I'm Charan Pushpanathan Prabavathi; In-short Charan;
I'm a first-year Ph.D. student in Information Sciences at the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
, where I am advised by Dr. Michael Twidale. My research will focus on Human-Computer Interaction, tentatively:
- Writing systems
- Falsifying artificial intelligence
I work at the intersection of HCI, Design Research, CSCW, AI, and learning sciences.
Me and Machintosh '84
I completed a Master of Science in Informatics with a focus on Human-Computer Interaction at
Penn State University's
College of Information Sciences and Technology 
,
where I was a graduate researcher in the Collaboration Innovation Lab advised by
Dr. John M. Carroll.
His insights left a lasting imprint on how I conceived of HCI and the philosophical currents beneath technological design,
and my research there explored human-computer interaction, cooperative activity, synergies, learning to use, and interface design.
At Penn State, I witnessed with some pretty sharp minds. Jack Carroll (aka John M. Carroll; my advisor), Ritter, Zhang, Huang I got to see how these folks actually work, not just read their papers.
I graduated from Kumaraguru College of Technology with a Bachelor's in Computer Science and Engineering.
Previously, I held roles involving user testing, research, and interface design at HDFC Bank, Freecharge (backed by Axis Bank), and was a founding member/designer at an angel-backed capital markets startup (now closed).
I am currently living in Champaign, Illinois.