Grace Li
PhD Student, University of Chicago
grace_li [at] uchicago [dot] edu
Twitter // Google Scholar // Github // LinkedIn // Email
Bio
Hi! I'm Grace, a Computer Science PhD student at the University of Chicago advised by Professor Mina Lee. My research is in student-AI interaction with a focus on designing and evaluating AI literacy interventions for both students and educators.
I have built interactive platforms that log fine-grained user behavior and can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of AI literacy lessons on both student knowledge and behaviors. I developed and taught a comprehensive AI literacy course focused on LLM literacy across technical, socio-ethical, and career development dimensions. I have also established research-practice-partnership with City Colleges of Chicago to bring AI literacy to community college educators.
If you are a current undergraduate or masters student at UChicago, interested in working with me, please email me with your a resume and cover letter.
Before joining UChicago, I did my undergrad at Barnard College, double majoring in Computer Science and English with a concentration in Creative Writing. I earned English Departmental Honors and the Theodore R. Bashkow Undergraduate Research Award in Computer Science. I was fortunate to be advised by Jhumpa Lahiri, for my Creative Writing Thesis. Throughout my undergraduate career, I did research with Professor Lydia Chilton on Human-AI co-writing tools to support science communication and with Professor Smaranda Muresan on using explanation dialogues to improve science explanations.
Outside of research, I have been a photographer for almost a decade. I started in fashion and editorial portraiture, but have recently transitioned into more analog mediums like 35mm, 120, and polaroid. I've have recently started making ceramics at a local studio, as way to touch mud and feel a little more real. When I have time, I try to share some of my writing publicly on my substack
News
* Scroll for more- [October 2026] Gave a guest lecture at the Data4All program for high school students on the LLM development process.
- [October 2026] Invited to give a talk at the UChicago Center for Teaching and Learning about my work on how writing instructors navigate student AI use in take-home writing assignments.
- [October 2026] Demoed at the Chicago South Side Science Festival. Debuted new interactive platform to support young learners in better understanding the LLM development process for over 50 families.
- [July 2026] Awarded a $10k research grant from the Hymen Milgrom Supporting Organization (HMSO) for my research on AI literacy for high school students from different socio-economic backgrounds.
- [July 2026] Started teaching a 3-week summer intensive high school course about AI literacy through the UChicago PreCollege Program.
- [April 2026] I was selected to introduce writer and photographer, Teju Cole, at the Literary Arts Lab Festival!
- [Jan 2026] Accepted as a Student Volunteer at CHI 2026 in Barcelona!
- [Jan 2026] Invited Panelist at the Symposium on Responsible AI in the Liberal Arts at Barnard College.
- [Dec 2025] Co-organizing a CHI workshop titled "Understanding and Engaging Critical Resistance to AI in Education"
- [October 2025] "3-Week High School LLM Literacy Course: Syllabus, Projects, and Activities" was accepted to NeurIPS Education Materials 2025
- [October 2025] Presented on Panel at Connecticut College's AI in the Liberal Arts Symposium alongside Barnard faculty, staff, and students: Benjamin Breyer, Marko Krkeljas, Fatima Koli, and Mouaouia Rayhana.
- [August 2025] Participated in the ICER Doctoral Consortium and presented a poster in Charlottesville, VA.
- [July 2025] Presented a poster at the MIT AI & Education Summit.
- [June 2025] Finished teaching an AI literacy course to high school students through the UChicago PreCollege Program
- [February 2025] Presented my research on AI literacy and student-AI interaction at UChicago's People and Technology Seminar.
- [March 2025] Attended SIGCSE TS in Pittsburg, PA!
- [February 2025] Started serving as Graduate Student Rep for the UChicago Committe on Education
- [September 2024] Accepted to the UChicago Committee on Education as the first Computer Science fellow.
Publications
Most recent publications on Google Scholar.
‡ indicates equal contribution.
"I would have completely trusted the LLM's response": Changes in Students' Understanding and Behaviors After an AI Literacy Hallucination Lesson
Grace Li, Jonathan Liu, Jaemarie Solyst, Diana Franklin, and Mina Lee
under submission. 2026.
LLMs as Science Journalists: Supporting Early-stage Researchers in Communicating Their Science to the Public
Milad Aloshmary, Grace Li, Anubhav Jangra, Yufang Hou, Kathleen McKeown, and Smaranda Muresan
under submission. 2026.
"I would have completely trusted the LLM's response": Changes in Students' Understanding and Behaviors After an AI Literacy Hallucination Lesson
Grace Li, Jonathan Liu, Jaemarie Solyst, Diana Franklin, and Mina Lee
under submission. 2026.
LLMs as Science Journalists: Supporting Early-stage Researchers in Communicating Their Science to the Public
Milad Aloshmary, Grace Li, Anubhav Jangra, Yufang Hou, Kathleen McKeown, and Smaranda Muresan
under submission. 2026.
"I never would have thought to say this": Example-Based Exploration to Balance Scientists' Writing Preferences with Public Science Communication Strategies
Grace Li, YY Teng, Juna Kawai-Yue, Unaisah Ahmed, Anatta Tantiwongse, Jessica Liang, Dorothy Zhang, Kynnedy Simone Smith, Tao Long, Lydia B. Chilton
under submission. 2026.
Tweetorial Hooks: Generative AI Tools to Motivate Science on Social Media
Tao Long, Dorothy Zhang, Grace Li, Batool Taraif, Samia Menon, Kynnedy Smith, Sitong Wang, Katy Gero, Lydia B. Chilton
ICCC'24: International Conference on Computational Creativity. 2023.
Eliciting Topic Hierarchies from Large Language Models
Grace Li, Tao Long, Lydia B. Chilton
arXiv: arxiv preprint. 2023.
"Is ChatGPT a Better Explainer than My Professor?": Evaluating the Explanation Capabilities of LLMs in Conversation Compared to a Human Baseline
Grace Li, Milad Alshomary, Smaranda Muresan
arXiv: arxiv preprint. 2024.
