Psychology and Human Factors News

SPEAK Resilience receives Curriculum Innovation Award

Published May 9, 2023

Collage of 4 photos of nature: rocky shoreline, forest, waterfront, and yard with flowers and grass.

The Tech Forward Initiative on Sustainability and Resilience (ISR) has recently announced the Spring 2023 awardees for Curriculum Innovation. The awards, ranging from $5,000 to $7,000, will fund three diverse projects that align with Michigan Tech’s mission to bring long-lasting changes in educational offerings. One of the three projects awarded was SPEAK Resilience (Sustainability, Psychology, Ecology, Arts, Kultur), with principal investigators Lisa Gordillo (VPA), Tara Bal (CFRES), and Sam Smith (CLS).

SPEAK Resilience will be an interdisciplinary sustainability program for Michigan Tech students to study in Björkö-Arholma, Sweden. The program will include a collection of four courses: one each in psychology, ecology, and the arts; and one interdisciplinary course team-taught by the faculty co-PIs. The co-PIs will develop a program that draws on each of their specialties to create immersive, interdisciplinary curricula.

The theme of interdependence between humans and the natural world will be incorporated into each course, viewed through various lenses to tackle sustainability, resilience, and community engagement. This approach will provide a comprehensive and interdisciplinary field experience.

Students will learn about natural resource management and sustainable ways to interact with local ecosystems; ways that cognitive processing may predispose unsustainable behaviors and how to change them; and ways that art and educational interventions can enhance community engagement with environmental stewardship. The program’s themes will be enriched by the unique perspectives offered by Swedish culture, which is of significant importance to the overall experience.

Research behind the Curriculum

Co-PI Lisa Gordillo is the artist-in-residence for Michigan Tech’s College of Forest Resources and Environmental Sciences, and was an artist-in-residence in Björkö-Arholma, Sweden in 2022. During that time, she established partnerships with Swedish schools, communities, and arts organizations such as Väddö Folkhögskola and Björkö Kunstnod. These partners will collaborate to develop community projects related to sustainability during the program.

Gordillo’s research uses art to connect people and landscape, and to create community engagement opportunities. Co-PI Tara Bal‘s research on forest health, which involves investigating the effects of human activity on forest landscapes, and aligns with the program’s theme of interdependence between humans and the natural world. Co-PI Samantha Smith is examining the impact of environmental factors on attention and cognitive processing, as well as how these factors influence human behavior.

SPEAK Resilience is part of Gordillo’s larger community-arts project, Sister Forests, which connects the forests of Björkö-Arholma Sweden with those of the Keweenaw. The innovative program SPEAK Resilience will provide students with invaluable experiences to understand and address sustainability issues, resilience, and community engagement through different perspectives.

Human Factors and Environmental Cleaning in Operating Rooms

Published April 25, 2023

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Dr. Lamia Alam, 22′ PhD Applied Cognitive Science and Human Factors (ACSHF) was this week’s guest on the podcast “Infection Controls Matters; Discussions on Infection Prevention” with Martin Kiernan. Dr. Alam’s research was part of the 2023 Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) Spring Conference in Seattle, WA. Lamia presented the work of her research group at Johns Hopkins titled “Environmental Cleaning in Operating Rooms: A Systematic Review of Human Factors Relating to Cleaning in the Operating Room”.

Podcast guest, CLS alum Dr. Lamia Alam

Lamia received her doctoral degree in ACSHF, fall 2022, under the direction of Dr. Shane Mueller. She is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality.

The SHEA conference is designed for physicians, infection preventionists, healthcare epidemiologists, infectious disease specialists, microbiologists, nurses, pharmacists, and other healthcare professionals interested in healthcare epidemiology, infection prevention, surveillance, research methods, patient safety, environmental issues and quality improvement.

Relevant papers: 1. A. Xie, et al. 2018 Improving Daily Patient Room Cleaning: An Observational Study Using a Human Factors and Systems Engineering Approach IISE Transactions on Occupational Ergonomics and Human Factors 6 3-4 178-191 https://10.1080/24725838.2018.1487348

2. C. Rock, et al. 2016 Using a Human Factors Engineering Approach to Improve Patient Room Cleaning and Disinfection Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 37 12 1502-1506 https://10.1017/ice.2016.219

Anderson Piercey to address Class of 2023

Published April 24, 2023

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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/

CLS Announces 2023 Student Awards

Published April 19, 2023

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(left to right) Kayla Richardson, Sara Gelon, and Jane Sinclair

The Department of Cognitive and Learning Sciences is pleased to announce its Outstanding Student Awards for academic year 2022-23. Starting off with the top research project team selected by our graduate student and faculty judges at the annual CLS Research Symposium held on Tuesday, April 18. Kyla Richardson, Sara Gelon, and Jane Sinclair made up the winning team for their project “Crowd Forming Observations at Michigan Tech”.

The team designed an observational study in order to look at the impacts of social conformity and curiosity. Their study was to determine the motivations behind crowd formation – Do crowds gather due to social conformity, or is curiosity the underlying motivator? For full abstract, along with all other projects presented at the symposium, see https://bit.ly/3MSblRJ

In addition, the following undergraduate student awards were presented by CLS chair Dr. Kelly Steelman:

Mercy Barikor: Undergraduate Research Award

This award is presented to a student who demonstrates excellence in research conducted in support of an undergraduate studies or project carried out under the guidance of a CLS faculty member or approved mentor. Mercy joined the research team of Dr. Lorelle Meadows in September 2022, working on an NSF grant-funded social psychology laboratory-based project focused on the influence of subtle bias on undergraduate students in STEM.

In her nomination, Dr. Meadows wrote: “What has most impressed me about Mercy is her keen interest in her work and the way that she consistently builds bridges between the things she is learning through the research and the things that she is learning in her courses. She often brings resources from her courses to our team meetings and shares them with the team, offering us new ways to think about the work and new ideas for future directions.”

Kallie Weecks: Outstanding Clinical Intern of the Year

This award recognizes a psychology or human factors undergraduate student who has made a positive impact on their community through experiential education opportunities. Kallie interned with the Copper Country Intermediate School District for fall 2022, completing 140 hours and assisted school psychologist Christine Etter twice a week. In her nomination, Etter stated: “Kallie was a tremendous asset to the students of Copper Country and has made a positive impact on our school system, the families in the Baraga, Houghton, and Keweenaw counties, and the staff at the ISD.”

Ani Schneiderhan: Outstanding First-Year Student

This award is presented to an outstanding first-year psychology and/or human factors student who has demonstrated academic excellence in their first year by academic achievement, exemplary character, leadership in class and activities, and potential for success in future endeavors. Dr. Steelman stated: “Not only has Ani achieved stellar classroom grades, but she’s already well known in the department by the way she contributes in the classroom discussions and activities. She has also been a good steward to the department by helping with our postcard writing campaign to leading scholars and accepted students for Fall 2023 and helped with the CSA Hang out / Texting Nights.”

Hunter Malinowski: 2023 CLS Department Scholar

This award represents the best of student scholarship in the department including participation in research and scholarly activities, high level of intellectual curiosity and creativity, and exceptional communication skills.

In her nomination, Dr. Beth Veinott stated “Hunter is one of the most motivated and intellectually curious students I have taught in the department. She has done excellent work and made the classroom a more engaging experience for other students.”

Dr. Steelman went on to say: Hunter has thrived in her courses, earning a 4.0 department GPA and making the Dean’s list in 2020, 2021, and 2022. She also earned department distinctions as Top or Outstanding Student in numerous psychology and human factors courses. Moreover, Hunter has taken full advantage of the Michigan Tech experience through her involvement in research, Pavlis Honors college, and student organizations.

Her research experience has involved three major projects. During the standard PSY 3000/3001 coursework, Hunter 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 contributed to a number of research projects with Dr. Shane Mueller on human-AI interaction and explainable AI. Hunter co-authored a Human Factors and Ergonomics Society proceedings paper based on the results of this work, which contributed to a larger project funded by DARPA. She was then 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.

Since stepping foot on campus in Fall 2020, Hunter has sought out opportunities to innovate. During her first year she entered the Bob Mark Pitch Competition, taking 3rd place and receiving the MTEC Breakout Innovation Award. The next year, she was selected as one of Michigan Tech’s University Innovation Fellows and completed a design thinking program through the Stanford d.school.

Hunter is an engaged campus leader. She has served as the President of both Delta Zeta Sorority and Tiny Knitz, an organization that helps students learn knitting and crocheting skills partners with local non-profit organizations to provide apparel for newborns in the Keweenaw community. Hunter’s accomplishments extend beyond the CLS 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.

Graduate Student Recognition

To wrap up the awards celebration, Dr. Steelman also recognized Applied Cognitive Science and Human Factors (ACSHF) graduate students who earned fellowships and honors over the past year.

Alexandra Watral: Doctoral Finishing Fellowship for Spring 2023 and CLS Outstanding Scholarship Award Recipient from the Graduate School

Brittany Nelson: King-Chávez-Parks Future Faculty Fellowship, Spring 2022 to Summer 2023

Anne Linja and Tauseef Mamun: Third Place in Computing [MTU] Showcase, Fall 2022

Betsy Lehman: Scholarship award for Summer Institute for Social and Personality Psychology

Shruti Amre: Doctoral Finishing Fellowship for Summer 2023

The CLS faculty and staff congratulates all our undergraduate and graduate students for their many accomplishments during the 2022-23 academic year!

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/

2023 CLS Undergraduate Research Symposium

Published April 14, 2023

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Research Methods student presenting her research poster.

Please join us for the 2023 CLS Undergraduate Research Symposium on Tuesday 4/18 at 3:45-5:00pm in room 110 of the Harold Meese Center. This poster session will feature research conducted by our undergraduates students enrolled in PSY 3001 Research Methods.

Some of the highlights of this symposium include research that:

– Examines thinking styles and strategies for different problem-solving tasks.

– Tests whether the anchoring and adjustment heuristic can be influenced by people’s knowledge.

– Examines whether pets can make us smarter, or at least help us feel less impacted by academic stress.

– Investigates how students were impacted by the pandemic and MTUs COVID-19 policies and response.

– Studies the bystander response to flashmob behavior on campus.

The full list of presentations/abstracts is here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FVn-7D-znXYIr85EbL5AY21aGcfy3HpB/edit

Michigan Tech’s Department of Cognitive and Learning Sciences offers bachelor of science degrees in Psychology and Human Factors, along with a Minor in Psychology. We also offer an Accelerated Masters degree in Applied Cognitive Science and Human Factors (ACSHF), which typically requires only one additional year of course work. Our graduate program includes masters and doctoral degrees in Applied Cognitive Science and Human Factors (ACSHF).

Questions? Contact us at cls@mtu.edu. And follow us @clsmtu on Instagram and Facebook for the latest happenings.

Call for Applications: 2023 Songer Research Award for Human Health

Published April 13, 2023

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Undergrad students working with Dr. Kevin Trewartha in his Aging and Cognition Lab — Undergraduate students working with Dr. Kevin Trewartha in his Aging, Cognition, and Action Lab

Funding Opportunity for Student Research

Undergraduate and graduate students in the Department of Cognitive and Learning Sciences are encouraged to apply for the 2023 Songer Research Award for Human Health. Matthew Songer, (Biological Sciences ’79) and Laura Songer (Biological Sciences ’80) established these awards to stimulate and encourage opportunities for original research by current Michigan Tech students.

Students may propose an innovative medically-oriented research project in any area of human health. The best projects will demonstrate the potential to have a broad impact on improving human life. This research will be pursued in consultation with faculty members within the College of Sciences and Arts. The Songers’ gift and matching funds from the College will support two awards for undergraduate research ($4,000) and two for graduate research ($6,000), for research conducted over the Summer of 2023 and/or the following academic year.

Learn more about who is eligible to apply, how to apply, and how the funds may be used.

Submit applications as a single PDF file to the Office of the College of Sciences and Arts by 4:00 p.m. Monday, April 24, 2023. Applications may be emailed to djhemmer@mtu.edu. Any questions may be directed to David Hemmer (djhemmer@mtu.edu).

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.