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Brad A. Myers

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Brad A. Myers
EducationMassachusetts Institute of Technology (BS, MS)
University of Toronto (PhD)
AwardsACM SIGCHI Lifetime Achievement, Charles Babbage Institute Human-Computer Interaction History Prize, ACM Fellow, IEEE Fellow, CHI Academy
Scientific career
Fields
WorkplacesCarnegie Mellon University,
Three Rivers Computer Corporation

Brad Allan Myers[1] is a professor in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University and has served as its director since 2023.[2] His research has broadly influenced human–computer interaction, particularly the ways interactive systems are designed, implemented, and programmed. His work connects foundational user-interface technologies with human-centered approaches to making computing systems easier to create and use.

Education

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Brad Myers went to Isidore Newman School from kindergarten through high school. Myers received his BS degree in Computer Science and MS degree in Computer Science and Engineering at MIT in 1980, while simultaneously interning at Xerox PARC for his Master's thesis. He earned his PhD in computer science at the University of Toronto in 1987, under Bill Buxton and Ronald Baecker.

Work

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Myers's work is focused on researching the technical side of user interfaces, and creating software systems, most of which have gem and rock themed acronyms.[3]

Early Work

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While a student at MIT in the 1970s, he worked at many distinguished institutes including Xerox PARC and the MIT Architecture Machine Group (now the Media Lab). Myers's MIT Master's thesis, done at MIT and PARC, was one of the earliest data visualization systems.

Interaction Techniques

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Myers is also known for inventing and researching Interaction techniques. His first job was at Three Rivers Computer Corporation, where he created one of the first commercial window managers in 1983, called SAPPHIRE,[4] with a number of features that later became widespread. Later, while a PhD student at the University of Toronto, he did a study of progress bars, that helped popularize them for long-running activities. He and his former PhD student Jacob O. Wobbrock developed the EdgeWrite text entry technique. He also developed new forms of Selective Undo for use in graphics and textual editing.

He has also chronicled the history and design of interaction techniques. His two-hour 1990 video “All the Widgets” captured the look and feel of interaction techniques to that point in time.[5] His 800-page 2024 book, Pick, Click, Flick! The Story of Interaction Techniques, documents the full history and design considerations for 15 classes of interaction techniques.[6]

User Interface Software

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Brad Myers's University of Toronto dissertation described Peridot, a programming by demonstration system that specified the look and behaviors of widgets without conventional programming. At CMU, he developed the Garnet and Amulet software frameworks, which innovated new ways to do object-oriented programming, command objects, constraints, input handling, animation support, and interactive builder tools.

Another focus of Myers's work is the Natural Programming project. It focuses on user-centered programming languages and making programming easier and more correct by making it more natural. This includes work with PhD student Amy J. Ko on the “WhyLine” tool to help users debug their code. He also worked with PhD student Mary Beth Kery to explain how data science programming is exploratory programming, along with tools to help with versioning and backtracking.

Handheld Computers

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Myers has had a number of research projects on handheld mobile devices, such as the Pebbles project, exploring the different uses of these devices and how they communicate with other systems. He was one of the first researchers to use the PalmPilot and Windows CE devices to explore how handhelds could be used with other devices at the same time, such as being remote controls or a remote cursor. He also explored how handhelds could be part of the Command Post of the Future from 1998-2002.

Students

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Brad Myers is also known for his extensive academic family tree, with 21 PhD advisees,[7] many of whom have also become faculty, including James Landay, Jacob O. Wobbrock, and Amy J. Ko. In all, this family tree is 7 levels deep (advisee of advisee of advisee, etc.) and contains more than 469 PhD advisees.[8] He has also been on the thesis committees of many other PhDs students at CMU and universities throughout the world.

Awards

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In 2017, Brad Myers received the Association for Computing Machinery's SIGCHI Lifetime Achievement Award in Research, for outstanding fundamental and influential research contributions to the study of human-computer interaction.[9] He was elected to the CHI Academy in 2004 as one of the "principal leaders of the field" of HCI and is an IEEE Fellow and an ACM Fellow.[10][11] He is listed as one of the "Pioneers of HCI".[12] His book, Pick, Click, Flick! The Story of Interaction Techniques, won a 2025 Charles Babbage Institute Human-Computer Interaction History Prize.[13]

Myers is the winner of 19 best paper type awards and 6 Most Influential Paper awards and is the author or editor of over 600 publications. He is the 33rd most cited author in "human-computer interaction", according to Google Scholar.[14] He was the most published author at the annual ACM CHI conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems between 2005 and 2015, and as of 2026 ranks 7th,[15] and he is one of a select few who has attended every CHI conference. You can see documentation online of his extensive collection of CHI ribbons.

Editorial Boards of Journals

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Current

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Journal of Computer Languages (COLA)

KSI Research Inc.'s Journal of Visual Languages and Computing

Formerly

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Elsevier's Journal of Visual Languages and Computing

Interacting with Computers

Human-Computer Interaction Journal

Journal of Visual Languages and Sentient Systems

ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction

ACM interactions magazine

References

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  1. ↑ Brad A. Myers at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
  2. ↑ "Myers Named HCII Director". Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science. February 6, 2023. Retrieved September 6, 2026.
  3. ↑ List of Systems for Brad Myers and Students
  4. ↑ The User Interface for Sapphire, IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications. vol. 4, no. 12, Dec, 1984. pp. 13-23. IEEE DL
  5. ↑ Brad A. Myers. All the Widgets. 2 hour, 15 min videotape. Technical Video Program of the SIGCHI'90 conference, Seattle, WA. April 1-4, 1990. SIGGRAPH Video Review, Issue 57. ISBN 0-89791-930-0. Video
  6. ↑ Brad A. Myers, Pick, Click, Flick! The Story of Interaction Techniques, ACM Books, New York, NY, 2024, 810 pages. www.ixtbook.com, ISBN 979-8-4007-0949-4, doi:10.1145/3617448
  7. ↑ Brad Myers's website
  8. ↑ Brad Myers, Brad Myers advisee tree.
  9. ↑ "2017 SIGCHI Awards". ACM SIGCHI 2027 Awards.
  10. ↑ "ACM Names 34 Fellows for Contributions to Computing and IT". Association for Computing Machinery.
  11. ↑ "Myers Among Four CMU Faculty Members Named IEEE Fellows". Human-Computer Interaction Institute, Carnegie Mellon University.
  12. ↑ "Encounters with HCI Pioneers: A Personal Photo Journal", Ben Shneiderman, September 15, 2015, Updated November 3, 2018
  13. ↑ "Myers Awarded 2025 Charles Babbage Institute Human-Computer Interaction History Prize", CBI Press Release
  14. ↑ Google Scholar, label: human-computer interaction
  15. ↑ CHI Conference Authors
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