Olivier St-Cyr

Olivier St-Cyr is an Associate Professor, Teaching Stream and the Associate Dean, Teaching and Learning at the Faculty of Information (iSchool) and a cross-appointed professor in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the University of Toronto.

Prior to joining the Faculty of Information, he taught several courses as a sessional lecturer in Computer Programming, User Interface/User Experience Design (UI/UX), and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). He also spent eight years working in industry on HCI related projects in organizations such as the University Health Network (UHN), IBM Canada Limited, and Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL).

Since joining the Faculty of Information in 2016, Professor St-Cyr has been working on designing and deploying the user experience design concentration curriculum of the Master of Information (MI) degree. As part of deploying this curriculum, Professor St-Cyr designed and oversaw the construction of two novel learning spaces at the Faculty of Information. These spaces allow professors at the Faculty to teach active learning and technology enhanced courses and to introduce studio sessions in their classes.

Professor St-Cyr serves in leadership roles on academic and professional committees related to teaching and learning. He is the co-founder of EduCHI, an international community of practice of HCI/UX educators. EduCHI is a part of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI). It has seen steady growth in the past five years. Every year, EduCHI symposia feature paper presentations on HCI/UX education trends, curricula, pedagogies, teaching practices, and diverse and inclusive HCI/UX education. Professor St-Cyr is also a member of the ACM Education Advisory Committee, representing the Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (SIGCHI).

Professor St-Cyr’s research interests are in the areas of HCI/UX pedagogy and education, UI/UX design, human factors for safety critical systems, and cognitive work analysis.

Professor St-Cyr received an Honours BA in Computer Science and Psychology from York University, a MASc in Systems Design Engineering from the University of Waterloo, and a PhD in Industrial Engineering from the University of Toronto. All degrees have a specialty in HCI. He is a Limited Engineering Licensee (LEL) of Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO).

• Outstanding Instructor Award, Faculty of Information, Master of Information Student Council (MISC), 2016-2017
• University of Toronto Early Career Teaching Award, 2020-2021