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.
Email /
CV /
Scholar /
Twitter /
LinkedIn
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Research
I'm interested in human computer interaction, visualization, and natural language processing.
Most of my prior works focus on language learning and my recent work is on analyzing fiction text.
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AdVizor: Using Visual Explanations to Guide Data-Driven Student Advising
Riley Weagant,
Zixin Zhao,
Adam Bradley,
Christopher Collins
EduVis 2024  
paper
Visualization to suport advisors with exploring student outcome predictions during academic advising sessions.
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Make it Happier! Discretizing and Amplifying Happiness in Animated Faces
Zixin Zhao,
Jessica Bo,
Karan Singh
GI 2024   (Poster)
project page
Mapping out levels of happiness using non-linear FACS to control AUs and create realistic smiling faces.
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Gloss Positioning for a Gaze Aware L2 Reading Aid
Zixin Zhao,
Christopher Collins
Master's Thesis, 2023
paper /
bibtex
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.
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Covid Connect: Chat-Driven Anonymous Story-Sharing for Peer Support
Christopher Collins, Simone Arbour, Nathan Beals, Shawn Yama, Jennifer Laffier, Zixin Zhao
DIS, 2022
project page /
paper /
bibtex
Using a reflective chatbot to connect community members together during the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Negative language transfer in learner English: A new dataset
Leticia Farias Wanderley, Nicole Zhao, and Carrie Demmans Epp
NAACL, 2021
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bibtex
Dataset annotated with negative transfer related errors made by Chinese learners of English.
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Instructor, Her Code Camp, Curriculum development and teaching, Aug 2024 - present
Panelist, Web-Based Surveys - Battling the Bots, Research Roundtable Series, 2024
Judge, GenAI Genesis, 2024
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