Deborah Hix, a female innovator in the Human Computer Interaction (HCI) field currently works as an assistant professor at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). Her current research interests include HCI, usability engineering, evaluation of user interfaces, and interactive multimedia systems.

Hix earned her B.S. degree in Mathematics from Emory University in 1972, whereas she then entered industry at Raychem Corporation in Menlo Park, California. In 1977, Hix left Raychem to pursue her M.I.S. in Computer Science and Applications from Virginia Tech. She received this degree in 1981 and continued at Virginia Tech to recieve her Ph.D. in Computer Science and Appications in 1985.

Hix has worked on various National Science Foundation (NSF) research projects focusing on real-world interface problems.  These include "Developing User-Centered Representation Techniques for Communicating User Interface Designs" (91-94), "Developing a User Centered Database from the Computer Science Literature" (91-94), and "Interactive Accessibility" (93-98). Her main focus is to promote the production of a methodology that will produce interfaces with high visibility.

Infomation obtained from Deborah Hix's website located at www.cs.vt.edu/vitae/Hix.html