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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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Each year, GVU provides seed grants, with support from IPaT, to research initiatives committed to building on our success in interdisciplinary research and innovation in the human experience of computing. These investments create a path for external funding as our research prospers.
2014 - 2015 Research and Engagement Grants
The speakers for this Brown Bag session will discuss their respective research projects.
Title:
Autism: in Numbers and Stories
Abstract:
Autism prevalence rates in the United States have more than doubled since 2000 (from 1 in 150 to 1 in 68 children being identified). Despite this trend as the nation’s fastest growing developmental disability, many insurance providers, including Medicaid, do not cover autism services or early intervention services for autism.
Our research project draws on policy research and human-‐centered design research to build communication tools (“digital boundary objects”) that aid the public and legislators in understanding the negative economic impact of late intervention and providing an evidence base for the justification of passage and implementation of early intervention services in ASD. In this talk we will report on the website we developed incorporating qualitative stories of children and families with visualizations of latest evidence in autism policy research. This website is intended for policymakers to improve the continuum of care and interagency system of supports for children with autism. We foresee variations of these tools to be used by the public for raising awareness and enabling collective action.
Bios:
Nassim JafariNaimi is an Assistant Professor at the Digital Media program at Georgia Tech and the Director of the Design and Social Interaction Studio which she established in 2013. Nassim’s research interest is in the ethical and political implications of design and its capacity to mediate social and collective interactions. Her research spans both theoretical inquiry and experimental design, situated at the intersection of Design, the Humanities, and Human Computer Interaction. She received her PhD in Design from Carnegie Mellon University.
Kimberley Roussin Isett earned a Ph.D. in Management with a specialization in organization theory from the University of Arizona (School of Public Administration and Policy, Eller College of Management) in 2001. Her work concentrates on institutional pressures and dynamics in implementing government services, with a particular interest in the delivery of services to vulnerable populations. To date, Dr. Isett has been awarded over $1m as a Principal Investigator. Grant and contract funded work has included an evaluation of New York City’s HIV/AIDS Services Administration, a large eight state evaluation of the implementation of evidence-based practices in mental health (adult populations), and a four state study and evaluation of new models of service implementation in juvenile justice systems, focusing on the expansion and implementation of evidence based social services. She was recognized by the Academy of Management in both 2001 and 2002 for excellence in research by the Healthcare Management and Public and Nonprofit divisions, was awarded the “Best Article Award” in 2005 by the American Review of Public Administration, and participated in the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s Mental Health Policy Research Network as a network associate. Isett has worked with elected officials and policymakers at all levels of government on a variety of issues through professional positions and consulting roles. She completed a National Institute of Mental Health sponsored post doctoral fellowship at the Cecil G. Sheps Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, under the mentorship of Joseph P. Morrissey.
This work is done in collaboration with Dr. Kim Isett (Public Policy), Loren Crawford (MS Public Policy, 2014), and Brighton Vino Jegarajan (MS HCI, 2015) and Binjie Sun (MS ID, 2015) supported in part by a GVU seed grant.
Title:
Supporting Collaboration and Social Interaction in Motion-based Games for Autism
Abstract:
For the past eight months, we have been working closely with teachers at the Lionheart School in Alpharetta to design and evaluate motion-based Kinect games that can encourage students with autism to better engage in collaborative game play. Our project is exploring different game interaction and feedback mechanisms to support collaborative actions among players, and documenting the extent to which such actions further facilitate social initiations and responses---such as looks, gestures, and verbal comments---between play partners. In this talk, I will describe preliminary quantitative and qualitative data that shows the impact of the game on student interactions, and I will summarize the lessons we have learned thus far, such as the role of peer play partners in facilitating collaborative game play.
This work is done in collaboration with co-PI Dr. Brian Magerko, MS CS student Arpita Bhattacharya, and CS undergraduate students Lauren Winston and Zack Littke-Smith, supported by a GVU seed grant.
Bio:
Dr. Agata Rozga is Research Scientist in the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech, with a research focus on autism. Broadly defined, her research bridges computing and developmental psychology, with the goal of developing novel ways to capture and quantify behaviors relevant to studying autism, and to develop and evaluate technologies to support this population. Dr. Rozga founded and directs the Georgia Tech Child Study Lab which, among others, serves as the main data collection site for an NSF-funded Expeditions in Computing grant on Computational Behavioral Science: Modeling, Analysis, and Visualization of Social and Communicative Behavior. Dr. Rozga obtained a PhD in Developmental Psychology from UCLA in 2007, and completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship through Georgia State University’s Center for Behavior Neuroscience, before joining the School of Interactive Computing in 2010.
Title:
Meeting the Challenge: The Path Towards a Consumer Wearable Computer
Abstract:
Meeting the Challenge: The Path Towards a Consumer Wearable Computer is a traveling exhibition on the history of wearable computing sponsored by GVU / IPAT / WCC / SID. We are cataloging this exhibition along with video content from experts discussing wearable technology and creating a rich electronic book. The E-Book version of the exhibition will be given away for free across multiple platforms and can also be used along with educational/curriculum materials as a STEM outreach tool for K-12. The goal is an e-book catalog of the exhibition which is not only informative, but also beautiful and inspirational.
Bio:
Clint Zeagler’s diverse background in fashion, industrial design and textiles drives his research on electronic textiles and on-body interfaces with the Contextual Computing Group of the GVU center of Georgia Tech. As a Research Scientist for the Georgia Tech Interactive Media Technology Center and Instructor for the Georgia Tech School of Industrial Design he teaches courses on Wearable Product Design and an ID section of Mobile and Ubiquitous Computing (MUC). Recently he co-curated the traveling exhibition Meeting the Challenge: The Path Towards a Consumer Wearable Computer.
Title:
Move Lab: A STEAM Community of Learners
Abstract:
Studies suggest that underrepresented populations in computing often do not perceive the identity of a computer scientist as aligning with their interests or value system. This often leads to rejection of opportunities to participate within the discipline. To engage diverse populations in computing disciplines, we must understand how we can support students in forming identities with computing that are personally relevant and meaningful. Our investigation centers around a community of African American females as they begin to form self-perceptions with computing and dance in a five day STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) workshop called the MoveLab. Within the workshop the students work with dance, choreography, computer science, and engineering leaders to create a technology enhanced dance performance. To understand how the students form self-perceptions around computing we look closely at the varying self-presentations of students and leaders in a community of learners. Throughout the workshop we observed students self-presentations that would support either forming or rejecting computing identities. We found that the diverse roles of participation, the trusting and engaging social environment, and the leaders modeling behaviors were essential to many of the girls as they began to form self-conceptions with computing. By looking closer at these aspects and the process through which the students begin to associate themselves with conceptions about computing, we believe we can uncover insights into how to better support underrepresented populations in creating computing cultures that are personally meaningful.
Bio:
Dr. Betsy DiSalvo is an Assistant Professor in the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Institute of Technology. At Georgia Tech she leads the Culture and Technology (CAT) Lab, which focuses on research studying cultural values and how they impact technology use, learning, and production. Currently, the CAT Lab is exploring parents’ use of technology for informal learning. In its first stages, this research is developing an understanding of how and why parents use or don’t choose to use computers, mobile devices, and other technology for learning. DiSalvo is also the PI for an NSF funded project exploring how maker oriented learning approaches may increase transfer and reflection in undergraduate computer science courses and a exploring related projects that tie art and technology to increase learning across disciplines. DiSalvo’s work has included the development of games and programs for the Carnegie Science Museum, the Children’s Museum of Atlanta, the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, Eyedrum Art Center and the Walker Art Center. DiSalvo received a Ph.D. in Human Centered Computing from Georgia Tech in 2012. Previous to coming to Georgia Tech she was a research scientist at the University of Pittsburgh Learning Research and Development Center.
