Zixin (Nicole) Zhao

My name is Zixin (read as zee-shin) and I am also occasionally Nicole. I'm currently a PhD student in Computer Science at the University of Toronto under the joint supervision of Fanny Chevalier and Gerald Penn. I previously completed a MSc at Ontario Tech University under the supervision of Christopher Collins developing a gaze based reading aid for language learners. I completed a BSc majoring in Electrical Engineering and minoring in Computing Science at the University of Alberta.

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Research

I am currently focused on studying ways to support creative writing using visualizations. In tandem with examining AI's ability to understand narrative texts. I previously worked within language learning, developing systems that take implicit feedback from gaze to aid language learners while reading.

Publications

Supporting bottom-up creativity using LLMs with a system inspired by Nabokov's Cards.

Data triangulation to align tools from prior literature and commercial tools to creative writer's needs.

Generating stories using LLM-based multi-agents.

Visualization to suport advisors with exploring student outcome predictions during academic advising sessions.

Mapping out levels of happiness using non-linear FACS to control AUs and create realistic smiling faces.

Language learning application for reading in your second language where definitions and translations of words that the system thinks you don't know shows up automatically.

Using a reflective chatbot to connect community members together during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Dataset annotated with negative transfer related errors made by Chinese learners of English.

Miscellanea

This website is based on Jon Barron's code