
Sonny (Songyun) Tao
Ph.D. Candidate, Computer Science
Dartmouth College
Email: songyun.tao.gr@dartmouth.edu
About me
I am a Ph.D. candidate in Computer Science at Dartmouth College, advised by Prof. Elizabeth L. Murnane, and hold a Master’s from Cornell University. My research focuses on Human-Centered AI, multimodal sensing, and large-scale machine learning systems for digital health, accessibility, and information retrieval. I have published in venues including IMWUT, UIST, and CSCW, with projects spanning wearable computing, adaptive feedback, and AI-driven caregiver support. I also apply my expertise in industry, most recently developing large-scale ML pipelines at Wayfair to optimize search traffic and revenue. Beyond health-tech, I am broadly interested in high-dimensional time-series modeling and rare-event detection, exploring connections between my research methods and applications in domains such as information retrieval and quantitative analysis.
​
​​
Machine Learning • Digital Health • Human-Centered AI​
​
Hope is not a strategy. Luck is not a factor. Fear is not an option.
Publications
Family In The Loop: Enabling Family Involvement and Person-Centered Dementia Care at Long-Term Care Facilities with Collaborative AI Tools (CSCW'25) Dylan E. Moore, Songyun Tao, Emma Ricci-De Lucca, Christina S.Tadin, Dio Tadin Brian Morgan, Elizabeth L. Murnane
CareInsights: AI-Enabled Infrastructure for Person-Centered Dementia Care in Resource-Constrained Facilities (accepted) Dylan E. Moore, Songyun Tao, Sophi Moore, Christina S.Tadin, Dio Tadin Brian Morgan, Elizabeth L. Murnane
MusicalPT: Augmenting physical therapy by integrating adaptive musical guidance to enhance exercise quality and patient experience (IMWUT'25) Songyun Tao, Yong Hoon Chung, Yijing Feng, Shirin Amouei, Michael Cassey, Viola S. Stoermer, Elizabeth L. Murnane
NeckFace: Continuously Tracking Full Facial Expressions on Neck-mounted Wearables (IMWUT '21) Songyun Tao*, Tuochao Chen*, Yaxuan Li*, Hyunchul Lim, Mose Sakashita, Ruidong Zhang, Francois Guimbretiere, Cheng Zhang
C-Face: continuously reconstructing facial expressions by deep learning contours of the face with ear-mounted miniature cameras (UIST ’20) Tuochao Chen, Benjamin Steeper, Kinan Alsheikh, Songyun Tao, Francois Guimbretiere, Cheng Zhang
SpeeChin: A Smart Necklace for Silent Speech Recognition (IMWUT)/UbiComp ’21 Ruidong Zhang, Mingyang Chen, Benjamin Steeper,Yaxuan Li, Zihan Yan, Yizhuo Chen, Songyun Tao, Tuochao Chen, Hyunchul Lim, Cheng Zhang
ThumbTrak: Recognizing Micro-finger Poses Using a Ring with Proximity Sensing (MobileHCI '21)Wei Sun, Franklin Mingzhe Li, Congshu Huang, Zhenyu Lei, Benjamin Steeper, Songyun Tao, Feng Tian, Cheng Zhang
FingerTrak: Continuous 3D Hand Pose Tracking by Deep Learning Hand Silhouettes Captured by Miniature Thermal Cameras on Wrist. (Acknowledged) (IMWUT)/Ubicomp’20Fang Hu, Peng He, Songlin Xu, Yin Li, Cheng Zhang