Presentations at HCIL and MIMAUE

Had the opportunity to give two talks this spring about my research on youth and social network sites. The first was at the Maryland Institute for Minority Achievement and Urban Education (check them out here). The second was at the Annual Symposium for the Human Computer Interaction Lab (HCIL), one of the oldest HCI labs in the world (check them out here). The Symposium was an amazing experience and I’m happy to be a part of the great research community there.

Dissertation of the Year Award

I’m happy to share that I recently received the PhD Dissertation of the Year award at my alma mater, University of Southern California (Rossier School of Education). The school was gracious enough to pay for my trip back to SoCal, where I attended the commencement ceremonies and received the award. My dissertation examined the use of social network sites by high school youths, and I’m excited to potentially share my work as it comes out in various venues in the near future.

RASA Research Grant

I received a Research and Scholarship Award (RASA) from the University of Maryland this year. This seed grant will provide funds for me to conduct a study this coming summer on designing social interdependence mechanisms that may promote better collaborative learning in networked, online environments. I’m honored to receive the award and excited to conduct the study this summer!

SPARC Research Grant

I’m happy to share that I received a SPARC grant from the University of Maryland, College Park (College of Education). This seed grant is geared towards early career faculty to conduct initial research studies and jumpstart their activities. My project will qualitatively examine the Facebook activity of high school youth to determine the types of learning and social behaviors that occur in this online community.