Hi there! I am a human-computer interaction (HCI) researcher specializing in usable privacy and security, committed to enhancing user autonomy in managing digital privacy and security. I am an Assistant Professor of Information Technology at the University of Washington Tacoma School of Engineering & Technology, where I lead the User ASPECT Lab (User Autonomy, Security, and Privacy Enhancing Technologies Lab). I welcome students from interdisciplinary backgrounds in information security and social psychology to join my lab.

My research focuses on designing evidence-based interactive interventions (e.g., educational video games, explanatory visualizations, and AI assistants) to enhance users’ understanding and control of digital privacy and security technologies. While automated protections are critical in modern cyberspace, users should have the capability to actively understand, verify, and manage these measures rather than passively accept them. My research findings have been published in top academic venues, including IEEE S&P and ACM CHI. I have also received several scholarly honors, including the AI 2000 Most Influential Scholar Award Honorable Mention (2024) and the IEEE MMSP Outstanding Service Award (2022).

Before starting my current tenure-track position, I was fortunate to complete my postdoctoral training at the VT PASTA Lab (now JHU HOPSEC Lab) and the HKUST VIS Lab, following my Ph.D. in Computer Science from Cornell University (2021). I also hold joint first-class honours bachelor’s degrees in Computer Science from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, U.K., and BUCT, Beijing, China.

🔥 News

📝 Selected Publications

S&P'25

Supporting Family Discussions About Digital Privacy Through Perspective-Taking: An Empirical Investigation in the proceedings of the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (S&P), 2025.

Authors: Zikai Wen, Lanjing Liu, Yaxing Yao

Highlights: We present on the results of a structured activity promoting perspective-taking in privacy discussions with 13 parent-child dyads. We identified key communication challenges and addressed these challenges through scaffolded, moderated conversations between parents and children, to help families treat privacy as a spectrum and something that is context-dependent.

ISCI Journal

The Influence of Explanation Designs on User Understanding Differential Privacy and Making Data-Sharing Decision in Information Sciences, Sep. 2023.

Authors: Zikai Alex Wen, Jingyu Jia, Hongyang Yan, Yaxing Yao, Zheli Liu, Changyu Dong

Highlights: Our explanatory illustration design simplifies the understanding of differential privacy protection of numerical data. A survey of 228 people shows visual illustration outperformed text-based explanation in understanding differential privacy. Learning about privacy-enhancing technology does not necessarily increase the willingness to share data.

CHI'19

What.Hack: Engaging Anti-Phishing Training Through a Role-Playing Phishing Simulation Game in the proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), 2019.

Authors: Zikai Alex Wen, Zhiqiu Lin, Rowena Chen, Erik Andersen

Highlights: People being phished is due in part to insufficient and tiresome user training in cybersecurity. we designed the game What.Hack, which not only teaches phishing concepts but also simulates actual phishing attacks in a role-playing game to encourage the player to practice defending themselves.

Pointer: Game

📖 Full Publications

Symbol * indicates that I am the (co-)corresponding author. My current citation statistics on Google Scholar:

🎖 Awards and Grants

• 2024 AI 2000 Most Influential Scholar Award Honorable Mention in Security and Privacy from AMiner
• 2022 The Fellowship of China Postdoctoral Science Foundation ($80K RMB) from CPSF
• 2022 Outstanding Service Award from IEEE MMSP
• 2017 The Student Game Design Competition Runner-Up at ACM CHI
• 2014 The Andrew McGettrick Prize from University of Strathclyde, Glasgow
• 2014 The Outstanding Graduate of Beijing from Beijing Municipal Education Commission

🎮 Fun Stuff

LD#36

Tori Tori Panic at Ludum Dare #36

Team: Jeff Huang, Yiming Li, Changxu Lu, Zikai Alex Wen

About: A stealthy archery game made in 72 hours for the Ancient Technology theme. Sneak around, take aim, and quietly shoot unsuspecting birds with pixel-perfect precision. Just don’t let them catch you.