Join the Department of Media Arts, Design & Technology and Design Studies for its annual lecture series. The full list of lectures can be found here: 2026-2027 Lecture Series.

Willie Payne, assistant professor of user experience / design at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Information and Library Science (SILS).

Dr. William (Willie) Payne is an assistant professor of user experience and design at the UNC School of Data and Information Sciences (SDIS). Dr. Payne studies how technology can facilitate creative expression and open pathways for individuals to express themselves on their own terms. Across his research, he uses participatory methods to co-design and deploy novel systems with community partners. For example, he developed the creative coding environment danceON with STEM from Dance, and the music notation software SoundCells with blind musicians at FMDG Music School. Dr. Payne publishes in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) venues including CHI, ASSETS, NIME, and MOCO.