Human-Computer Interaction
Developing advanced user-focused interfaces and design methods that are shaping the future of technology.
Research Projects
SaTC: EDU: Collaborative: Connecting Contexts: Building Foundational Digital Privacy and Security Skills for Elementary School Children, Teachers, and Parents
Promoting elementary school children's privacy/cybersecurity learning across the two contexts where they spend most of their time, home and school, through the creation of curriculum and related educational materials tailored to grade level.
The Essential and Advanced Lactation Simulation Model ("LSM") and the Breast Health Training Tool ("BHTT")
Outreach and Promotion for The Tessera
The Tessera (thetessera.org) is an educational Alternate Reality Game for teens aimed at advancing computational thinking and computer history awareness.
Performing Play: Cultural Production on Twitch.tv
Every day, millions of people log on to the website Twitch.tv and watch others play games, a practice known as streaming. Briefly, a stream features live gameplay overlaid with a camera to capture the performer’s reactions, and a chat channel for the audience, facilitating social interaction relating to the stream’s content.
Studying User Perceptions and Experiences with Algorithms ICWSM Half-Day Workshop Proposal
From Facebook’s News Feed algorithm that shapes the posts and updates we see, to Spotify’s recommendation service that introduces us to new music that we might love, to dating site algorithms that attempt to match us with potential romantic partners, algorithms play an increasingly important role in shaping many aspects of our daily lives.
Participant Perspectives on their Membership in an Intergenerational Participatory Design Team
Participatory Design (PD) gives users a voice in the design of technologies they are meant to use by including users in the technology design process.
"There's a creepy guy on the other end at Google!": Engaging middle school students in a drawing activity to elicit their mental models of Google
Tackling youth digital literacy education through an innovative art exercise, revealing a pervasive lack of understanding of Google and search engines by youth.
Exploring the Use of Intelligent Personal Assistants by Older Adults
Voice-controlled intelligent personal assistants (IPAs), such as Amazon Echo and Google Home, have introduced a new interaction paradigm into the mainstream.
Designing and Evaluating a Conversational Agent for Mental Health Support
Many people with mental health issues face significant challenges getting the help they need. Psychological counseling or psychiatry services could be a luxury expense for people under financial stress. 5.1 million American adults, including 2.8 million with severe mental illness, did not receive services because they could not afford the cost of care (Lipari, 2018). Beyond structural barriers, fear of being stigmatized also prevents people from seeking help for mental health concerns (Lannin et al., 2013).
Comparing Speech and Text Modalities in Capturing Everyday Food Decisions
The decision-making circuitry of people’s food choices can be complicated, which involves both conscious and unconscious thoughts; what to eat, when to eat, how much to eat, and when to stop eating. Rather than being deliberate, food decisions are usually “automatic,” because they are the result of the interplay between one’s physiological cues such as feelings of hunger and external cues such as food labels, package size, and social context. Therefore, people often fail to effectively regulate their food decisions even if they have the goal of maintaining a healthy diet.
CHS: Medium: Collaborative Research: Teachable Activity Trackers for Older Adults
Pushing the boundaries of how personal tracking devices, such as smart watches, can better support older adults---by identifying what health/activities data would be most useful for older adults if tracked, how to collect/track this data, and utilizing this information to develop a new personalized, multimodal activity tracker.
Advancing Personal Informatics through Semi-Automated Tracking
Challenging the notion that fully automated health tracking tech is better for users, particularly older adults and surgical patients, since minimal personal tracking engagement is needed. This project examines semi-automated tracking, testing the hypothesis that some self-monitoring results in greater awareness of one's own health and data and better health/behavior outcomes.
NatureNet - Community-Driven Environmental Projects (C-DEP)
The Community-Driven Environmental Projects (C-DEP) model is a multi-university research endeavor funded by the NSF AISL program with an objective to engage members of diverse communities in local nature and environmental conservation projects of their choosing.
Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure - Automated Personalization Computing Project
A Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure (GPII) was made to change any devices’ interfaces for people who cannot use technologies due to barriers caused by their level of disability, literacy, and/or digital literacy.
RERC on Universal Interface and Information Technology Access
The Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure (GPII) will be tested in libraries with a focus on serving users with disabilities. Also, a tool will be developed to help people find and use assistive technologies and access features in everyday technologies.
CAREER: Ubilytics: Harnessing Existing Device Ecosystems for Anywhere Sensemaking
Proposing a comprehensive new approach called ubiquitous analytics (ubilytics) for harnessing ever-present digital devices into unified environments for anywhere analysis and sensemaking of data. Looking at applications for scientific discovery, classroom learning, and police investigation.
Internships to Increase Public Access to Archival Resources in National Capital Region Parks
Collaborating with the National Park Service to create an internship program in which students learn about existing archival resources as well as assist in developing and implementing a strategy to locate, identify, and survey archival records throughout National Capital Region parks.
Collaborative Research: EAGER: Systems for Assisting in Emotion Regulation in the Wild
Developing design guidelines for wearable technology that will aid people who need assistance with regulating emotions in the workplace and everyday life. The project is also exploring the impact of breathing interventions in real-world settings that were successful in the laboratory.
Inclusive ICT RERC
Ensuring that existing information and communication technologies (ICT) solutions for people with disabilities are known, effective, findable, more affordable, and available on every computer or digital technology platform; and exploring the emerging next-next-generation interface technologies for which there are no effective accessibility guidelines or standards, and problem-solving in advance of these technologies.
