Jiaxin An

I'm doing my Ph.D. in Information Studies at UT iSchool. My research interest lies in the intersection of conversational agents (CAs), information behavior, and health. Specifically, I want to facilitate the conversational interaction between human and agents, allowing human to address their health information needs through such interaction. I’m particularly concerned about older adults, as everyone is getting old, what I do today can help understand and find a better way for the future of people I love (e.g., my parents) and myself.

I love Totoro, a kind and cute big "cat" from My Neighbor Totoro. See the picture in this page? That's me, wearing a Totoro hoodi and planting a seed with another little Totoro. The little Totoro is casting his magic on the seed to make it become a big tree, where people can sit, relax, and feel happy. The seed represents my start point of academic career, I hope my research somehow can contribute to people's wellbeing.

I enjoy a lot of things apart from research, such as cooking, baking, playing the piano, and writing. I love broad types of music, such as J-POP, R&B, Rock-N-Roll, and classic music. I write articles mainly in Chinese at Zhihu and I'm trying to expand my writing scope in English at Medium.