Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence (HCI + AI)
My research aims to democratize advanced AI tools by bridging Human–Computer Interaction, visual programming, and program synthesis. I develop intuitive authoring environments, including sketch-to-code systems, multimodal design tools, and AI-powered educational interfaces, enabling non-experts to harness complex technologies effortlessly. My ongoing goal is to create adaptive, transparent AI interactions that empower users, fostering widespread computational creativity and narrowing the digital divide.
Education
Nov. 2021 — Nov. 2024
Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence
Sep. 2019 — Oct. 2021
M.S. in Data Science & Engineering
Sep. 2015 — Mar. 2019
B.S. in Engineering Management
Professional Experience
Visiting Scholar (Feb 2024 — Jul 2024)
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA
- Conducted research on human-like learning in AI systems under Prof. Christopher MacLellan
- Developed novel approaches for educator-driven intelligent tutoring systems, published paper at L@S 2024 on AI-assisted tutor authoring
Python Programming Instructor (Sep 2023 — Dec 2023)
ITS Foundation, Turin, Italy
- Taught Python programming to 30 students with aerospace/mechatronics focus
Teaching Assistant - Computer Vision (Feb 2023 — Jul 2023)
Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy
- Led 12 hands-on labs for 80 students on algorithm implementation and ML integration
Teaching Assistant - Human Computer Interaction (Sep 2022 — Present)
Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy
- Guide 50+ students annually in developing and evaluating AI-driven user interfaces
Honors and Awards
2025
Top 5% Finisher - Ibiza Half Marathon
Finished in the top 5% of participants in the Ibiza Half Marathon
2024
3rd Place - Winter Sailing Championship
Third place finish in the Winter Sailing Championship
2021
PhD Scholarship
Three-year merit-based PhD scholarship at Politecnico di Torino
2020
PwC Cybersecurity Challenge
First place in the PwC Cybersecurity Challenge
2019
FSAE Italy Electric Category
First place in the electric vehicle category at the Formula SAE Italy competition with the PoliTo racing team
2015
Top 10 - High School Mathematics Competition
Finished in the top 10 of the High School Mathematics Competition
2014
Exchange Student Recognition
Ranked in Top 5% in Mathematics at Sydney High School during exchange program
Publications
Selected: Latest & Greatest
Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '26) (CHI EA). Barcelona, Spain, 2026.
@inproceedings{calo2026webui95,
author = {Tommaso Calò and Luigi De Russis},
title = {WebUI-95: A Large-Scale Dataset of Normalized Web Interfaces via UI-to-Code Generation},
booktitle = {Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '26)},
year = {2026},
address = {Barcelona, Spain},
publisher = {ACM},
doi = {10.1145/3772363.3799359},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3772363.3799359}
}
Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '26) (CHI EA). Barcelona, Spain, 2026.
@inproceedings{calo2026semacces,
author = {Tommaso Calò and Alexandra-Elena Guriţă and Luigi De Russis},
title = {Measuring the Semantic Accessibility Gap in LLM-Generated Web UIs},
booktitle = {Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '26)},
year = {2026},
address = {Barcelona, Spain},
publisher = {ACM},
doi = {10.1145/3772363.3799364},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3772363.3799364}
}
Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '26) (CHI EA). Barcelona, Spain, 2026.
@inproceedings{calo2026catai,
author = {Tommaso Calò and Lorenzo Cuccu and Luigi De Russis},
title = {CAT-AI: Supporting Teacher Workflows with AI-Assisted Exercise Creation},
booktitle = {Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '26)},
year = {2026},
address = {Barcelona, Spain},
publisher = {ACM},
doi = {10.1145/3772363.3799367},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3772363.3799367}
}
International Journal of Human-Computer Studies (IJHCS). 2026.
@article{calo2026morphgui,
author = {Tommaso Calò and Andrea Sillano and Luigi De Russis},
title = {MorphGUI: Real-time GUIs Customization with Large Language Models},
journal = {International Journal of Human-Computer Studies},
year = {2026},
doi = {10.1016/j.ijhcs.2025.103695},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2025.103695}
}
Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction (PACM HCI) (PACM EICS). Online + Trier, Germany, 2025.
@article{calo2025design2code,
author = {Tommaso Calò and Luigi De Russis},
title = {Advancing Code Generation from Visual Designs through Transformer-Based Architectures and Specialized Datasets},
journal = {Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction (PACM HCI)},
volume = {9},
number = {4},
articleno = {EICS013},
year = {2025},
month = jun,
pages = {1--37},
doi = {10.1145/3734190},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3734190}
}
CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI). Yokohama, Japan, 2025.
@inproceedings{monge2025llmwriting,
author = {Alberto Monge Roffarello and Tommaso Calò and Luca Scibetta and Luigi De Russis},
title = {Investigating How Computer Science Researchers Design Their Co-Writing Experiences With AI},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '25)},
year = {2025},
location = {Yokohama, Japan},
articleno = {1215},
numpages = {17},
doi = {10.1145/3706598.3713205},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3706598.3713205}
}
International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces (IUI). Cagliari, Italy, 2025.
Personal and Ubiquitous Computing (PUC). 2024.
@article{calo2024enhancing,
title={Enhancing smart home interaction through multimodal command disambiguation},
author={Cal{\`o}, Tommaso and De Russis, Luigi},
journal={Personal and Ubiquitous Computing},
pages={1--16},
year={2024},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s00779-024-01827-3},
doi = {10.1007/s00779-024-01827-3},
publisher={Springer}
}
Tech Report
Journal
J3
International Journal of Human-Computer Studies (IJHCS). 2026.
@article{calo2026morphgui,
author = {Tommaso Calò and Andrea Sillano and Luigi De Russis},
title = {MorphGUI: Real-time GUIs Customization with Large Language Models},
journal = {International Journal of Human-Computer Studies},
year = {2026},
doi = {10.1016/j.ijhcs.2025.103695},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2025.103695}
}
J2
Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction (PACM HCI) (PACM EICS). Online + Trier, Germany, 2025.
@article{calo2025design2code,
author = {Tommaso Calò and Luigi De Russis},
title = {Advancing Code Generation from Visual Designs through Transformer-Based Architectures and Specialized Datasets},
journal = {Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction (PACM HCI)},
volume = {9},
number = {4},
articleno = {EICS013},
year = {2025},
month = jun,
pages = {1--37},
doi = {10.1145/3734190},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3734190}
}
J1
Personal and Ubiquitous Computing (PUC). 2024.
@article{calo2024enhancing,
title={Enhancing smart home interaction through multimodal command disambiguation},
author={Cal{\`o}, Tommaso and De Russis, Luigi},
journal={Personal and Ubiquitous Computing},
pages={1--16},
year={2024},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s00779-024-01827-3},
doi = {10.1007/s00779-024-01827-3},
publisher={Springer}
}
Conference
C11
ACM Conference on Learning at Scale (L@S). Palermo, Italy, 2025.
@inproceedings{russo2025itsteps,
author = {Francesca Russo and Tommaso Calò and Luigi De Russis},
title = {Towards Step-Aware ITSs: Generation and Evaluation of Synthetic Step-by-Step Exercise Solutions},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the Twelfth ACM Conference on Learning at Scale (L@S '25)},
year = {2025},
location = {Palermo, Italy},
pages = {281--285},
doi = {10.1145/3698205.3733940},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3698205.3733940}
}
C10
International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED). Stockholm, Sweden, 2025.
@inproceedings{gupta2025llmatheval,
author = {Adit Gupta and Jennifer Reddig and Tommaso Calò and Daniel Weitekamp and Christopher J. MacLellan},
title = {Beyond Final Answers: Evaluating Large Language Models for Math Tutoring},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 25th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED 2025)},
year = {2025},
pages = {323--337},
doi = {10.1007/978-3-031-98414-3_23},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-98414-3_23}
}
C9
ACM SIGCHI Symposium on Engineering Interactive Computing Systems (Companion) (EICS Companion). Trier, Germany, 2025.
@inproceedings{russo2025web2figma,
author = {Francesca Russo and Tommaso Calò and Luigi De Russis},
title = {Bridging Web and Figma: Automating Large-Scale UI Dataset Generation for AI-Enhanced Design},
booktitle = {Companion Proceedings of the 17th ACM SIGCHI Symposium on Engineering Interactive Computing Systems (EICS Companion '25)},
year = {2025},
pages = {13--20},
doi = {10.1145/3731406.3734974},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3731406.3734974}
}
C8
International Symposium on End-User Development (IS-EUD). Cagliari, Italy, 2025.
@inproceedings{calo2025uiprompt,
author = {Tommaso Calò and Luigi De Russis},
title = {Evaluating Visual Prompting Modalities for Generative AI-Assisted UI Design},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 10th International Symposium on End-User Development (IS-EUD 2025)},
year = {2025},
location = {Munich, Germany},
pages = {171--181},
doi = {10.1007/978-3-031-95452-8_11},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-95452-8_11}
}
C7
CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI). Yokohama, Japan, 2025.
@inproceedings{monge2025llmwriting,
author = {Alberto Monge Roffarello and Tommaso Calò and Luca Scibetta and Luigi De Russis},
title = {Investigating How Computer Science Researchers Design Their Co-Writing Experiences With AI},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '25)},
year = {2025},
location = {Yokohama, Japan},
articleno = {1215},
numpages = {17},
doi = {10.1145/3706598.3713205},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3706598.3713205}
}
C6
International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces (IUI). Cagliari, Italy, 2025.
C5
ACM Conference on Learning @ Scale (L@S). Atlanta, GA, 2024.
@inproceedings{10.1145/3657604.3664694,
author = {Calo, Tommaso and Maclellan, Christopher},
title = {Towards Educator-Driven Tutor Authoring: Generative AI Approaches for Creating Intelligent Tutor Interfaces},
year = {2024},
isbn = {9798400706332},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3657604.3664694},
doi = {10.1145/3657604.3664694},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the Eleventh ACM Conference on Learning @ Scale},
pages = {305–309},
numpages = {5},
keywords = {human-centered computing, intelligent tutoring systems, intelligent-user-interfaces, ui/ux},
location = {Atlanta, GA, USA},
series = {L@S '24}
}
C4
ACM SIGCHI Symposium on Engineering Interactive Computing Systems (EICS). Swansea, United Kingdom, 2023.
@inproceedings{10.1145/3596454.3597181,
author = {Calò, Tommaso and De Russis, Luigi},
title = {Towards A Visual Programming Tool to Create Deep Learning Models},
year = {2023},
isbn = {9798400702068},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3596454.3597181},
doi = {10.1145/3596454.3597181},
abstract = {},
booktitle = {Companion Proceedings of the 2023 ACM SIGCHI Symposium on Engineering Interactive Computing Systems},
pages = {38–44},
numpages = {7},
keywords = {visual programming, user interface, deep learning, debugging},
location = {Swansea, United Kingdom},
series = {EICS '23 Companion}
}
C3
International Symposium on End User Development (IS-EUD). Cagliari, Italy, 2023.
@inproceedings{10.1007/978-3-031-34433-6_4,
author = {Calò, Tommaso and De Russis, Luigi},
title = {Leveraging Large Language Models for End-User Website Generation},
year = {2023},
isbn = {978-3-031-34432-9},
publisher = {Springer-Verlag},
address = {Berlin, Heidelberg},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-34433-6_4},
doi = {10.1007/978-3-031-34433-6_4},
booktitle = {End-User Development: 9th International Symposium, IS-EUD 2023, Cagliari, Italy, June 6–8, 2023, Proceedings},
pages = {52–61},
numpages = {10},
location = {Cagliari, Italy}
}
C2
European Conference on Advances in Databases and Information Systems (ADBIS). Turin, Italy, 2022.
@inproceedings{fior2022generating,
title={{Generating Comparative Explanations of Financial Time Series}},
author={Fior, Jacopo and Cagliero, Luca and Calò, Tommaso},
journal={Advances in Databases and Information Systems},
editor={Chiusano, Silvia and Cerquitelli, Tania and Wrembel, Robert},
year={2022},
publisher={Springer International Publishing},
address={Cham},
pages={121--132},
isbn={978-3-031-15740-0},
doi={10.1007/978-3-031-15740-0_10}
}
C1
Symposium on Engineering Interactive Computing System (EICS). Sophia Antipolis, France, 2022.
@inproceedings{10.1145/3531706.3536462,
author = {Cal\`{o}, Tommaso and De Russis, Luigi},
title = {Style-Aware Sketch-to-Code Conversion for the Web},
year = {2022},
isbn = {9781450390316},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3531706.3536462},
doi = {10.1145/3531706.3536462},
pages = {44–47},
numpages = {4},
keywords = {convolutional neural network, machine learning, user interface, web elements},
location = {Sophia Antipolis, France},
series = {EICS '22 Companion}
}
Preprint
Workshop
W1
International Workshop on Programming Abstractions and Interactive Notations, Tools, and Environments. (PAINT). Auckland, New Zealand, 2022.
@inproceedings{10.1145/3563836.3568724,
author = {Calò, Tommaso and De Russis, Luigi},
title = {Creating Dynamic Prototypes from Web Page Sketches},
year = {2022},
isbn = {9781450399104},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3563836.3568724},
doi = {10.1145/3563836.3568724},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 1st ACM SIGPLAN International Workshop on Programming Abstractions and Interactive Notations, Tools, and Environments},
pages = {20–25},
numpages = {6},
keywords = {web elements, user interface, machine learning, convolutional neural network},
location = {Auckland, New Zealand},
series = {PAINT 2022}
}
Poster
Demo
Miscellaneous
Teaching
Fall 2023
Mentored student team projects for Human Computer Interaction (02JSK), an Master's-level course with 119 students enrolled.
Spring 2023
Mentored laboratory sessions for 'Image Processing and Computer Vision', a Master's-level course with 119 enrolled students.
Fall 2023
Mentored student team projects for Human Computer Interaction (02JSK), an MS course with 119 students enrolled.
Fall 2023
Mentored student team projects for Human Computer Interaction (02JSK), an MS course with 134 students enrolled.
Mentoring
Fall 2024
MS.C. in Computer Science, Politecnico Di Torino
Fall 2024
MS.C. in Computer Science, Politecnico Di Torino
Fall 2024
MS.C. in Computer Science, Politecnico Di Torino
Spring 2024
MS.C. in Computer Science, Politecnico Di Torino
Large Language Models for Ambiguity Detection and Resolution in Smart Homes
Fall 2024
MS.C. in Computer Science, Politecnico Di Torino
Web UI code generation: a transformer-based model applied to real-world screenshots
Certifications & Languages
TOEFL iBT: 98/120 (C1 Level)
Italian: Native
English: Fluent (C1)
Service
Organizer
ACM SIGCHI Symposium on Engineering Interactive Computing Systems
(
EICS)
2024
Reviewer
ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
(
CHI)
2024,
2023,
2022
Member
2021 — Present
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
References
Department of Computer Engineering and Automation
Politecnico Di Torino
School of Interactive Computing
Georgia Institute of Technology