Hi! My name is Jiaxin (“Jee-ah-shin”) An (安佳鑫). I’m a PhD candidate at the School of Information, University of Texas at Austin, researching how to design AI agents that amplify human autonomy rather than replace it.
你好！我叫安佳鑫（英文名 Jiaxin，发音“Jee-ah-shin”）。我目前是德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校信息学院的博士候选人，研究如何设计能够增强而非替代人类自主性的 AI 智能体。
My work sits at the intersection of human-agent interaction and health information practice. I explore how people understand and relate to conversational agents—investigating the metaphors users employ, the barriers and concerns they have, and the design decisions that either support or undermine their autonomy. I also study how people seek health information across their lived experiences, such as older adults, patients with fibromyalgia, and parents caring for children with autism.
我的研究聚焦于人机智能体交互与健康信息行为的交叉地带。我探究人们如何理解和看待对话智能体——包括用户采用的隐喻、顾虑与障碍，以及哪些设计决策能够支持或削弱用户自主性。此外，我研究不同群体在日常生活中的健康信息寻求行为，涵盖老年人、纤维肌痛患者及自闭症儿童的父母等。
The connective thread: How can we design agentic systems that respect and preserve human autonomy in health contexts? Rather than asking “what can AI do,” I ask “what should AI do to empower rather than diminish users in their health information practice?”
贯穿始终的核心问题是：如何设计能够尊重并维护人类自主性的智能体系统？与其问"AI 能做什么"，我更关心"AI 应当如何做，才能在健康信息实践中赋能用户而非削弱其主体性？"
My research path has been shaped by mentors who gave me the freedom to pursue questions that mattered. Under Dr. Pengyi Zhang's guidance during my master's, I turned my attention to the information needs of families affected by autism — a population that had received surprisingly little attention in information science at the time. My doctoral advisor, Dr. Yan Zhang, supported me to open a new intellectual door: the concept of autonomy as an ethical lens for studying how people interact with information systems — a perspective that remains underexplored in the field. I am also grateful to the broader research community — including ASIS&T, ACM CHIIR, and the IC² Institute — whose recognition has encouraged me to push this work further.
我的研究历程离不开导师们的支持——他们给予我充分的自由，让我去追寻真正有意义的问题。在硕士阶段，张鹏翼老师引导我将目光投向自闭症家庭的信息需求。彼时，信息科学领域对这一群体的关注仍十分有限，而这恰恰让我看到了研究的价值所在。 博士阶段，张燕老师支持我开启了一扇新的学术之门：以"自主性"作为伦理视角，审视人与信息系统的交互方式——这一视角在信息科学领域至今仍有广阔的探索空间。 我也由衷感谢更广泛的学术共同体——包括 ASIS&T、ACM CHIIR 以及 IC² Institute——他们对我研究工作的认可与鼓励，是我不断深耕这一方向的重要动力。
Research Assistant — University of Texas at Austin (Aug 2021 – Present)
科研助理 — 德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校（2021年8月至今）
Human-Centered Explainability in Interactive Information Systems · Generative AI in Education · Consumer Longitudinal Health Information Needs · Fibromyalgia Mobile App Use
交互式信息系统中以人为本的可解释性 · 生成式 AI 在教育中的应用 · 消费者纵向健康信息需求 · 纤维肌痛患者手机应用使用研究
Research Investigator — Peking University (Jul 2015 – Jan 2020)
科研人员 — 北京大学（2015年7月 – 2020年1月）
Information Behavior of Parents of Children with ASD · Emoji Usage in Smartphone Communications · Primary School Students’ Internet Use for Learning
自闭症儿童父母的信息行为 · 智能手机通信中的表情符号使用 · 小学生互联网学习行为
Teaching Assistant — UT Austin (Jan 2023 – Present)
助教 — 德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校（2023年1月至今）
Programming for Informatics · Academic Success in Digital University · Consumer Health Informatics · Introduction to Informatics
信息学编程 · 数字大学学术成功 · 消费者健康信息学 · 信息学导论
Teaching Assistant — Peking University (Sep 2018 – May 2020)
助教 — 北京大学（2018年9月 – 2020年5月）
The Organization of Information
信息组织
Software软件: NVivo · MAXQDA · SPSS · Excel · Axure · Sketch · Figma
Methods研究方法: Qualitative (surveys, observation, interviews, focus groups, diaries) · Quantitative (experiment design, statistical tests)定性（问卷、观察、访谈、焦点小组、日记）· 定量（实验设计、统计检验）
Coding编程: Python · SQL · HTML · CSS
Languages语言能力: Chinese · English中文 · 英文
The best way to reach me is by email: jiaxin.an@austin.utexas.edu.
联系我最好的方式是电子邮件：jiaxin.an@austin.utexas.edu。