Clifford Nass

Department of Communication
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-2050
E-Mail: nass@stanford.edu
Phone: (650) 723-5499
Fax: (650) 725-2472

I am a Professor at Stanford University. My primary appointment is in the Department of Communication. I have appointments by courtesy in Computer Science, Science, Technology, and Society, Sociology, and Symbolic Systems (cognitive science).

I am the Director of the Communication between Humans and Interactive Media (CHIMe) Lab at Stanford University. The vision of the laboratory is: To rapidly advance theory, assessment, & design of how individuals and groups behave, feel, and think, research must be general, psychologically informed, quantitatively grounded, complimentary to partners, near-term informed, and broadly disseminated. The four interrelated project groups under CHIMe are CARSITE (Communication with Automobiles: Research on Safety, Information Technology, and Enjoyment), EmAgIn (Embodied Agent Intelligence), LiSTeNS (Listening and Speaking Technologies: Natural and Synthetic), and SPACE (Social and Psychological Aspects of Computing Environments). For a detailed description of the project areas, see the CHIMe Projects Page.

I am also one of two Directors of the Kozmetsky Global Collaboratory (KGC) at Stanford University and its Real-time Venture Design Laboratory (ReVeL). The vision of ReVeL is: To achieve shared global prosperity in the 21st century, we must develop research and practice of real-time, interactive venture design for social ventures. Its mission is: To establish a lab that rapidly creates regionally distributed sustainable ventures. Recent research in this area includes: links between personal identity and venture sustainability; information technology and development; and compression in small groups. KGC and ReVeL are supported by a gift from George and Ronya Kozmetsky as well as goverment, foundation, and corporate gifts.

I have written two books, The Media Equation: How People Treat Computers, Televisions, and New Media Like Real People and Places (New York: Cambridge University Press) and Wired for Speech: How Voice Activates and Advances the Human-Computer Relationship (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press). (The stunning cover for Wired for Speech was created by internationally-renowned Sumi-e Artist, Drue Kataoka). I have also written approximately 100 papers and book chapters in the areas of human-computer interaction, statistical methodology, and organization theory. My complete vita is available.

I am primary advisor for nine Ph.D. students, and secondary advisor for another four or five Ph.D. students. Individuals interested in having me as a primary advisor should apply to the Department of Communication. I do, however, work extensively with Ph.D. students from departments across the University. Undergraduates interested in research can take my research practicum course, Communication 268/368, Experimental Research Practicum for Interface Theory and Design. I generally advise two or three B.A. honors theses per year.

My teaching generally involves mixed undergraduate and graduate courses. The two lecture courses are Media, People, and Society and Computers and Interfaces: Social and Psychological Perspectives. My seminar courses include the aforementioned Experimental Research Practicum for Interface Theory and Design, Applied Statistical Analysis and Experimental Design.

I have consulted on the design of over 150 information products and services for companies in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. My current consulting focuses on voice interfaces, automobile interfaces, ubiquitous computing, intelligent interfaces, and internationalization.