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School of Computing

HCI@KAIST

KAIST

Georgia Institute of Technology

<aside> 🌐 inhwasong.com

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<aside> ✉️ [email protected]

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<aside> 💡 I am a highly motivated undergraduate HCI researcher studying and doing research at KAIST School of Computing. My research interests are centered around the dynamic interplay between technology design and its influence on individual well-being and mental health. I am particularly fascinated by the ways in which people engage with language models and personal informatics systems. My focus is to delve deeper into these interactions, exploring design strategies for effective interventions. Additionally, I believe that creativity has the power to be a catalyst for enhancing mental health and well-being. This belief drives me to explore the nexus of technology and creativity, supporting individuals to seek innovative ways in each of their unique contexts to actively improve well-being and mental health. I am a Ph.D. applicant for Fall 2025!

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Education

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) | Mar 2019 - Aug 2024 (Expected)

B.S. in Computer Science, Advisor: Prof.Alice Oh

Georgia Institute of Technology | Aug 2023 - Dec 2023

Exchange Student in Computer Science, Research Advisor: Prof. Munmun De Choudhury

GPA 4.0/4.0 | Courses: Deep Learning; Computer Vision; Knowledge-Based AI; Undergrad Research


Research Interests

Keywords: Wellbeing & Mental Health; Creativity; Language Model; Human-AI Interaction; Human-Computer Interaction


Publications

[a.1] The Typing Cure: Experiences with Large Language Model Chatbots for Mental Health Support

Inhwa Song*, Sachin R. Pendse*, Neha Kumar, Munmun De Choudhury

full paper | arXiv | under review | *Equal Contribution

[a.2] Understanding God-Saeng (God生) Phenomenon: Young Generation’s Pursuit of Authentic Well-being

Inhwa Song, Kwangyoung Lee, Janghee Cho, Amon Rapp, Hwajung Hong

full paper | under review

[w.1] Learnersourcing Modular and Dynamic Multiple-Choice Questions

Haesoo Kim, Inhwa Song, Juho Kim

workshop paper | ACM L@S 2022 Workshop on Learnersourcing Student Generated Content | [pdf]


Research Experience

Programming languages, frameworks, and tools are in teal. HCI research methods are in orange.

Social Dynamics and Wellbeing Lab, Georgia Tech (🔗) [a.1]

(Sep 2023 - Jan 2024) Advisors: **Prof. Munmun De Choudhury, Prof. Neha Kumar,* Mentor: Sachin R. Pendse*

Investigated the lived experiences of people who have used LLM chatbots for mental health support by conducting a qualitative study on how people used LLM chatbots for their mental health support. Interviewed 21 participants from globally diverse backgrounds. Grounded analysis in psychotherapy literature around effective support, introduced the concept of therapeutic alignment, or aligning AI with therapeutic values for mental health contexts. **

Methods and Tools: Study Design (including ideation, IRB approval, implementation, publication drafting, and submission), Literature Review, Open Coding, Thematic Analysis, Survey Design, Global User Recruitment, User Targeting, Semi-Structured Interviewing, Office Scripts in Excel, Google UTM, Qualtrics(Survey Design, Javascript Deployment)

Data, Interaction, and Design Lab, KAIST (🔗) [a.2]

*(Nov 2022 - Present) Advisors: **Prof. Hwajung Hong, Prof. Janghee Cho*, Mentor: Kwangyoung Lee

Designed and conducted interviews and a 10-day workshop (N=24) utilizing a probe approach and explored how young generations perceive and practice God-Saeng, a recent well-being phenomenon in South Korea, exploring the alignment and misalignment of routine-based technology with their underlying aspirations. This work advocates the essence of authentic well-being, proposing design implications for personal informatics paradigms over fleeting societal trends.

Methods and Tools: Study Design (including ideation, IRB approval, implementation, publication drafting, and submission), Literature Review, Open Coding, Thematic Analysis, User Recruitment, Probe Design, Semi-Structured Interviewing

KIXLAB, KAIST (🔗) [w.1]

(June 2021 - Sep 2022) Advisor: **Prof. Juho Kim**

Led the Real-time Interactive Education System Project in cooperation with KAIST CELT(Center of Learning and Teaching Innovation) & KIXLab. Motivated by the movement of cultivating the Student-derived Question-Making Culture in KAIST, I designed, built, and deployed the scalable system KUIZ, solely from end to end, a Real-time Learnersourcing System, Supporting Modular Contribution and Dynamic Generation of Multiple Choice Questions(MCQs), and did a real class deployment. I further expanded it to research, utilizing the system KUIZ, to investigate ways to reduce learners’ burden when creating MCQs, while maintaining the quality of created questions.

Methods and Tools: ReactJS, ExpressJS, NodeJS, Swagger, MongoDB, AWS, NGINX, CSS, Figma, Scalable Software System Building (including NoSQL Database Schema Design/Development, API Design/Development, System Pipeline Documentation, Deployment), Literature Review, Iterative Prototyping and Design, Design/Conduct Lab Pilot Study, Real World Software Deployment (Handling 30+ Synchronous Users)


Technical Skills

I can

💡 Please click the toggle(▶︎) below to check Skills and Related Experience


Work Experience

Software Developer of SPARCS Ara Team

SPARCS – Student Organization building and maintaining official IT services for KAIST

Designed and implemented the School ↔ Students Interaction online community system Over 400 visitors per day (https://ara.kaist.ac.kr)


Work Offer

I received work offers from the following companies.

Ringle (Series A)

Offered Role: Contribute to designing and building a system so that NLP-based language learning feedback(Complexity, Accuracy, Fluency) is delivered to the end users more efficiently/effectively, provoking behavior change in language learning.

Company Mission: Make Language Learning More Affordable and Motivating

🔗 https://www.ringleplus.com/en/, https://www.linkedin.com/company/ringle/

White Cube Challengers (Series A)

Offered Role: Software Engineer (ReactNative.js)

Company Mission: Empower Individuals in Self Development by Building Healthy Habits

🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/company/whitecube-kr


Scholarships & Awards

Lim Mi-Sook Scholarship (2022)

KAIST Undergraduate Research Grant (2023)

<Improving Respond to Life Uncertainty with the Use of Quantified Self>

Superior Leadership Award, KAIST (2020)

Top 3% of students in the first half of 2020

Conference Scholarship, KAIST

ACM CHI 2023, ACM UIST 2023, ACM FAccT 2022, NeurIPS 2023

Grand Prize, World Friends Korea ICT Volunteer as Outstanding Team (2020)

Best Freshmen Award, KAIST (2019)

Awarded Travel Scholarship to China

National Excellence Scholarship (Natural Sciences and Engineering) (Mar.2019 - Feb.2023)

Government funding for admission fees, the full amount of school support fees in the undergraduate program

Hanseong Nobel Scholarship for Gifted (2018)

5 million KRW


Services

Academic Services

ACM CSCW 2023 Student Volunteer (in person)

ACM FAccT 2022 Local Communication Committee (in person)

Outreach and Leadership

Student President of KAIST, School of Computing, of over 900 students (2021)

KAIST ExploreCSR Student Organizer, Sponsored by Google (2022)

Leeds-KAIST Leadership Program, Alumni of Common Purpose (2021)

Missing Semester @KAIST Committee (2021)

Korea Childhood Cancer Center Mentoring – Taught Basic Physics & Biology (2021)

Translation Proofreader, Effective Altruism South Korea (Oct 2023 - Present)

 **Disclaimer: This role does not reflect a personal stance on the organization's philosophy.*

Vice President of Public Relations, Daedeok Toastmasters Club (Feb 2023 - Nov 2023)


Talks & Media Coverage

Talk

Authoring Algorithm for Personal Daily Score ****(Oct. 2022) @Keating Memorial Self Research Forum (hosted by Open Humans & QuantifiedSelf) (🔗)

Media

KAIST, Human of CS : Link to Interview (May. 2023)

Daehak Journal Webzine: Link to Interview (Oct. 2019)

KAIST Times : My Quantified Self Story (Mar. 2023)