Caglar Yildirim
(he/him/his)
Teaching Professor
Research interests
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Agentic AIAI SafetyHuman-AI InteractionNatural language processing
Education
- PhD in Human–Computer Interaction, Iowa State University
- MS in Human–Computer Interaction, Iowa State University
Biography
Caglar Yildirim is a teaching professor in the Khoury College of Computer Sciences at Northeastern University, based in Boston.
Yildirim's research focuses on agentic AI safety and human-AI interaction. He teaches courses on agentic AI and LLM evaluations.
Yildirim earned his doctorate and master’s in human–computer interaction from Iowa State University and a certificate in artificial intelligence and machine learning from MIT Professional Education. Prior to joining Northeastern in 2019, he was an assistant professor at State University of New York at Oswego. Yildirim has published in ICLR, NeurIPS, and CHI. Outside of research and teaching, he enjoys baking Turkish pastries.
Labs and groups
Recent publications
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Differential Harm Propensity in Personalized LLM Agents: The Curious Case of Mental Health Disclosure
Citation: Caglar Yildirim. (2026). Differential Harm Propensity in Personalized LLM Agents: The Curious Case of Mental Health Disclosure CoRR, abs/2603.16734. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2603.16734 -
The Impact of Post-training on Data Contamination
Citation: Muhammed Yusuf Kocyigit, Caglar Yildirim. (2026). The Impact of Post-training on Data Contamination CoRR, abs/2601.06103. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2601.06103 -
Enhancing Adaptive Sports Training through Bespoke Virtual Reality Games: The Case of Adaptive Hockey and Soccer
Citation: Mehmet Akhoroz, Kemal Erdogan, Caglar Yildirim. (2025). Enhancing Adaptive Sports Training through Bespoke Virtual Reality Games: The Case of Adaptive Hockey and Soccer MUM, 172-181. https://doi.org/10.1145/3771882.3771892 -
Exploring VR Accessibility Challenges and Solutions Through Crowdsourced Insights from Reddit
Citation: Mehmet Akhoroz, Caglar Yildirim. (2025). Exploring VR Accessibility Challenges and Solutions Through Crowdsourced Insights from Reddit XR (1), 105-117. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-97763-3_8 -
Navigating Social Biases Through Virtual Reality Perspective Taking: Exploring the Mediating Role of Outgroup Perspective Taking
Citation: Caglar Yildirim, Sercan Sengün, D. Fox Harrell. (2025). Navigating Social Biases Through Virtual Reality Perspective Taking: Exploring the Mediating Role of Outgroup Perspective Taking XR (1), 72-91. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-97763-3_6 -
Conversational AI as a Coding Assistant: Understanding Programmers’ Interactions with and Expectations from Large Language Models for Coding
Citation: Mehmet Akhoroz, Caglar Yildirim. (2025). Conversational AI as a Coding Assistant: Understanding Programmers' Interactions with and Expectations from Large Language Models for Coding CoRR, abs/2503.16508. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2503.16508 -
Poke Typing: Effects of Hand-Tracking Input and Key Representation on Mid-Air Text Entry Performance in Virtual Reality
Citation: Mehmet Akhoroz, Caglar Yildirim. (2024). Poke Typing: Effects of Hand-Tracking Input and Key Representation on Mid-Air Text Entry Performance in Virtual Reality ICMI, 293-301. https://doi.org/10.1145/3678957.3685734 -
Design considerations for photosensitivity warnings in visual media
Citation: Laura South, Caglar Yildirim, Amy Pavel, Michelle A. Borkin. (2024). Design considerations for photosensitivity warnings in visual media ASSETS, 68:1-68:12. https://doi.org/10.1145/3663548.3675643 -
Barriers to Photosensitive Accessibility in Virtual Reality
Citation: Laura South, Caglar Yildirim, Amy Pavel, Michelle A. Borkin. (2024). Barriers to Photosensitive Accessibility in Virtual Reality CHI, 58:1-58:13. https://doi.org/10.1145/3613904.3642635 -
Transformative Virtual Reality Games for Adaptive Sports Training: Exploring the Perceptions of Individuals with Mobility Impairments
Citation: Caglar Yildirim. (2025). Transformative Virtual Reality Games for Adaptive Sports Training: Exploring the Perceptions of Individuals with Mobility Impairments Int. J. Hum. Comput. Interact., 41, 1078-1090. https://doi.org/10.1080/10447318.2024.2311970 -
On the Plane: A Roleplaying Game for Simulating Ingroup-Outgroup Biases in Virtual Reality
Citation: Caglar Yildirim, D. Fox Harrell. (2022). On the Plane: A Roleplaying Game for Simulating Ingroup-Outgroup Biases in Virtual Reality AIVR, 207-209. https://doi.org/10.1109/AIVR56993.2022.00041 -
E4UnityIntegration-MIT: An Open-Source Unity Plug-in for Collecting Physiological Data using Empatica E4 during Gameplay
Citation: Eduard De Vidal Flores, Caglar Yildirim, D. Fox Harrell. (2023). E4UnityIntegration-MIT: An Open-Source Unity Plug-in for Collecting Physiological Data using Empatica E4 during Gameplay UIST (Adjunct Volume), 49:1-49:3. https://doi.org/10.1145/3586182.3616627 -
Toward Computationally-Supported Roleplaying for Perspective-Taking
Citation: Caglar Yildirim, Sercan Sengün, Pakinam Amer, JJ Hawke, D. Fox Harrell. (2023). Toward Computationally-Supported Roleplaying for Perspective-Taking HCI (36), 154-171. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35930-9_11 -
Exploratory Thematic Analysis of Crowdsourced Photosensitivity Warnings
Citation: Laura South, Caglar Yildirim, Amy Pavel, Michelle A. Borkin. (2023). Exploratory Thematic Analysis of Crowdsourced Photosensitivity Warnings CHI Extended Abstracts, 111:1-111:7. https://doi.org/10.1145/3544549.3585649 -
Is “Categorical Imperative” Metaversal?: A Kantian Ethical Framework for Social Virtual Reality
Citation: Eyup Engin Kucuk, Caglar Yildirim. (2023). Is "Categorical Imperative" Metaversal?: A Kantian Ethical Framework for Social Virtual Reality CHI Extended Abstracts, 193:1-193:7. https://doi.org/10.1145/3544549.3585911 -
Co-located Immersive Gaming: A Comparison between Augmented and Virtual Reality
Citation: Moinak Ghoshal, Juan Ong, Hearan Won, Dimitrios Koutsonikolas, Caglar Yildirim. (2022). Co-located Immersive Gaming: A Comparison between Augmented and Virtual Reality CoG, 594-597. https://doi.org/10.1109/CoG51982.2022.9893708 -
Detecting Mental Workload in Virtual Reality Using EEG Spectral Data: A Deep Learning Approach
Citation: H. Ved and C. Yildirim, "Detecting Mental Workload in Virtual Reality Using EEG Spectral Data: A Deep Learning Approach," 2021 IEEE International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality (AIVR), 2021, pp. 173-178, doi: 10.1109/AIVR52153.2021.00039. -
The Effect of Body-Based Haptic Feedback on Player Experience During VR Gaming
Citation: Michael Carroll, Caglar Yildirim. (2021). The Effect of Body-Based Haptic Feedback on Player Experience During VR Gaming HCI (9), 163-171. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77599-5_13 -
Remote and Collaborative Virtual Reality Experiments via Social VR Platforms
Citation: David Saffo, Sara Di Bartolomeo, Caglar Yildirim, and Cody Dunne. 2021. Remote and Collaborative Virtual Reality Experiments via Social VR Platforms. In Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '21). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 523, 1–15. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445426 -
Cybersickness during VR gaming undermines game enjoyment: A mediation model
Citation: Yildirim, Caglar. "Cybersickness during VR gaming undermines game enjoyment: a mediation model." Displays 59 (2019): 35-43.
