Medin Series Lectures
Visioning Studies: A Socio-Technical Approach to Designing the Future
Diane H. Sonnenwald, University College, Dublin, Ireland
Friday, May 24, 2013
12:00 - 1:00 p.m.
Partnership III, Room 233
Overview: It is increasingly important to understand the potential impact of future technology in complex contexts as early as possible in the R&D cycle. This informs the design of new technology, enhancing the technology's adoption and reducing its unintended negative consequences.
It also uncovers potential conflicts with current social structures, facilitating the identification of enhancements to social structures and/or practices to derive additional benefits from the technology. To discover the potential impact of future technology we have been developing a research approach called "visioning studies." The goal is to understand the perspectives of potential stakeholders and develop socio-technical design recommendations in collaboration with computer science researchers.
I will discuss two complementary approaches to visioning studies that have emerged. One investigates task performance using an experimental design involving task simulation, observation, questionnaires and interviews. The other explores domain implications using a qualitative design including a video depicting the technology vision and semi-structured interviews. To date visioning studies have focused on 3D telepresence technology in collaborative emergency health care and future mobile technology in collaborative police work.
 Speaker Bio: Diane H. Sonnenwald is Professor, Chair of Information and Library Studies at University College Dublin (UCD), Ireland, and Adjunct Professor in Computer Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is the first person working outside North America to be elected President of the Association for Information Science & Technology, and is currently serving as Immediate Past President. Diane also served as Head of School in the School of Information and Library Studies at UCD from 2009-2012. She conducts research on collaboration and collaboration technology in a variety of contexts, including inter-disciplinary and inter-organizational collaboration in emergency healthcare, academia, police work and industry. She has published over 80 papers and book chapters, and has been awarded over 20 research grants from national and international foundations, corporations, and funding agencies, including the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, National Library of Medicine, the European Science Foundation, and most recently the Motorola Foundation and HW Wilson Foundation. Professor Sonnenwald has a PhD from the School of Communication and Information, Rutgers University.
Future Collaboration between UCF and the Florida Space Institute
Alan Stern, Ph.D., Florida Space Institute
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Noon - 1:00 p.m.
Partnership II, Room 208
The Florida Space Institute (FSI) is rebooting, with its central mission focused on growing space applications around UCF. The FSI is moving from near NASA Kennedy Space Center to the UCF Research Park. In this talk Dr. Stern will describe FSI's history, vision, and goals, as well as some of the first steps FSI is taking to build UCF's space portfolio.
SPEAKER BIO: Dr. Alan Stern is a planetary scientist, space program executive, aerospace consultant, and author.  In 2011, he was appointed Director of the Florida Space Institute. Since 2009 he has been an Associate Vice President at the Southwest Research Institute and has, since 2008, had his own aerospace consulting practice.
Dr. Stern's current and former consulting clients include Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin, Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, Naveen Jain's Moon Express Google Lunar X-Prize team, Ball Aerospace, the NASTAR Center, Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, and the Johns Hopkins University.
Dr. Stern also serves on the board of directors of the Challenger Center for Space Science Education and the Commercial Spaceflight Federation. He is currently training to fly a series of suborbital space research missions with Virgin Galactic and XCOR Aerospace in 2012-2013.
Dr. Stern also serves as the Chief Scientist and Mission Architect for the Moon Express Google Lunar X-Prize Team. In 2007 and 2008 Dr. Stern served as NASA's chief of all space and Earth science programs, directing a $4.4 billion organization with 93 separate flight missions and a program of over 3,000 research grants. In 2007 he was named to the Time 100's list of most influential people.
Dr. Stern is the Principal Investigator (PI) of NASA's $720M New Horizon's Pluto-Kuiper Belt mission, the largest PI-led space mission ever launched by NASA. In 2010 he became a suborbital payload specialist trainee for the Space Shuttle, and is expected to fly several space missions in 2012-2013.
Near-Earth Objects: Targets for Future Human Exploration, Solar System Science, and Planetary Defense
Paul Abell, Lead Scientist for Planetary Small Bodies, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
4:00 p.m.
Partnership II Building, Room 208
3100 Technology Pkwy, next to Campus
U.S. President Obama stated on April 15, 2010, that the next goal for human spaceflight will be to send human beings to a near-Earth asteroid by 2025. Given this direction from the White House, NASA has been studying various strategies for near-Earth object (NEO) exploration. This mission would be the first human expedition to an interplanetary body beyond the Earth-Moon system and would prove useful for testing technologies required for human missions to Mars and other Solar System destinations.
Missions to NEOs would undoubtedly provide a great deal of technical and engineering data on spacecraft operations for future human space exploration while conducting in-depth scientific investigations of these primitive objects. In addition, the resulting scientific investigations would refine designs for future extraterrestrial resource extraction and utilization, and assist in the development of hazard mitigation techniques for planetary defense.
This presentation will discuss some of the physical characteristics of NEOs and review some of the current plans for NEO research and exploration from both a human and robotic mission perspective.
Dr. Paul Abell is the Lead Scientist for Planetary Small Bodies assigned to the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Directorate at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. His main areas of interest are physical characterization of near-Earth objects (NEOs) via ground-based and spacecraft observations, examination of NEOs for future robotic and human exploration, and identification of potential resources within the NEO population for future resource utilization. Paul has been studying potentially hazardous asteroids and near-Earth objects for over 15 years. He was a telemetry officer for the Near-Earth Asteroid Rendezvous spacecraft Near-Infrared Spectrometer team and is a science team member on the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Hayabusa near-Earth asteroid sample-return mission. Paul was also a member of the Hayabusa contingency recovery team and participated in the successful recovery of the spacecraft's sample return capsule, which returned to Woomera, Australia in June 2010.
Since 2006 Paul has been a member of an internal NASA team that is examining the possibility of sending astronauts to NEOs for long duration human missions circa 2025 and is currently the lead committee member of the Small Bodies Assessment Group chartered with identifying Human Exploration Opportunities for NEOs. In 2009 he became a science team member of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) Solar System Collaboration tasked with identifying NEOs for future robotic and human space missions, and is also the Science Lead for NEO analog activities and operations of the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) 15 project.
Advances in Behavioral Science Using
Automated
Facial Image Analysis and Synthesis
Jeffrey Cohn, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Adjunct Fculty, Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University
Thurs., June 30, 2011
10:00 – 10:45 a.m.
Partnership II Building, Room 209
3100 Technology Pkwy, next to Campus
Significant efforts have been made in the analysis and understanding of naturally occurring interpersonal behavior. Active appearance models are an especially exciting approach. They may be used both to measure naturally occurring facial behavior and to synthesize photo-realistic real-time avatars with which to experimentally perturb interpersonal dynamics to identify mechanisms.
Dr. Cohn's interdisciplinary group of psychologists and computer scientists uses and extends both of these capabilities in combination with conventional approaches. He will present recent studies and the opportunities they offer. Using facial image as well as acoustic analysis, achieved among the first automated measurements of physical pain and depression severity from expressive behavior; using image synthesis, researchers achieved real-time rendering and manipulation of face identity and dynamics. Findings inform behavioral science and raise new challenges for computer vision, machine learning, and human-robot interaction.
Speaker Bio
 Jeffrey Cohn received his PhD in psychology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Dr. Cohn has led interdisciplinary and inter-institutional efforts to develop advanced methods of automatic analysis of facial expression and prosody and applied those tools to research in human emotion, interpersonal processes, social development, and psychopathology. He co-developed influential databases, Cohn-Kanade, MultiPIE, and Pain Archive, co-edited two recent special issues of Image and Vision Computing on facial expression analysis, and co-chaired the 8th IEEE International Conference on Automatic Face and Gesture Recognition (FG 2008).
Lunch 'n' Learn Series (2012/2013) Older Lunch 'n' learn
The RICHES Mosaic Interface
Connie Lester and Connie Harper (Department of History), Larry Davis (Adaptive Assessment Services) and R. Paul Wiegand (IST)
Friday, March 22, 2013
Noon - 1:00 p.m.
Partnership III, Room 233
Overview:The RICHES Mosaic Interface is the central Internet location for content created through the RICHES projects  (Regional Initiative for Collecting the History, Experiences, and Stories of Central Florida). RICHES MI searches are geographically and temporally based and provide the user with filters to access specific types of data (images, documents, podcasts, oral histories, film, visualizations) as well as filter for information (ex. Agriculture, Industry, Cultural, etc.).
The interface includes natural language search capabilities, as well as an interactive, graph-based visualization tool for exploring relationships between historical items stored in the repository. First and foremost, the RICHES Mosaic Interface is a research and educational tool, but also represents an excellent example of a multi-disciplinary effort. Work on the interface has included academic and industry partners, and expertise from a wide selection of fields including history, archival, web development and machine learning from computer science.
Presenters will give some background about the RICHES project, discuss how the RICHES Mosaic Interface is positioned within RICHES, describe some of the technologies used to implement the tool, and demonstrate the various capabilities of the RICHES MI. They will discuss current and future partnerships, plans to acquire data, and plans to expand the interface's capabilities.
Speaker Bios: Connie L. Lester is an Associate Professor in the Department of History, the Director of RICHES of Central Florida, and the Editor of the Florida Historical Quarterly. She oversees the RICHES MI project, coordinates the supporting projects, and works with local museums and archives to provide content for RICHES MI. Connie Harper is the Senior Programmer Analyst for RICHES and works on the digital archive and web interface for the RICHES Mosaic Interface. Dr. Larry Davis is the Senior Vice President for Research and Development at Adaptive Assessment Services, Inc. Dr. Davis has been integrally involved in the design and development of RICHES MI, and he designed and implemented the natural language search mechanisms within the tool. Dr. R. Paul Wiegand is a computer scientist at IST whose research focuses on understanding representations and algorithms used for machine learning, optimization, and coordinated multi-agent control. Dr. Wiegand is working with the RICHES project, using machine learning techniques to develop and expand the RICHES MI graph-based connections visualizer.
Meta-analysis of Visuo-spatial Abilities in Remote Perception
Thomas Fincannon, Ph.D.
Institute for Simulation & Training
Friday, March 15, 2013
Noon - 1:00 p.m.
Partnership III, Room 233
Overview: In this presentation Dr. Fincannon discuss a meta-analysis investigating the relationship between visuo-spatial ability and performance in remote environments. The moderator analysis investigated relationships involving: (a) visuo-spatial constructs with an emphasis on Carroll's (1993) visualization (VZ)factor; (b) performance outcomes (i.e., identification, localization, navigation, and mission completion time); (c) autonomy to support mission performance; (d) task types (i.e., navigation vs. reconnaissance); and (e) experimental testbeds (i.e., physical vs. virtual environments). The findings are discussed in the context of measures of the visualization factor, autonomy, simulation environment, and selection for applied domains.
 Speaker Bio: Thomas Fincannon, PhD, is a graduate of UCF's Applied Experimental Human Factors Psychology program. He also received his M.S. in Industrial Engineering with an emphasis in Human Engineering and Ergonomics (2010).
His research interests include the study of unmanned vehicle operation, and within this domain, a focus on individual differences, levels of autonomy, and team effectiveness. His work has been published in journals such as the Journal of Cognitive Engineering and Decision Making and Theoretical Issues in Ergonomic Science. Thomas has also been an active member, at both the local and national level, of the Human Factors and Ergonomic Society.
Intellectual Property Made Easy (or at least not so scary)
John Miner
Institute for Simulation & Training
Friday, February 1, 2013
Noon - 1:00 p.m.
Partnership III, Room 233
Overview: In this presentation John Miner will review Intellectual Property basics and how they impact faculty, researchers, and students. He will address the types of Intellectual Property and how and why we leverage Intellectual Property. He will summarize the resources available through the Office of Research and Commercialization to help navigate the commercialization process. This will be a high level presentation with many opportunities for discussion and interaction with an expert in the technology transfer process.
 Speaker Bio: John Miner is the Assistant Director of UCF's Office of Technology Transfer. John has been involved in Technology Transfer full time since 1999. In his tenure at UCF he has handled hundreds of patents, copyrights and trademarks for all departments, with a primary focus on the physical sciences.
He has successfully negotiated and executed dozens of license agreements for technology developed at UCF, from small start-ups to Fortune 100 companies. John has also been involved in the creation of many University spin outs for both students and faculty. A member of the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM), he is an Associate Vice President for Metrics and the Chair of the Salary Committee. Additionally, he is an avid fisherman, gardener and astronomer.
Investigation of Tactile Displays for Robot to Human Communication
Daniel Barber, PhD
Friday, November 16, 2012
Noon - 1:00 p.m.
Partnership III, Room 233
Overview: Improvements in autonomous systems technology and a growing demand within military operations are spurring a revolution in Human-Robot Interaction (HRI). These mixed-initiative human-robot teams are enabled by Multi-Modal Communication (MMC), which supports redundancy and levels of communication that are more robust than single mode interaction. Tactile communication via vibrotactile displays is an emerging technology, potentially beneficial to advancing HRI.
Incorporation of tactile displays within MMC requires developing messages equivalent in communication power to speech and visual signals used in the military. Toward that end, two experiments were performed to investigate the feasibility of a tactile language using a lexicon of standardized tactons (tactile icons) within a sentence structure for communication of messages for robot to human communication. Experiment one evaluated tactons from the literature with standardized parameters grouped into categories (directional, dynamic, and static) based on the nature and meaning of the patterns to inform design of a tactile syntax.
Findings of this experiment revealed directional tactons showed better performance than non-directional tactons, therefore syntax for experiment two composed of a non-directional and a directional tacton was more likely to show performance better than chance. Experiment two tested the syntax structure of equally performing tactons identified from experiment one, revealing participants' ability to interpret tactile sentences better than chance with or without the presence of an independent work imperative task. This finding advanced the state of the art in tactile displays from one to two word phrases facilitating inclusion of the tactile modality within MMC for HRI.
 Speaker Bio: Daniel Barber earned his Ph.D. degree in Modeling and Simulation at the University of Central Florida (UCF) and is currently a Research Associate at the Institute for Simulation and Training's ACTIVE Laboratory and is Faculty Advisor to the Robotics Club at UCF. Dr. Barber has extensive experience in the field of Unmanned Systems, with work in intelligent systems, machine learning, human-agent collaboration, control systems, path-planning, computer vision, communication frameworks, and environment modeling.
He has designed and overseen construction of multiple autonomous systems which consistently rank within the top five at international events sponsored by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), Office of Naval Research (ONR), and the U.S. Army. Dr. Barber has also developed 3D simulation environments, and is the primary developer and maintainer of the Mixed Initiative Experimental (MIX) Testbed used for HRI research by multiple universities and government organizations. In addition to development of robotic systems and simulations for HRI like MIX, Dr. Barber has developed tools for synchronization and processing of data from multiple physiological sensors (e.g. Eye Tracking, Electrocardiogram, and Electroencephalography) within simulation and training environments, which includes a pending patent titled "Methods and Systems for Synchronization and Distribution of Multiple Physiological and performance Measures."
His current research focus is on HRI including: multimodal communication, intuitive user interaction devices, supervisory control of multiple vehicles, and adaptive systems using physiological sensors.
Assessing 21st Century Skills:
Conceptual and Methodological Challenges
with Interpersonal Skills Assessment
Stephen M. Fiore, PhD
Friday, October 12, 2012
Noon - 1:00 p.m.
Partnership III, Room 233
Overview: Over the past decade, leaders in industry and in government have recognized that the workforce of the 21st century increasingly requires broad cognitive and affective skills. These have been referred to as "21st Century Skills," and include the ability to critically evaluate situations and tasks, solve complex problems, and communicate and collaborate effectively with a variety of people. In order to better understand these skills, the National Research Council (NRC) commissioned a study of 21st Century Skills. The purpose was to examine if, and how, such skills may differ from earlier eras and potentially require changes to the educational experience.
As part of this, the Committee on the Assessment of 21st Century Skills was convened to review assessments and related research for these skills with special attention to technology-enabled assessments (see: www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13215). In this presentation I will describe a portion of the contributions to this NRC committee with a focus on defining and assessing interpersonal skills. I provide representative examples of interpersonal skills assessment, identify what is missing from such assessments, and conclude with recommendations for research and development in the assessment of interpersonal skills.
Speaker Bio: Stephen M. Fiore, PhD, is faculty with the University of Central Florida's Cognitive Sciences Program in the Department of Philosophy and Director of the Cognitive Sciences Laboratory at UCF's Institute for Simulation and Training, as well as President of the Interdisciplinary Network for Group Research. He maintains a multidisciplinary research interest that incorporates aspects of the cognitive, social, organizational, and computational sciences in the investigation of learning and performance in individuals and teams.
Why did you leave the water running?
Examining the Factors that Play a Role in
Pro-environmental Behaviors
Brittany Sellers, IST
Friday, September 28, 2012
Noon - 1:00 p.m.
Partnership III, Room 233
Overview: In this presentation Ms. Sellers describes a line of research exploring the factors contributing to, or discouraging, pro-environmental behaviors. She first discusses a study examining how documentary films lead to attitude change. This was integrated with theory from cognitive science to examine how orientation towards the future may interact with attitudes toward the environment. Our results indicated that the film was able to reduce anthropocentric (human-centric) attitudes and that this was related to future time perspective. A surprising result was that individuals with a low consideration for future consequences, but who reported high levels of environmental awareness, were discouraged by the film. A follow-up study was conducted to test the hypothesis that this was due to lower levels of environmental efficacy, or lower levels of belief that some are capable of effecting change through pro-environmental behaviors. A new scale, designed to measure our hypothesized construct of environmental efficacy, was devised, tested, and validated with respect to ecocentric attitudes, future time perspective, and higher levels of motivation. She concludes with a discussion of the implications from this line of research. This includes encouraging environmental efficacy in individuals as well as advancing collective efficacy and furthering the widespread adoption of sustainable practices. Additional findings, along with her present research studying pro-environmental behaviors within UCF student housing, will also be discussed.
 Speaker Bio: Brittany Sellers is a doctoral student in the Applied Experimental and Human Factors Psychology program at UCF and a graduate research assistant in the Team Performance Laboratory and Cognitive Science Laboratory. She received her bachelor's degree in psychology from Flagler College. Her research interests include exploring the decision-making process behind pro-environmental behaviors and applying the principles of human factors toward the development of environmental design solutions. Her forthcoming article on understanding "environmental efficacy," will be published in the International Journal of Sustainability Policy and Practice.
Physical Manifestations of Virtual Humans
Greg Welch, PhD, IST
Friday, April 20, 2012
Noon - 1:00 p.m.
Partnership II, Room 209
Virtual humans have been around for many years, offering a controlled human dimension to applications such as training, education, and entertainment. The manifestation of virtual humans in a real space typically involves a 2D flat panel display, sometimes with stereo head tracked imagery.
In these situations, the 2D display effectively serves as a portal to the virtual human's world, through which all communication and perception must pass. From the perspective of the real space, the virtual humans are in some sense "trapped" in the 2D display. But what if instead, avatars could manifest themselves in physical form, with human shape, appearance, behavior, and sound? In other words, what if virtual humans could break free from their 2D displays, joining us in the real world as physically-present approximations of real humans?
In this talk I will discuss this idea, including some applications, technology research, perceptual issues, and even ethical issues. The talk will include a little history, some current work, and some speculation.
Bio: Greg Welch is a Research Professor in the Institute for Simulation & Training and the Department of Electrical  Engineering & Computer Science at The University of Central Florida, and the Department of Computer Science at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
In 1986 he received a degree in Electrical Technology from Purdue University (with Highest Distinction), and in 1996 a Ph.D. in Computer Science from UNC-Chapel Hill. Prior to UNC he worked on the Voyager Spacecraft Project at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and on airborne electronic countermeasures at Northrop-Grumman's Defense Systems Division. His current research interests include virtual and augmented reality, human tracking systems, 3D telepresence, computer vision, and stochastic estimation.
He has co-authored over 60 publications in these areas, and is a co-inventor on multiple patents. He has served on numerous international program committees, co-chaired workshops and seminars, and is an Associate Editor for the journal Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments. He maintains an internationally-recognized web site dedicated to the Kalman filter. He is a member of the IEEE Computer Society and ACM.
Cognition and Communication in Human-Robot Teams
Melyssa Allen, IST
Monday, April 16, 2012
Noon - 1:00 p.m.
Partnership II, Room 209
Melyssa Allen presents her recent work on cognition and communication in humans and animals as these topics apply to human-robot teams.
Here's an abstract from her poster presentation at the recent International Conference on Comparative Cognition:
The ways in which humans and animals interact are complex, but are set on the general foundation of body language, gesture, and verbal communication. Explorations into the complexities of human-animal interactions (HAI) in a team setting have led to inquiries of whether these models could be applied to human-robot interactions (HRI).
In this paper we apply an interdisciplinary perspective to integrate research from animal cognition and metacognition, natural and acquired modes of human communication, animal specializations in communication, and studies of how humans interact with robotic animals. Intra-species communication within groups of animals will also be investigated to potentially apply to the robots themselves when working in a team setting. We conclude with a set of guidelines outlining how research can assess the efficacy of methods of communication from HAI in application to efficient HRI teams.
Allen, M.L., Morrow, P., Streater, J., Jentsch, F., and Fiore, S. (2012). A literature review: Investigating the fundamentals of cognition and communication in humans and animals for application into the development of human-robot interactions in a team setting. Presented at the 19th International Conference On Comparative Cognition. March. Melbourne, FL.
Using Virtual Reality to Treat Real Anxiety
Deborah Beidel, Ph.D.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Noon - 1:00 p.m.
Partnership II, Room 209
Twenty-five years of research has demonstrated that exposure therapy is the most effective treatment for anxiety disorders, including social phobia and post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD). The core of this treatment entails coming into contact with the feared object, event or situation. The challenge for therapists is to be able to "engineer" that exposure so that the proper elements of the fear are presented. How does one arrange exposure to an airplane in bad weather? An auditorium full of disapproving listeners?
An HUV explosion in Iraq? Virtual reality has become a valuable tool to allow exposure to occur in optimal fashion. In this presentation, Dr. Beidel will discuss how the UCF Anxiety Disorders Clinic is using virtual reality in clinical research activities to develop more effective interventions for the treatment of anxiety disorders in adults and children.
 Bio: Dr. Deborah Beidel holds the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP) Diplomates in Clinical Psychology and Behavioral Psychology and is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Association for Psychological Science. The author of over 200 scientific publications including journal articles, book chapters and books, including Childhood Anxiety Disorders: A Guide to Research and Treatment, Shy Children Phobic Adults: The Nature and Treatment of Social Anxiety Disorder, and Social Anxiety in Adolescents and Young Adults. Her academic, research, and clinical interests focus on the etiology, psychopathology and behavioral interventions for anxiety disorders. Since 1986, her research has been funded by numerous grants from the National Institute of Mental Health, the Department of Defense and the Autism Speaks Foundation.
Fostering Collaboration through IT Tools:
An Experimental Study of Public Deliberation on Water Sustainability
Qian Hu, Assistant Professor, School of Public Administration, UCF
Friday, February 17, 2012
Noon - 1:00 p.m.
Partnership II, Room 209
Dr. Qian Hu conducted experiments to examine how IT tools facilitate public deliberation on environmental issues and to examine the impacts of IT-facilitated deliberation environments and social interactions on people's behavioral choices when facing social dilemmas. The unique experimental site for this research is a designed deliberation space at the Arizona State University Decision Theater that can seat up to 25 participants surrounded by the immersive 260-degree seven-screen communal display. The experiment results showed that the more collaborative IT-facilitated deliberation environment demonstrated great potential in encouraging group discussions and collaborative behavior when facing social dilemmas.
 Bio: Qian Hu is an Assistant Professor in School of Public Administration at University of Central Florida. Qian received her Ph.D. from Arizona State University in 2011. Her research interests include policy informatics, e-governance, collaborative public management, and performance management. Qian’s work has been published in academic journals such as American Behavioral Scientist, The Journal of Public Affairs Education, and Journal of Nanoparticle Research. She is a member of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA), Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, Public Management Research Association, and International Association for Chinese Management Research. She currently serves on the Technology Advisory Committee for ASPA.
Summer Lecture Series
Understanding Social Signals in Human-Robot Interaction:
Effects of Robot Gaze and Proxemic Behahior
Travis J. Wiltshire, Graduate Research Associate, Cognitive
Sciences Lab, IST
Friday, May 3, 2013
3:30 - 4:30 p.m.
Partnership II, Room 141
Overview: As robots are increasingly deployed in settings requiring social interaction, research is needed to examine the social signals perceived by humans when robots convey certain social cues.
In this talk, Mr. Wiltshire will first provide a brief overview of perspectives from social cognition in humans and how these processes are applicable to human-robot interactions. He will then discuss the need to examine the relationship between social cues and signals as a function of the degree to which a robot is perceived as a socially present agent. Discussion of a recent experiment in which social cues were manipulated on the Ava™ model robot, designed by iRobot®, in a hallway navigation scenario will conclude the talk.
Results are reported in terms of the effects social cues had on perceived social presence as well as emotional and interpersonal attributions to the robot. The discussion focuses on implications for the design of robotic systems and future directions for research on the relationship between social cues and signals.
Speaker Bio: Travis Wiltshire is pursuing his Ph.D. in Modeling & Simulation at UCF and works as a graduate research associate in the Cognitive Sciences Lab at IST. He has an M.S. in Human Factors & Systems from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and has worked as an instructional systems designer in the simulation and training industry. His current research includes: theoretical and experimental aspects of social cognition with modeling applications for understanding human-robot interactions, complex collaborative problem solving in NASA's Mission Control Center, external team cognition, embodied and enactive music learning processes, and educational practices facilitating the development of adaptive expertise in Air Traffic Control.
Cognition and the Classics:
Examining the Limits and the Potential of Interactive Technologies for Traditional Narrative Texts
Said Jardaneh, Texts & Technology
RESCHEDULED: Friday, July 20, 2012
3:30 - 4:30 p.m.
Partnership II, Room 141
Summer refreshments will be served
The written word has existed for thousands of years as a primary means of passing down and internalizing stories from generation to generation. Although stories are expressed in many forms, those expressed through books may be unique in their transformative qualities. In this presentation Said Jardaneh will discuss how technology is increasingly incorporating narrative into interactive environments in a variety of ways and often immersing the user in ever more realistic experiential scenarios. He will discuss the positive and negative aspects of these changes and question what is potentially lost with these advancements. Jardaneh will describe how concepts from cognitive science, including theories of self and identity along with narrative transportation and transformation, must be taken into account when adapting narrative to the medium of interactive technology.
SPEAKER BIO: Said Jardaneh teaches the Interdisciplinary Studies Cornerstone and Capstone courses at UCF, and has taught American Government. Said is a true interdisciplinarian at heart, having served for a number of years as an intelligence analyst for the U.S. Navy in Europe, and as a registered representative in the brokerage industry. He holds a B.A. in Political Science (HIM) and an M.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies (earned concurrently with the Cognitive Science Certificate here at UCF).
Said continues to be fascinated by the correspondence between the inner subjective world and the external objective realm of physical reality. As such, classical history, philosophy, and theology continue to be an inexhaustible source of inspiration for Said. He is currently preparing for his candidacy exams in UCF's Text & Technology doctoral program. His research explores the digital-analog dichotomy of technology as relates to thought and behavior (i.e. consciousness) in the digital age, and he is working with UCF's Center for Digital Humanities and Research on the Charles Brockden Brown project.
The Summer Lecture Series is co-sponsored by IST, the Cognitive Sciences Program, and UCF's Cognitive Sciences Student Association. For more information, please contact Dr. Stephen M. Fiore.
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