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People • Faculty

Bei Hu

Bei Hu is a multidisciplinary designer, educator, and multimedia artist. She is an assistant professor in design teaching human-computer interaction at the Sam Fox School at WashU. She previously taught at Kansas City Art Institute as a visiting assistant professor and at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. She served as design lab staff in the ITP/IMA program at New York University.

Hu is passionate about the intersection of design, technology, and storytelling. Her research focuses on building engaging connections between people and technology, providing audiences with experiences that transcend time, space, and cultural barriers. She specializes in human-centered user experiences across web, apps, virtual reality, and wearable technologies. She has established new pathways across these fields and created a unique language of interaction design and communication design.

Hu’s works have been selected for important exhibitions both nationally and internationally, showcasing in museums and galleries in places such as Florida, New York City, Kansas City, Shanghai, and Beijing, and notably, a national-level exhibition in China, the 13th National Exhibition of Fine Arts. Her work has been recognized for design excellence multiple times by Graphic Design USA, and by Communication Arts, AIGA, the Society of Typographic Arts, Davey Awards, dotCOMM Awards, and Indigo Design Awards. Her work has been featured in books and prominent academic journals in art and design and was featured on the cover of Art magazine in 2020. Additionally, her work has been presented at international conferences in the U.S. and Europe.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in visual communication from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, a master’s degree in art and design from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, and a master’s degree in interactive telecommunications (ITP) from New York University.

Portrait of Bei Hu
Bei Hu
Assistant Professor | Minor Advisor, HCI
Academic programs
Bachelor of Arts in Design
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communication Design
Master of Design for Human-Computer Interaction and Emerging Technology
Email
beih@wustl.edu
Office
Walker 202

Select Articles, Chapters, and Publications

  • “From 2D to 3D: Enhancing Virtual Exhibitions with Interactive Media and Spatial Computing for Immersive Visitor Engagement,” in Creating Digital Exhibition: A Guide, edited by Zida Wang and Morgan Joseph Hamilton. Rowman & Littlefield, 2026.

  • “Emergent Ecologies of AI-Driven Art: Rethinking Authorship, Agency, and Process.” In Artifice: Implications for Art in the Artificial Intelligence, The Delaware Contemporary’s 2025 Biennial Anthology, edited by Morgan Joseph Hamilton. Lost Cause Press, 2025.

  • “Meet Bei Hu,” in Bold Journey Magazine, 2024.

  • “Chinese artists Bao Hu and Bei Hu’s first joint exhibition “The Art of Bonding” opens at the Museum of Fine Arts, Florida State University,” edited and published by Gauguin Gallery, 2024.

  • “Our Sky Project,” multimedia video installation, Dimensions of Curations: Considering Competing Values for International Exhibition Practices, edited by Ann Rowson Love and Pat Villeneuve, published by American Alliance of Museum (AAM) Press, 2023.

Select Exhibitions and Presentations

  • “Empathic Interfaces: Wearables for Embodied Connection.” Bei Hu, presented at CAA 114th Annual Conference, Chicago, IL, 2026.

  • “Design for Resilient Futures: Talk + Workshop with Bei Hu,” presented at Parsons School of Design, New York, NY, 2026.

  • “Designing Real-Time Social Space in Virtual Reality,” presented at SECAC 2025: Flux / Flow, Cincinnati, OH, 2025.

  • “Time Lapse: New Faculty in Design and Visual Art”, Sam Fox School Gallery, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, 2026.

  • “The Nature of Code,” Clive Davis Gallery, New York City, NY, 2025.

  • “4C Exhibition 2025 Q1,” 4C Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, 2025.

  • UX Design Awards, presented at UXDA Talent Track Talk, virtual, 2025.

  • “Weaving Interactive Storytelling in Digital Space: A Pedagogical Framework for Interaction Design,” presented at AIGA DEC Conference WEAVEIllinois State University, Normal, IL, 2025.

  • “Creative Computation in the Age of AI: Reimagining the Boundary of Human Creativity,” presented at Design Incubation Colloquium 11.3, 2025.

  • “Design + Co-Creation: Engaging Audiences through Cross-Disciplinary Co-Curation,” presented at Design Incubation Colloquium 11.1, Boston, MA, 2024.

  • “NEW, SIX: KCAI Biennial,” KCAI Artspace, artist and co-curator, Kansas City, MO, 2024.

Select Awards and Grants

  • 2026 – Sam Fox School Faculty Research Award

  • 2025 – Sam Fox School Faculty Teaching Development Award

  • 2025 – Sam Fox School Faculty Research Award

  • 2025 – UX Design Awards 2025, International Design Center Berlin, ‘Bark’ app design, Berlin, EU

  • 2025 – The Communicator Awards, Award of Distinction, Features-Use of Emerging Technology,  United States

  • 2024 – Annual Davey Awards, Winner + Best User Interface for Mobile Honor, ‘Bark’ app design, United States

  • 2024 – Graphic Design USA Health + Wellness Award, “Bark” app design, United States

  • 2024 – AIGA KC Design Award, generative typeface design, United States

  • 2024 – INDIGO Design Award, Gold Winner for two categories (app design, generative typeface), United States

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