Future of Work: University of Central Florida Speakers

Mary Czerwinski, Microsoft

Dr. Mary Czerwinski is a Principle Researcher and Research Manager of the Human Understanding and Empathy (HUE) Research Group. Mary’s latest research focuses primarily on emotion tracking and intervention design, health and wellness for individuals and groups and productivity at work. Her research background is in visual attention and multitasking. She holds a Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from Indiana University in Bloomington. Mary was awarded the ACM SIGCHI Lifetime Service Award, was inducted into the CHI Academy and received the Distinguished Alumni award from Indiana University’s College of Arts and Sciences. Read more about Dr. Czerwinski at: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/people/marycz/

Steve Smith, Peraton 

Steve has over 40 years in the design of electronics, RF communications, optoelectronics, and integrated circuits and holds 3 patents in those fields. Steve has designed electronic circuits for space, marine, ground, and airborne markets for both government and commercial applications. He has a wealth of experience with leadership positions in Engineering Management, Program Management, Product Line Management, Marketing, and Business Development in both the domestic and international arenas. He is a BSEE graduate of the University of Arizona and an MBA graduate of Brenau University. Steve and his family live in Melbourne Florida.

Ronald DeMara, Dept. of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Ronald F. DeMara is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Digital Learning Faculty Fellow at UCF. He is founding Director of the Evaluation and Proficiency Center which is leading digitized assessment initiatives and the Principal Investigator of instructional technology pilots funded by NSF. He is Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Emerging Topics in Computing and delivers conference and faculty workshop presentations nationally on emerging educational methods and next-generation instructional technologies. He is a six-time recipient of UCF’s TIP or SoTL teaching awards, Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, Marchioli Collective impact award, and IEEE’s Biedenbach Outstanding Engineering Educator Award.

Aman Behal, University of Central Florida

Aman Behal received the 5-year integrated M.Tech degree in EE from IIT Bombay, India, in 1996 and a Ph.D. in controls and robotics from Clemson University, Clemson, SC, in 2001. After a brief stint as a post-doctoral associate in Bioengineering at Clemson University, he joined the faculty of the ECE Department at Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY in 2003. In 2006, he joined the University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL where he is currently a Professor jointly with the ECE Department and the NanoScience Technology Center.Prof. Behal’s research focuses on development of assistive robotic technology for enhancing Quality of Life and independence for individuals with disabilities. Current projects focus on imbuing robots with autonomy based on 2D/3D vision and haptics, design of adaptive interfaces for shared autonomy during Human Robot Interaction (HRI), enhancement of HRI efficiency through modeling and compensation, synthesis of passive controllers for safe Physical HRI, and robot Learning from Demonstration.

Isabel Nieto, Duke Energy 

Isabel is a Workforce Development Consultant for Duke Energy focused on building a pipeline of talent through educational partners and community organizations to increase career awareness and support programs that prepare students for a career path in the energy industry. Isabel has a Bachelor of Science from the University of Central Florida, Master of Science in Leadership from Palm Beach Atlantic University, and certification as a Project Management Professional. Dedicated to the community, she volunteers for the Hispanic Heritage Scholarship Fund of Metro Orlando and the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. Isabel resides in Volusia county with her husband and two daughters.

Jack Stubbs, University of Central Florida 

Jack joined the University of Minnesota Medical School (2012-2015) and most recently the University of Central Florida Institute for Simulation and Training where he leads a team developing new approaches and technology for simulating and teaching healthcare interactions and procedures. The PD3D Lab combines electronics, computers, programming and sensors into 3D printed designs for establishing functional prototypes. He has used rapid prototyping, 3D printing and additive manufacturing since the mid 1990’s to improve designs, prototype and test devices and systems.

Robert Sottilare, Soar Technology, Inc. 

Jack joined the University of Minnesota Medical School (2012-2015) and most recently the University of Central Florida Institute for Simulation and Training where he leads a team developing new approaches and technology for simulating and teaching healthcare interactions and procedures. The PD3D Lab combines electronics, computers, programming and sensors into 3D printed designs for establishing functional prototypes. He has used rapid prototyping, 3D printing and additive manufacturing since the mid 1990’s to improve designs, prototype and test devices and systems.

Roger Azevedo, University of Central Florida 

Dr. Azevedo is a Professor in the Department of Learning Sciences and Educational Research at the University of Central Florida. He is also an affiliated faculty in the Departments of Computer Science and Internal Medicine at the University of Central Florida and the lead scientist for the Learning Sciences Faculty Cluster Initiative. His main research area includes examining the role of cognitive, metacognitive, affective, and motivational self-regulatory processes during learning with advanced learning technologies (e.g., intelligent tutoring systems, hypermedia, multimedia, simulations, serious games, immersive virtual learning environments). More specifically, his overarching research goal is to understand the complex interactions between humans and intelligent learning systems by using interdisciplinary methods to measure cognitive, metacognitive, emotional, and motivational processes and their impact on learning, performance, and transfer. To accomplish this goal, he conducts laboratory, classroom, and in-situ (e.g., medical simulator) studies and collects multi-channel data to develop models of human-computer interaction; examines the nature of temporally unfolding self- and other-regulatory processes (e.g., human-human and human-artificial agents); and, designs intelligent learning and training systems to detect, track, model, and foster learners, teachers, and trainers’ self-regulatory processes. He has published over 250 peer-reviewed papers, chapters, and refereed conference proceedings in the areas of educational, learning, cognitive, educational, and computational sciences. He is the editor of the Metacognition and Learning journal and serves on the editorial board of several top-tiered learning and cognitive sciences journals (e.g., International Journal of AI in Education, European Journal of Psychological Assessment). His research is funded by the National Science Foundation, Institute of Education Sciences, National Institutes of Health, and the Social Sciences and the Humanities Research Council of Canada, Natural and Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada, Canada Research Chairs, and Canadian Foundation for Innovation. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and the recipient of the prestigious Early Faculty Career Award from the National Science Foundation.

James Pharmer, Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division

Dr. Jim Pharmer is the Principal Scientist for the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (NAWCTSD AIR) Human Systems Department (AIR46) where he supports the development of effective training systems for the fleet. Over his 20 years at NAWCTSD, he has held roles supervising researchers, acting as principal investigator and laboratory lead for multiple large science and technology programs. His work has primarily focused on the development of processes, technologies, and tools to support system acquisition programs in incorporating human systems integration (HSI) processes for factoring human operators, maintainers, and support personnel requirements into the systems engineering process.

David Yacht, Southwest Airlines

Yacht is the Principal Scientist of Human Performance at Southwest Airlines, and is the program manager responsible for Risk and Resource Management (RRM) through its uniform implementation, maintenance of fidelity, and standardization across the Southwest Airlines enterprise. Yacht is the Chairman of the Southwest Airlines Human Performance Advisory Council as the subject matter expert (SME) of human factors and ergonomics to support the Safety Management System by providing a framework that enables collaboration with departments to integrate human centric principles and current industry best practices into training, standards, policies, procedures, investigations, daily operations and safety management systems. Yacht is also the Program manager responsible in leading the Southwest Airlines Human Performance Partnership Program by interfacing with Government, Academic, and Industry leaders through the creation of Research and Development opportunities and general collaboration.