Speaker:
Lana Yarosh,
Research Scientist, AT&T Labs Research

Time: 3:00 PM -- 4:00 PM, Jan 16^th (Wednesday), 2013

Location: Babbio Center, Room 319

ABSTRACT
Human-Computer Interaction is an approach to inventing something new by starting with a human need first. I follow the process of one such invention through the steps typically taken in HCI: identifying a problem, working with potential users to understand how the problem can be solved, making something new, and taking it back into the real world to see if it works. In my talk, I describe the process of creating the ShareTable a system for supporting better contact between parents and children in divorced families. I'll show lots of videos to demonstrate how the system was received by families who used it for a month. Come to the talk if you'd like to see if this method of inventing can be used to power your ideas as well.

BIOGRAPHY
Svetlana “Lana” Yarosh is an HCI researcher at AT&T Research Labs in New Jersey. She received two Bachelors of Science from University of Maryland (in Computer Science and Psychology) and recently graduated from the Human-Centered Computing Ph.D. program at Georgia Institute of Technology. Her research falls primarily in the area of Human-Computer Interaction, with a focus on Ubiquitous and Social Computing. Lana has a passion for empirically investigating real-world needs that may be addressed through computing applications, designing and developing technological interventions, and evaluating them using a balance of qualitative and quantitative methods. Most recently, she has created the ShareTable — a media space system supporting synchronous remote communication between children and parents in divorced families. Her work has been featured on CNN, has won multiple innovation competitions, and has been recognized with a Fran Allen Ph.D. Fellowship Award. Lana is honored to have been the recipient of numerous grants and scholarships including the AT&T Research Labs Graduate Fellowship, the IBM Graduate Fellowship, and the Nokia University Funding Award.

For more information please contact:

Dr. Yu-Dong Yao
Professor & Department Director, IEEE Fellow (RESEARCH INTERESTS: Wireless communications and networks, cognitive and software-defined radio)
Burchard Building
Room B-212
Phone: 201.216.5264
Fax: 201.216.8246
yyao@stevens.edu

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