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Anderson Piercey to address Class of 2023

Published April 24, 2023

Undergraduate speaker for spring commencement is Anderson Piercey. — Anderson Piercey was a resident assistant throughout his time at Tech and found numerous ways to build and nuture community.

Undergraduate Student Speaker Helps Students Succeed

Undergraduate Student Speaker Anderson Piercey, who is earning his bachelor’s in business management with a minor in psychology, will address the class of spring 2023 on Saturday.

Piercey, who hails from Shelby Township in lower Michigan, has been a senior resident assistant, resident assistant and academic success coach during his time at Tech, earning the highest regional award presented to affiliates of the National Affiliate of College and University Residence Halls (NACURH) and being recognized by Michigan Tech Student Affairs in 2020 for exceptional enthusiasm in student leadership.

He made his own memories in helping others to embrace Tech traditions.

“One of my favorite memories of Michigan Tech (this is one of many!) is marching 68 residents from Wadsworth Hall to the Memorial Union Building for K-Day. It was the first time that I felt like a true student leader on campus,” Anderson said. “I made a lot of my residents come out of their shells for the first time, and the look of shock on peoples’ faces as we took up an entire bus heading to Chassell was something I’ll never forget.”

Active in Pavlis Honors College and on the Dean’s List every semester, Piercey was a member of numerous campus and community organizations including the Society of African American Men (SAMM), Sexual Assault and Violence Prevention Education (SAVE) and Mitch’s Misfits. He has volunteered with Little Brothers-Friends of the Elderly, Friends of the Library, the Copper Country Humane Society and the MTU College of Business’ Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (Vita) program. He also worked as a research assistant for College of Business faculty member Jonathan Leinonen and participated in the Advanced Project Management competition.

Anderson begins his career as an associate business analyst at Auto-Owners Insurance in Lansing. “I’ll also be pursuing my hobbies of reading, photography, hiking — I anticipate I’ll be coming back up here for the best views! — and writing,” he said.

Learn more about Piercey — and get his suggestions to help new students settle in on campus — at Stories From Husky Nation.

For full story, including featured commencement speaker Julie Fream and graduate student speaker Tinu-Oloade Folayan: Class of 2023 Celebrates Spring Commencement

Psychology plays a significant role in most aspects of our lives, including our choices, relationships, and how we work and learn. This makes our psychology minor a great compliment for many different majors. Having insight into people’s thoughts and behavior will give you an edge in almost any career—not to mention your personal life.

For more information: https://www.mtu.edu/cls/undergraduate/minors/

Jenna Messer receives the William and Josephine Balconi Community Service Award

Published April 18, 2023

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Outstanding students, staff and alumni were honored Friday, April 14, during Michigan Tech’s 29th annual Student Leadership Awards Ceremony in the Memorial Union Building Ballroom. Among those recognized was Jenna Messer, Social Sciences major pursuing a degree in Policy, Law and Society and a minor in Psychology. Jenna was selected for the William and Josephine Balconi Community Service Award.

The award is presented each year to a student who demonstrates community service with lasting and meaningful impact during their time at Michigan Tech. Dr. David and Marie Blum initiated this endowment in memory of Marie’s parents, Josephine and William Balconi, remembered as “always involved in helping others.”

Community Service with Lasting and Meaningful Impact

Jenna is part of Michigan Tech’s research team “Bridging Knowledge Systems and Expertise for Understanding the Dynamics of a Contaminated Tribal Landscape System (TLS). The project brings natural and social sciences researchers together with tribal community partners in the Upper Peninsula (U.P.) of Michigan to better understand toxic contamination and climate-related changes across the water-rich landscape. The team will map the extent of the region’s mercury and PCBs contamination in inland lakes, and concurrently, map tribal harvesting practices, valued resources, and climate-related changes across the landscape to categorize lakes as low, moderate or high risk. This research also aims to explore specific management and outreach decisions to minimize contamination risk and support human-environment relationships that promote the health and wellbeing of the U.P. environment and its communities.

Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and in collaboration with the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, and Michigan Tech’s Great Lakes Research Center.

For more information on the project: https://www.mtu.edu/tribal-landscape/

Congratulations to Jenna and all recipients of the 2023 Student Leadership Awards!

Psychology plays a significant role in most aspects of our lives, including our choices, relationships, and how we work and learn. This makes our psychology minor a great compliment for many different majors. Having insight into people’s thoughts and behavior will give you an edge in almost any career—not to mention your personal life.

For more information: https://www.mtu.edu/cls/undergraduate/minors/

ACSHF Forum: Grad Student Presentations

Published April 13, 2023

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The Department of Cognitive and Learning Sciences will host two speakers at the next Applied Cognitive Science and Human Factors forum: Tauseef Ibne Mamun and Erin Matas, both ACSHF graduate students. Their presentations will be from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. Monday (April 17) in Meese 109 and via Zoom.

Mamun will present “The Use of Social Forums to Train Users about Shortcomings of Tesla Full Self-driving (FSD)”

Abstract: In the past decade, consumer adoption of commercial semi-autonomous vehicles has increased, and along with it user concerns about shortcomings of these systems, especially regarding safety. Users often turn to social media forums to discuss these shortcomings, find workarounds, and confirm their experience is common. We suggest that these forums may provide some of the best training for users to understand the limitations of AI, as they are not controlled by the vendor who has a vested interest in hiding the limitations of their systems. In two laboratory experiments, we examined how information from Tesla FSD forums impact participants’ ability to detect and predict hazardous driving situations in simulated scenarios. Drivers who received the training were better at anticipating and recognizing dangerous driving conditions, suggesting that exposure to user-generated explanations of the shortcomings of the system may in fact improve safety and acceptance of the systems.

Matas will present “Practicum Project: Leadership Program Evaluation Using Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA)”

Abstract: The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Leadership Fellows Program is designed to prepare emerging library leaders for senior-level positions in research libraries and other types of organizations. Erin Matas is a 2021-2022 cohort Fellow. For her ACSHF practicum project, Erin used Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA) methods to identify areas where improvement is needed for the leadership program’s training and development. The Leadership Fellows program has a year-long curriculum that targets different learning topics each month. Using human factors methods, Erin analyzed challenges in the Fellows’ current jobs and compared them with the topics covered in the program to determine if there are any training gaps. Erin interviewed 7 Fellows using CTA to identify cognitively complex aspects of their work and systematically analyzed the data. She developed task diagrams from each interview, identified themes, and presents results in a concept map. To round out the project, Erin will deliver the concept map and an executive summary report of her findings and recommendations regarding training to the Director of the ARL Leadership Fellows Program. The Program Director will include the recommendations in the final assessment of the program for the year to the ARL executive leadership team. Did CTA techniques identify overlooked training topics, pinpoint where more support is needed, and/or reinforce the strength of the current curriculum? Find out on April 17th at the ACSHF Forum!

Betsy Lehman receives SISPP Fellowship

Published March 31, 2023

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ACSHF PhD student Betsy Lehman has been awarded a Summer Institute for Social and Personality Psychology (SISPP) fellowship. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the Society for Personality and Social Psychology offers a biannual two-week intensive summer experience for up to 100 pre-doctoral students in social and personality psychology.

SISPP typically offers five courses, in dual-instructor format, led by top researchers and teachers in the field. The program also offers two unique workshops, exposing participants to current and important data analytic techniques and research methodologies.

The submission was very extensive with only 100 applicants awarded.

“I am excited to attend the Summer Institute for Social and Personality Psychology training program at Ohio State University. I’m looking forward to sharing my dissertation research on social judgment and debiasing through better sensemaking and learning from leading experts and fellow graduate students. This experience will inform both my research and my work with the NSF-funded Advance program at Michigan Tech.” – Betsy Lehman, ACSHF PhD student

SISPP 2023 will be held at Ohio State University in July. This will be the first time the program has been conducted since 2019 due to pandemic restrictions in 2021.

ACSHF Forum: Grad Student Presentations

Published March 30, 2023

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The Department of Cognitive and Learning Sciences will host two speakers at the next Applied Cognitive Science and Human Factors forum: Katrina Carlson and Brittany Nelson, both ACSHF graduate students. Their presentations will be from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. Monday (April 3) in Meese 109 and via Zoom.

Carlson will present ” Engineering Self-efficacy and Spatial Skills: A two-part study”

Abstract:

The research team behind previous work on the increased academic and retention outcomes of students who have taken a Spatial Visualization Intervention course at MTU postulates that affective changes within the students as a result of the course may be responsible for downstream academic success. One possible explanation may be related to the students’ confidence in their ability (self-efficacy) to gain the skills needed to become an engineer. Extensive research has been conducted on self-efficacy, and academic self-efficacy has been shown to be significantly correlated with academic performance.

The first part of this study examines the general and engineering self-efficacy of students at the beginning and end of the Spatial Skills Intervention course, Spring 2023 (N= 9), and compares these to students at the beginning and end of a first year engineering class. One hundred sixty-eight students completed general and engineering self-efficacy surveys. The General Self-Efficacy Scale was used; this tool was developed from longer scales and was found to be a reliable and valid measure of overall self-efficacy and not a specific skill area. The Assessment of Engineering Self-Efficacy V3.0 for undergraduate engineering students was also used. Items on this measure are related to predictions of future academic ability and their sense of belonging in engineering and STEM classes.

The second part of this study will examine students’ visual and spatial perception, memory, and skills through a battery of tasks using the PEBL Platform. Previous research has examined the development of spatial skills and the resulting increase in problem-solving skills across domains that require spatial reasoning. Research has also been conducted to examine whether spatial visualization, the ability to mentally maneuver 2D and 3D objects, is a single ability or is composed of more than one skill or ability. Participants (N=80) will include both Intro to Psychology students, who will also take the Purdue Spatial Visualization Test with Rotations (PSVT:R) as a part of this battery, and first year engineering students.This part of the study will examine the relationships between students’ visual and spatial skills, drawing skills (engineering students only), and their PSVT:R scores and seeks to examine a possible taxonomy of spatial skills. This battery may serve as a reliable and valid assessment in the future of student skills at the high school and/or college level to indicate a need for additional instruction and practice of skills. There may be applications of these findings in other fields and for other purposes, such as geography, computing education, and military use.

Nelson will present “Title: Preliminary Evaluation for an Educational Intervention: Insights from a Usability Survey”

Abstract:

Increasing whole grain intake can reduce the risk of chronic health conditions such as cancer and heart disease. However, people continue to make poor dietary health decisions, and the life expectancy for Americans is declining. Therefore, a novel intervention is needed to boost informed dietary decision-making. This study aimed to (1) provide preliminary evidence on the effectiveness, enjoyment, and efficiency of a novel intervention and (2) identify practices for making scientific information more usable. The study used a self-report online survey. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected to test the effectiveness, enjoyment, and efficiency of the educational intervention and how to improve it. Results suggest that the intervention is effective at increasing informed preventative decision-making. One hundred percent of participants showed adequate gist understanding across the four knowledge domains: habit gist understanding, whole-grain gist understanding, gist understanding of benefits, and gist understanding of susceptibility and severity. The results also revealed several strategies for increasing the usability of other educational interventions for a student sample demographic: increase/incorporate graphs, data, and references to increase the trustworthiness of an intervention. These results suggest that an educational video intervention effectively increases informed decision-making for preventative behaviors. These findings are also valuable for future intervention development and testing, making this proposal the next step for preventative care.

ACSHF Forum: Grad Student Presentations

Published March 23, 2023

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The Department of Cognitive and Learning Sciences will host two speakers at the next Applied Cognitive Science and Human Factors forum: Nishat Alam and Anne Inger Mørtvedt, both ACSHF graduate students. Their presentations will be from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. Monday (March 27) in Meese 109 and via Zoom.

Alam will present “Types of Questions Teachers Ask to Engage Students in Making Sense of a Student Contribution.”

Abstract:

In the student center classroom, where teachers constantly make decisions based on what is happening surrounding them, what they are noticing, and how they are interpreting student contributions, a teacher’s interpretation and response to student mathematical contributions plays an important role to shape and direct students’ thinking. In particular, failing to ask productive questions that help students to engage in a sense-making discussion could deteriorate cognitive opportunities. This research is planning to study what types of questions teachers indicate they would ask to engage students in making sense of a high-leverage student mathematical contribution, what Leatham et al. (2015) refer to as a MOST (Mathematically Significant Pedagogical Opportunities to Build on Student Thinking) and their reasoning about why particular questions are or are not productive. In this study, a scenario-based survey questionnaire will be sent via email to 100 middle and high school teachers. In the given scenario, a MOST has surfaced, and teachers will be asked three questions about how they would respond in the scenario. This research could lead us to determine if teachers are selecting the questions which are likely to be productive in supporting students’ mathematical thinking and why they select the questions that they do. Knowing this will inform future work with teachers to productively use student thinking in their teaching.

Mørtvedt will present “Relationship between Program Usability Characteristics and Intention to Use: Preliminary Data Implementing a Sport Injury Prevention Program.”

Abstract:

Adherence to exercise programs is low across multiple populations. For example, within the target population for ACL injuries, only ~4-20 % of sports teams have implemented evidence based injury prevention programs. This study explored the relationship between usability characteristics and implementation likelihood for a newly developed ACL injury prevention program. Twenty-two female handball players, aged 16 to 18, participated in the intervention study. Data on usability characteristics was collected through a modified usability scale similar to the System Usability Scale. Subcomponents of the usability scale included
learnability, perceived effectiveness, ease of use, enjoyability and efficiency. Paired sample’s t-test revealed a significant difference between all constructs from pre to post intervention, except for the perceived effectiveness score. Enjoyability and efficiency were the constructs that changed the most, both scores going down post intervention. Perceived effectiveness, enjoyability and efficiency were significantly correlated with intention to use the program (rho 0.50, p = 0.02, rho 0.50, p= 0.02, rho 0.65, p < 0.001, respectively), indicating that program adherence is affected by whether they believe the program will work (e.g. reduce injuries),
whether they enjoy performing the program and whether they find it reasonable with regard to time use. We did not find any significant relationships between the two other subcomponents (e.g. learnability, ease of use) and intention to use. This preliminary data suggests that program designers may want to make sure participants understand why it is important to perform the program, in addition to developing an exercise program that they seem to enjoy performing and find worth their time. Future studies should capture more data on the usability scale/subscales to ensure the factor structure is consistent and items display appropriate psychometric properties.

Hunter Malinowski, 2023 Department Scholar

Published March 20, 2023

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The Department of Cognitive and Learning Sciences (CLS) has selected Hunter Malinowski for the 2023 Department Scholar Award. This award, presented to a student entering their senior year, who best represents scholarship at Michigan Tech and is considered excellent not only by academic standards, but also for participation in research scholarship activity, levels of intellectual curiosity, creativity, and communication skills. All department scholars are also nominated for the Provost’s Award for Scholarship to be selected later this spring.

In Hunter’s nomination to the Provost, CLS chair Kelly Steelman wrote, “Hunter is well respected among department faculty for her creativity and problem solving skills that have made her an excellent student and scholar. Her research experience has involved three major projects. During our standard PSY 3000/3001 coursework, she conducted a research project that combined her interests in psychology and computer science by testing and evaluating a scale about AI and machine learning understanding. Following that, she took research credit in Professor Shane Mueller’s laboratory, contributing to a number of research projects on human-AI interaction and explainable AI. Hunter co-authored a Human Factors and Ergonomics Society proceedings paper based on the results of this work¹ which contributed to a larger project funded by DARPA. Following this, Hunter was supported through the URIP program to explore how different XAI feature visualization approaches interacted with example-based explanations–two distinct and popular forms of algorithmic explanation of AI that have not been fully combined.

Hunter’s accomplishments extend beyond the department and campus. She completed two internships with Ford Motor Company and received the award for Most Viable and Top Achiever in their 2022 Intern Innovation Challenges.”

Hunter, along with all 2023 department scholars, will be recognized at the Annual Student Leadership Awards Celebration on Friday, April 14, 2023.

Congratulations Hunter and best wishes for your senior year!

1 Mamun, T. I., Baker, K., Malinowski, H., Hoffman, R. R., & Mueller, S. T. (2021, September). Assessing collaborative
explanations of AI using explanation goodness criteria. In Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics
Society Annual Meeting (Vol. 65, No. 1, pp. 988-993). Sage CA: Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications.

Water and Well-being

Published March 15, 2023

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This month, students in Dr. Samantha Smith’s Environmental Psychology class will examine natural environments and how they play a key role in our overall well-being. What better time than during World Water Day, observed each year on March 22.

Water is not only essential for life, but psychological research shows that water is one of the features found in both natural and built environments that can help reduce stress and autonomic arousal due to our innate connection to the natural world (Kaplan & Kaplan, 1989; Ulrich, 1981; Ulrich et al., 1991; White et al., 2010). There is also evidence that living closer to “blue spaces” (e.g., rivers, lakes, oceans) is associated with lower psychological distress (Nutsford et al., 2016).

During the semester, students will discuss how water features can be incorporated into built environments such as mental health care facilities, providing restorative benefits to both patients and healthcare workers. The course will also give students the opportunity to experience the calming effects of a stream, lake, or waterfall out in the local natural environment.

PSY3800 Environmental Psychology will be offered again this summer (Track B) and has been added to the General Education (HASS) list effective summer 2023.

The focus of this year’s World Water Day is on accelerating change to solve the water and sanitation crisis. The global campaign, called “Be the change” encourages people to take action in their own lives to change the way we use, consume and manage water. Every action—no matter how small—will make a difference.

Hungwe Awarded Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship

Published March 9, 2023

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We are excited to announce that Kedmon Hungwe, a professor in the Department of Cognitive & Learning Sciences, has been awarded a fellowship by the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program. Professor Hungwe will be collaborating with Rhodes University and Dr. Clement Simuja on the project “Co-Developing and Designing a Digital Literacy Curriculum for Pre-Service Teachers in a Developing Country University” in South Africa.

The project will focus on designing and developing a digital literacy curriculum for pre-service teachers based on South Africa’s Department of Basic Education Digital Learning Framework and the UNESCO global framework. The project will run for 90 days during the summer of 2023 and will include curriculum co-development, research collaboration, and graduate student teaching and mentoring.

The Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program provides funding and structure for African-born academics at accredited higher education institutions in the United States and Canada to collaborate with colleagues at accredited higher education African institutions on capacity-building projects. The program is designed to strengthen capacity at host institutions and develop long-term, mutually beneficial collaborations between universities in Africa and the United States and Canada. The fellowship is funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York and managed by the Institute of International Education in collaboration with the Association of African Universities.

This project is a great opportunity for Professor Hungwe to use his expertise and knowledge in STEM Education to help develop a curriculum that will benefit pre-service teachers in South Africa. We wish Professor Hungwe all the best on this exciting venture and look forward to hearing about the outcomes of this project.

See a full list of newly selected projects, hosts and scholars.

ACSHF Forum: Jason Archer

Published January 31, 2023

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The Department of Cognitive and Learning Sciences will host MTU Humanities Assistant Professor Jason Archer at the next Applied Cognitive Science and Human Factors forum.

The presentation, “The Embrace of the Surgical Machine: Touch, Practice, and Power in the Operating Room”, will be from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. Monday (February 6) in Meese 109 and via Zoom

In this presentation, Jason Archer will talk about his work in the area of Human Machine Communication, focusing on research related to the da Vinci Surgical System (dVSS), a system widely used in robotic-assisted surgery. Dr. Archer will discuss how concerns with touch-oriented media sparked his investigation of the dVSS, explain the challenges of doing research in a surgical setting, and share stories from interviews with robotic surgeons, and observations from the OR, that help highlight some of his findings.

Category: Psychology

Undergraduate Student Speaker Helps Students Succeed

Community Service with Lasting and Meaningful Impact