratulations, Zeina!
  • Games, Learning, and Society Showcase Award (GLS 2014)
    June 2014 — Our Green Home Games project, Turn Up the Heat, just won the 2nd Place Showcase Award at the 2014 Games, Learning, and Society Conference in Madison, Wisconsin.
  • New York Times: Very Young Programmers
    September 2013 — Mike's work on Tangible Programming in the DevTech group at Tufts University was mentioned in the New York Times Science Section. Read More
  • Best Design Paper Award (CSCL 2013)
    June 2013 — Our Going Deep paper was just awarded Best Design Paper at the Computer Supported Collaborative Learning Conference (CSCL'13) conference in Madison, Wisconsin. Congratulations, team!
  • Life on Earth Exhibits Launch!
    April 2013 — Our Life on Earth exhibits have launched at the California Academy of Sciences and the Field Museum Read More