PhD Student - Human Centered Computing

Jasmine
mckenzie

About Me

Research Interests:

My current research interest involves accessing health equity and contributing to a Culture of Health to effect change in marginalized and underrepresented communities. Specifically, I’m studying technological health literacy interventions for the Black community backed by public health and health education theories and frameworks. I aim to identify the need for community-specific measures such as determining community needs, involving stakeholders, building trust, and understanding learning styles before creating health literacy interventions for the Black community. In the future, I would like to pivot to utilizing technology for patient-centered care. I would like to specifically focus on teaching Black women about common pregnancy risks since this population is 3x-4x more likely to experience fatal pregnancy complications. Because trust is also a factor that plays a part in these complications, using culturally relevant virtual agents or mobile applications would be ideal for this population. I believe that fundamental knowledge and trust are the foundation to long-lasting health equity in marginalized communities.

Experience

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory                                                     May 2023-July 2023

Visiting Researcher                                                                                      Gainesville, Florida

Trust in Generative Language Models Literature Review Paper

• Surveyed common trust violations between Human-AI teams, specifically when using generative language models in the workplace.

• Examined the techniques used to mitigate and restore trust to improve reliance on generative language models in Human-AI teams.

The Effect of Expert Explanation on the Ability to Predict Machine Learning Performance

• Designed a within-subjects study focused on evaluating the effects of expert derived confidence scores and expert derived verbal explanations on people’s overall understanding of a ML classifier’s performance.

• Developed a survey to determine if expert derived verbal explanations were more effective at helping electrical grid operators predict the classifiers performance than expert derived confidence scores.

–

Computing for Social Good Lab                                                       August 2021–Present

Research Assistant                                                                                          Gainesville, Florida

Improving Health Literacy in the Black Community with Technology: A Narrative Review

• Conducted a comprehensive review of technological interventions aimed at improving health literacy, resulting in a paper analyzing the success and backing of the interventions and end-user involvement.

• Identified the need for community-specific measures such as determining community needs, involving stakeholders, building trust, and understanding learning styles before creating health literacy interventions for the black community.

• Discovered that conversational agents and mobile apps were popular intervention methods in the studies reviewed, with potential for use in the black community.

Voter Verification using Facial Recognition Verification

• Implementing facial recognition verification software to improve the voter verification process at the polls to improve accuracy when compared to traditional methods.

• Utilizing Amazon's AWS Compare Faces software to measure the similarity between individuals accurately.

• Conducting a wizard of oz study using actors as voters and real poll workers to determine the accuracy of the poll workers' choices in verifying eligible voters.

–

Adzuna                                                           May 2021–July 2021

Research Scientist AI & Ethics Intern                                                                      Richland, Washington

The Risk of Cybersecurity Threats and Vulnerabilities in Healthcare

• Conducted research on the ethical implications of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) algorithms used in the defense industry.

• Analyzed the risks and potential harms of AI/ML systems and developed metrics to assess their ethical implications.

• Collaborated with cross-functional teams to ensure that the development and implementation of AI/ML technologies align with ethical principles and standards.

• Assisted in the creation and implementation of policies and guidelines for the ethical use of AI/ML.

• Presented findings and recommendations to senior leadership and stakeholders.

–

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory                                                        May 2021–July 2021

PhD GEM Intern                                                                                               Richland, Washington

The Risk of Cybersecurity Threats and Vulnerabilities in Healthcare

• Surveyed cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities in medical institutions and implantable medical devices, providing insights for risk reduction.

• Developed a plan for reducing the risk of cyberattacks in healthcare, requiring collaboration across multiple stakeholders.

• Investigated the impact of basic cybersecurity education and training on healthcare workers' ability to detect potential cybersecurity risks.

• Contributed to the creation of a safer and more secure healthcare environment through the understanding of cybersecurity risks and the development of mitigation strategies.

–

Social Technologies and Robotics (STAR) lab                                         January 2019–May 2021

Research Assistant, Orangeburg,                                                           South Carolina

Analyzing the Accessibility and Usability of Educational Alzheimer’s Disease Interface

• Researched a range of biological, sociological, and demographic factors related to Alzheimer’s disease in African Americans.

• Analyzed why African Americans are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease at a much lower rate than their white counterparts.

• Developed an accessible web-based simulator to predict the chances of an AD diagnosis based on various factors.

 SC-READY Virtual Cozmo

• Contributed to developing the SC-READY Virtual Cozmo Game - a digital platform that helps educate students in mathematics using South Carolina education standards.

• Tested the effectiveness of how 30 students learned various topics through hands-on experience and the help of the virtual Cozmo robot.

–

Claflin University                                                                                        August 2020–April 2021

Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (RISE) Scholar                 Orangeburg, South Carolina

Investigating of the Effectiveness of Brain Training Programs for Older Adults

• Surveyed the most effective forms of cognitive improvement in older adults.

• Analyzed the 4 areas of the brain that are most affected by training programs.

• Studied universal tests used to analyze cognitive improvement.

• Began developing a web-based brain training program to target specific areas of the brain well known for detecting cognitive decline and improvement.

 –

South Carolina-Advancing Diversity in Aging Research                            May 2019–August 2020

Computer Science Research Fellow                                                            Columbia, South Carolina

Mobile Brain Games to Test Cognitive Improvement in Older Adults

• Designed a research project to study the effectiveness of memory games related to cognitive improvement in older adults.

• Developed three mobile memory games using Unity, a game developing software.

• Conducted a survey to conclude that most memory games and commercial brain training programs have no basis for improving cognitive abilities.

 Automated Fall Detection Using Artificial Intelligence with Smartwatch Data

• Participated in research designed to enhance the lives of older adults.

• Collected, analyzed, and cleaned data to train a neural network to detect falling and smoking gestures using a smartwatch.

research Interest

Human-Centered Computing
Culturally Relevant Computing

Social Determinants of Diseases
Disease Risk Management

Health Literacy
Health Education

Software

InVision
Adobe XD
Figma
Brackets
Unity
Android Studio
XCode

Skills

User Testing
Mockups
Quantitative Research

Qualitative Research
Low-Fidelity Prototyping
High-Fidelity Prototyping

Programming languages

Java
HTML
CSS
JavaScript
PHP
Python