People

Timothy Bickmore

Director

I am a Professor in the College of Computer and Information Science at Northeastern. My research focus is on the development of Relational Agents, especially in the area of health counseling applications. Prior to joining Northeastern, I was an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Boston University School of Medicine. I received my PhD from the MIT Media Lab, studying under Profs. Rosalind Picard (Affective Computing) and Justine Cassell (Gesture and Narrative Language).

Website: http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/bickmore

Ha Trinh

Postdoctoral Researcher

I joined the Relational Agents group as a postdoctoral researcher in January 2014. I received my Ph.D. at the University of Dundee (UK), supervised by Prof. Annalu Waller, Prof. Vicki Hanson, and Prof. Ehud Reiter. My primary research interest lies in the intersection of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Natural Language Processing (NLP). More specifically, I am interested in exploring how HCI and NLP methods can be employed to provide effective communication support for individuals with diverse language, speech, physical and cognitive abilities. My current research is focused on automatic generation of social dialogue as a means of promoting user engagement with embodied conversational agents.

Zhe (Zessie) Zhang

PHI PhD Student

As a junior Ph.D. student in Personal Health Informatics at Northeastern University, my research interests are in the intersection of information science, computer science and health care. I am particularly interested in the use of Embodied Conversational Agents (ECAs) in longitudinal health-related behavior interventions. My recent research work focuses on identifying patterns of system use in health behavior change interventions with ECAs, exploring the use of ECAs to promote optimal breastfeeding behavior, studying the use of ECAs in protocol adherence, using ECAs to report adverse events among cancer patients, and investigating the effect of agent alliance on the overall trust in healthcare providers. I plan to study more on how mobile ECAs facilitate the collection of cancer-related data and reduce the social desirability bias associated with self-report measures.

Dina Utami

CS PhD Student

I'm interested in group counseling, in which conversational agents facilitate co-located group communication.

Everlyne Kimani

CS PhD Student

My research interests are at the intersection of Human Computer interaction and affective computing. My focus interest is on examining the affective interaction of relational agents with the user in the context of health care. My current research project is on the development and implementation of a smartphone-based embodied conversational agent that improves the health literacy of patients. I am also interested in the design and evaluation of relational agents to promote school readiness in preschool children. Before joining Northeastern University I received my B.S. in Computer Science at Benedict College in Columbia, SC.

Shuo Zhou

PHI PhD Student

My interests lie in the intricate relationships among design, human behaviors, culture, and interfaces. With the belief that computer agents can be the catalyst for better patient care, I plan to study how a relationship between patients and physicians can be simulated and facilitated by conversational agents, and how the interaction process and information displayed can be enhanced to achieve better outcomes. Iâ€™m particularly interested in how a long term human relationship can be simulated with a computer agent and what characteristics would contribute to the formation of a successful one. Currently I am working on the RESPECT Consent Advocate project, which is using conversational agents to improve the informed consent process for oncology patients. I am also working on a project with the Boston Veteran's Administration Medical Center, using conversational agents for screening and brief counseling for alcohol abuse problems in primary care patients.

Juan Fernandez

System Techician

I help develop and maintain the agent systems in our lab. My interests lie in the programming design and challenge of making these systems work for a variety of devices and environments.

Ameneh Shamekhi

CS PhD Student

I joined the Relational Agents Group as a PhD student in Computer Science in September 2013. I received my B.S in Information Technology from Sharif University of Technology (Iran). My primary research interest is in Human Computer Interaction. In particular, I am interested in the role of computer agents in human life and the way that humans can interact with computers to improve their lives. I would like to explore psychological aspects of human behaviors in order to develop novel agent-human interaction models. Good or bad, the future world is going to be more computerized and I believe that it is an essential step to make this interaction more and more humanized.

Teresa O'Leary

PHI PhD Student

Teresa earned her B.A. in Psychology and Sociology from Smith College. Prior to joining the Relational Agents Group as a PHI PhD student, she spent over five years as the Lead Research Associate and Database Developer working on NIH funded clinical trials at the Yale School of Medicine Department of Emergency Medicine. She has also provided direct case management to adults with serious mental illness and has experience with addiction counseling. Teresa is interested in integrating motivational interviewing (MI) techniques and conversational agents as a means to increase access to healthcare knowledge, supplement office-based care, and provide effective tools for chronic disease management.

Zach Berwaldt

Digital Artist

I'm interested in film, photography, animation, 3D modeling, drawing,

Stefán Ólafsson

PHI PhD Student

My research interests are in the use of virtual agents for motivational interviewing and counselling, particularly for people with addiction. Additionally, I am interested in the use and development of various language technologies for engaging in natural conversation with virtual agents. Currently I am a part of the effort to create a virtual agent for a preconception care intervention for African American males. My BAs are English Studies, linguistics in particular, and Chinese Studies at the University of Iceland (UI). My master's degree is in Language Technologies (2015) is also from UI, in collaboration with Reykjavik University (RU). During my master's studies I also conducted research at RU's Center for Analysis and Design of Intelligent Agents.

Elise Masson

Project Coordinator

I am recent graduate from Saint Michaels College with a Bachelors of Science degree and a concentration in chemistry. As a researcher for the RAG Lab, I help conduct and run various studies revolving around computer science and health education

RELATIONAL AGENTS GROUP