Events

October 27, 2023: Multimodal Human-AI Interaction

Snehesh Shrestha, PhD Candidate, The department of Computer Science, University of Maryland College Park

Abstract:
People communicate through verbal and non-verbal cues. AI and ML have made tremendous progress in language understanding. Audio tone, gestures, gaze, and touch, along with speech, offer new challenges and opportunities. My work dissects multimodal human expression, focusing on Human-AI interaction in Robotics and Music. In the first part, I discuss creating a robot capable of understanding natural commands, emphasizing multimodal repair mechanisms. I’ll briefly share data collection challenges, which greatly impact data quality and validity. We used a Wizard-of-Oz setup, deceiving participants into believing we had a human-level AI robot, to capture ‘natural’ interactions. Verbal and non-verbal strategies were studied to train machine learning algorithms for multi-modal commands, highlighting the importance of combining gestures with speech. In the second part, I explore AI-mediated Student-Teacher Interaction systems towards violin education. I will discuss challenges in remote music lessons, which became particularly pronounced during the COVID-19 pandemic. I will discuss data collection challenges for precise motion capture, especially with young students. I share insights into using audio to enhance pose estimation algorithms for 3D player visualization. Lastly, I introduce a novel haptic band designed for remote feedback, prompts, and metronome functions, enhancing online music education experiences.

Bio:
Snehesh Shrestha is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Maryland College Park. He works in the Perception and Robotics Group (PRG) lab in the Department of Computer Science under the guidance of Prof. Yiannis Aloimonos (CS), Dr. Cornelia Fermüller (UMAICS), Dr. Ge Gao (INFO), and Dr. Irina Muresanu (School of Music). He has also worked with Dr. Michelle Gelfand (Department of Psychology) in the Culture Lab. Additionally, he works at NIST, developing new standards towards recommended practices for the design of human subject studies in human-robot interaction. His research is at the intersection of robotics, artificial intelligence, human factors, arts, and culture. He is interested in multidisciplinary research aimed at building rich and intuitive experiences that ‘amplify human abilities, empowering people and ensuring human control’ inspired from Dr. Ben Shneiderman’s Human-Centered AI book. His recent work has focused on human-robot interaction and AI for music education.

October 20, 2023: Conflict and Compromise among Museum Exhibit Teams: The Impacts of Organizational Change and Professionalization on Curating Smithsonian’s Fossil Halls

Diana E. Marsh, Assistant Professor of Archives and Digital Curation, University of Maryland, College Park

Abstract:
In this talk, I will highlight interdisciplinary teamwork behind large-scale exhibitions and the politics among different experts who curate scientific knowledge for the public. Presenting highlights from my book, Extinct Monsters to Deep Time: Conflict, Compromise, and the Making of Smithsonian’s Fossil Halls, I describe participant observation among the Smithsonian’s exhibition team tasked with the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH)’s largest-ever exhibit renovation, Deep Time. I highlight how process of negotiating, planning and designing scientific knowledge in exhibits is shaped by the intersections of different expertises involved in the planning process—including Education, Design, Exhibit Writing, Project Management, and three subfields of Paleobiology—as well as broader institutional cultures and pressures. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork as well as interview, oral history and archival research, the work contextualizes the contemporary exhibits process by tracing trends in exhibit development from late-19th century to the present. I show how telling the story of the Deep Time is mediated through 1) different techniques and technologies for museum communication, 2) the recent professionalization of museum disciplines, and 3) the expanding institutional split between the museum’s missions of “research” and “outreach,” leading to new “frictions” and “complementarities” among exhibit teams.

Bio:
Diana E. Marsh is an Assistant Professor of Archives and Digital Curation at the University of Maryland’s College of Information Studies (iSchool) who explores how heritage institutions communicate with the public and communities. Her current research focuses on improving discovery and access to colonially-held archives for Native American and Indigenous communities. Previously, she completed her PhD in Anthropology (Museum Anthropology) at the University of British Columbia, an MPhil in Social Anthropology with a Museums and Heritage focus at the University of Cambridge in 2010, and a BFA in Visual Arts and Photography at the Mason Gross School of the Arts of Rutgers University in 2009. Her recent work has appeared in The American Archivist, Archival Science, Archivaria, and Archival Outlook, and her book, From Extinct Monsters to Deep Time: Conflict, Compromise, and the Making of Smithsonian’s Fossil Halls was released in paperback with Berghahn Books in Fall 2022.

September 23, 2023: Virtual Team Creativity and Innovation
Roni Reiter-Palmon, Distinguished professor of I/O Psychology, University of Nebraska at Omaha

Abstract:
As communication technology capabilities have improved and the globalization of the workforce has resulted in distributed teams, organizations have been shifting towards virtual teams and virtual meetings over the last decade. This trend has been accelerated with current work-from-home orders due to COVID-19. Even though virtual collaboration has, in the past, been the focus of multiple studies, there are some surprising gaps in our knowledge. For instance, there are few empirical studies examining the impact of virtual devices and tools on creative problem-solving. While there is a substantial body of research on electronic brainstorming and the use of virtual tools for idea generation, less is known about earlier processes such as problem construction or later processes such as idea evaluation and idea selection. Furthermore, as a dynamic process, creativity and innovation is heavily influenced by the people engaged in the process and their collaborative environment, yet there is a gap in the literature regarding the type of virtual tools used in the process (for example, audio + video vs. audio alone, or the use of file-sharing technologies). In this paper, we will review the current literature on virtual teams, virtual meetings, and creativity. We will then explore theoretical frameworks such as media richness theory that can help us understand how virtuality and virtual tools may influence team creativity across the dynamic range of the creative problem-solving process. Finally, we provide questions to help guide future research.

Bio:
Dr. Roni Reiter-Palmon is a Distinguished Professor of Industrial/Organizational (I/O) Psychology at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. She is also the Director of Innovation for the Center for Collaboration Science, an inter-disciplinary program at UNO. Her research focuses on creativity and innovation in the workplace, cognitive processes of creativity, team creativity, development of teamwork and creative problem-solving skills, and leading creative individuals and teams. Her research has been published in leading journals in I/O psychology, management, and creativity. She is the former Editor of The Psychology of Creativity, Aesthetics and the Arts and the current editor of Organizational Psychology Research. She serves on multiple editorial boards of I/O, management, and creativity journals. She has obtained over 9 million dollars in grant and contract funding focusing on creativity, leadership, and teams. She is a fellow of Divisions 10 and 14 of APA, and has won the system wide research award from the University of Nebraska system in 2017.

April 28, 2023: Building Human-agent Teams in Multi-agent Systems
Dr. Susan Campbell

Abstract:
Prior work on the interaction of humans and autonomous systems has focused on
human control of systems. Though meaningful human control is imperative, only some
humans will exercise control over systems. Other humans will act as teammates,
sharing goals and interdependence with systems that they perceive to be autonomous.
Unfortunately, current systems have a long way to go before they can perform the
behaviors that would make them effective team members. The Artificial Intelligence and
Autonomy for Multi-Agent Systems (ArtIAMAS) human-machine teaming area seeks to
bridge the gap between what is currently possible with autonomous systems and future
human-machine teaming concepts. In this talk, I will discuss our goals and current
work. 

Bio:
Dr. Campbell is interested in what makes people good at interacting with complex
technologies and technological systems. She holds a joint appointment between the
Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence and Security (as an Associate Research
Scientist) and the College of Information Studies (as a Senior Lecturer) at the University
of Maryland. She is the university lead for human-machine teaming on the ArtIAMAS
cooperative agreement. Her work focuses on measuring individual differences related to
cognitive performance, training cognitive skills, and building systems that complement
human strengths. She holds a PhD in Psychology from the University of Maryland at
College Park and a BS in Cognitive Science from Carnegie Mellon.

March 17, 2023: Human-Machine Teaming: What Skills Do the Humans Need?
Dr. Samantha Dubrow, Lead Human-Centered Engineering Researcher, The MITRE Corporation

Abstract:
Over the last few decades, technology has become increasingly intelligent. Technology is no longer a passive tool that supports a single human in their work, but an active teammate that collaborates and learns as a critical entity of the team. To date, human-machine teaming research has primarily focused on the machines – how to design them, what their capabilities are, and how they can “learn.” This presentation takes the opposite view, focusing on the importance of selecting and training humans to be effective human-machine teammates. The presentation addresses two questions: What unique skills do humans need to work well with machines as teammates, and how are those skills different from those required for effective human-human interactions? Details about the human traits and abilities that can be selected for and the human skills that can be trained to maximize human-machine teaming effectiveness will be discussed.

Bio:
Dr. Samantha Dubrow is a Lead Human-Centered Engineering Researcher at The MITRE Corporation. At MITRE, Samantha conducts applied research and development in Industrial-Organizational Psychology, teamwork and leadership, hybrid teaming, decision-making, human factors, user experience, human-machine teaming, and multiteam system collaboration management. She helps teams and multiteam systems across a variety of government agencies utilize technology to improve their teamwork processes and job performance. Samantha holds a PhD in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from George Mason University under Dr. Stephen Zaccaro. Her dissertation focused on team mental models and leadership transitions in ad hoc decision-making teams. During graduate school, Samantha was also involved with projects regarding multidisciplinary teams, multiteam systems, team leadership, simulation and training, and social network analysis.

February 24, 2023: Promoting Astronaut Autonomy in Human Spaceflight Missions (Seminar)
Dr. Jessica Marquez, NASA, Ames Research Center

Seminar Abstract:
Mission operations will have to adapt for long duration, long distance human spaceflight missions. This change is driven mainly by the significantly different communication availability between Earth and space. As astronauts travel farther from Earth, the one-way communication latency increases; the amount of bandwidth will be limited; and there will be period of long and/or no communication. Currently, ground flight controllers collaborate and cooperate with astronauts in space to accomplish essential operational functions. Astronaut autonomy, i.e., the crew’s ability to work more independently from mission control, will be a key enabler in future exploration missions. Over the last several years, the NASA Ames Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) Group has investigated various ways to promote and support astronaut autonomy in human spaceflight missions. Software prototypes are researched, designed, implemented, and assessed for their ability to enable astronaut autonomy. From integrated Internet of Thing for Space, advanced procedures interfaces, comm-delayed chats, and self-scheduling tools, the HCI Group has explored different aspects of astronaut autonomy. Specifically, the self-scheduling tool Playbook has been evaluated in analog extreme environments and onboard the International Space Station, successfully paving the way for future autonomous astronauts.

Bio:
Short Bio: Since 2007, Dr. Jessica Marquez has been working at the NASA Ames Research Center within the Human Systems Integration Division. As part of the Human-Computer Interaction Group, she has supported the development and deployment of planning and scheduling software tools for various space missions, including the International Space Station Program. She now leads the team that is developing Playbook, a web-based planning, scheduling, and execution software tool. Her work has led to supporting different NASA analog missions that simulate planetary missions and spacewalks. Dr. Marquez also is a subject matter expert for space human factors engineering, specifically in human-automation-robotic integration. She lends her expertise across different NASA research programs, like the Space Technology Research Institutes and the Human Research Program. She currently is the PI for the research project “Crew Autonomy through Self-Scheduling: Guidelines for Crew Scheduling Performance Envelope and Mitigation Strategies.” Dr. Marquez has a Ph.D. in Human Systems Engineering and S.M. in Aeronautics/Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.S.E. in Mechanical Engineering from Princeton University.

November 18, 2022 Talk: Understanding AI as Socio-Technical Systems

Reva Schwartz, Research Scientist, NIST
Abstract: 
The rise of automated decision systems has helped increase awareness about the risks that come from artificial intelligence. To fully tackle these risks, and identify practice improvements, it is important to recognize that AI systems are socio-technical in nature. This perspective requires a multi-disciplinary approach, strong governance, and actively broad engagement with stakeholders. I will discuss each of these factors, and how NIST’s AI Risk Management Framework seeks to operationalize this perspective.

Suggested readings: 
https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/SpecialPublications/NIST.SP.1270.pdf
https://www.nist.gov/system/files/documents/2022/08/18/AI_RMF_2nd_draft.pdf

Bio:
Reva Schwartz is a research scientist in the Information Technology Laboratory (ITL) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). She serves as Principal Investigator on Bias in Artificial Intelligence for NIST’s Trustworthy and Responsible AI program. Her research focuses on the role of context in human language and behavior, the nature of subject matter expertise and expert judgment in socio-technical systems, and the role of gatekeepers within institutions. She has advised federal agencies about how experts interact with automation to make sense of information in high-stakes settings. Reva received her MA from the University of Florida in acoustics and socio-phonetics, and her BA in political science from Kent State University. Her background includes a forensic science posting for almost 15 years at the United States Secret Service, advising forensic science practice at NIST, a temporary duty assignment at the National Security Agency, and adjunct researcher at the Johns Hopkins University Human Language Technology Center of Excellence.

October 28, 2022 Talk: Why interdisciplinary knowledge synthesis is so hard, and what we can do about it: A proposal and discussion
Joel Chan, Assistant Professor, University of Maryland College of Information Studies

Abstract: 
Sharing, reusing, and synthesizing knowledge is central to the research process, both individually, and with others. These core functions are in theory served by our formal scholarly publishing infrastructure, as well as individual and collaborative tools such as reference management software. But converging lines of empirical and anecdotal evidence suggest otherwise: instead of the smooth functioning of infrastructure, researchers resort to laborious “hacks” and workarounds to “mine” publications for what they need, and struggle to efficiently share the resulting information with others. One key reason for this problem is the privileging of the narrative document as the primary unit. The dream of an alternative infrastructure based on more appropriately granular discourse units like theories, concepts, claims, and evidence — along with key rhetorical relationships between them — has been in motion for decades but remains severely hampered by a lack of sustainable authorship models. In this talk, I sketch out a novel sociotechnical authorship model for a sustainable discourse-based scholarly communication infrastructure. The key insight is to achieve sustainability by seamlessly integrating discourse-graph authorship work into scholars’ research and social practices, such as research idea development, literature reviewing, and reading groups. In this way, this model both draws from and augments core collaborative research processes. I will describe 1) the grounding of this concept in formative research on scholars’ workflows, 2) working prototypes for integrated authoring and sharing of discourse graphs, and 3) field study insights into their promise and path towards a larger synthesis-oriented infrastructure.

Bio:
Joel Chan is an Assistant Professor in the University of Maryland’s College of Information Studies (iSchool) and Human-Computer Interaction Lab (HCIL). Previously, he was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Project Scientist in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute (HCII) at Carnegie Mellon University, and received his PhD in Cognitive Psychology at the University of Pittsburgh. His research investigates systems that support creative knowledge work, such as scientific discovery and innovative design. His long-term goal is to help create a future where innovation systems are characterized by openness and sustainability. His research has received funding from the National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research, the Institute for Museum and Library Sciences, Adobe Research, and Protocol Labs, and received Best Paper awards from the ASME Conference for Design Theory and Methodology, the Journal of Design Studies, and the ACM SIGKDD Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (KDD).

September 23, 2022 Talk: How Leaders Drive Followers’ Unethical Behavior

Professor Debra Shapiro

Abstract:
Numerous organizational scandals have implicated leaders in encouraging employees to advance organizational objectives through unethical means. However, leadership research has not examined leaders’ encouragement of unethical behaviors. We define leader immorality encouragement (LIE) as an employee’s perception that their leader encourages unethical behaviors on behalf of the organization. Across four studies, we found, as hypothesized, that: (1) LIE promotes employees’ unethical behavior carried out with the intention to aid the organization (unethical pro-organizational behavior); (2) this relationship is mediated by employees’ moral disengagement and the expectation of rewards; (3) LIE, via moral disengagement, enhances employees’ self-serving unethical behavior; and (4) the relationship between LIE and unethical behavior is stronger when the leader has long-presumed “good qualities,” such as a higher (rather than lower) quality exchange relationship with the employee and higher (rather than lower) organizational status. Debra’s presentation to OTTRS aims to provoke discussion about how AI (artificial intelligence) in and outside organizations increases as well as decreases the likelihood of unethical behavior (e.g., the spread, as well as fact-correction, of disinformation), hence how AI might moderate this study’s predicted and observed findings.

Keywords: leader immorality encouragement, unethical pro-organizational behavior, leader-member exchange, leader’s organizational status, self-serving unethical behavior

Bio:
Debra L. Shapiro (Ph.D. Northwestern U) is the Clarice Smith Professor at the U of Maryland (UMD), formerly the Willard Graham Distinguished Professor at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (UNC) where she was 1986-2003. Dr. Shapiro has led UNC’s and MD’s business schools’ PhD Programs (as Associate Dean at UNC from 1998-2001 and as Assistant Dean at UMD from 2008-2011). Debra has also been Division Chair of The Academy of Management’s (AOM’s) Conflict Management Division, Representative-at-Large on AOM’s Board of Governors, Associate Editor of The Academy of Management Journal (as well as member of the editorial boards of AMJ, AMR, and other journals), AOM Program Chair/Vice-President, AOM President, and executive committee member for the Society of Organizational Behavior (SOB). Debra studies interpersonal-level dynamics in organizations such as negotiating, mediating, dispute-resolving, and procedural justice-enhancing strategies that enhance integrative (win-win) agreements, organizational justice, ethical work behaviors, and more generally, positive work attitudes and their associated behaviors. Debra studies, also, the challenges of obtaining positive results with the latter strategies when they involve culturally-diverse and/or artificially-intelligent work-colleagues. To study interpersonal dynamics, Debra has used varied methods, such as ethnography, interviews, surveys, negotiation- and dispute-resolving simulations, experiments (including some with electronic confederates), and longitudinal archival data. Debra is a Fellow of the AOM, SOB, and Association for Psychological Science (APS).

April 22, 2022 Talk: Emotional Contagion in Online Groups as a Function of Valence and Status

Aimée A. Kanei
Associate Professor of Management
Palumbo-Donahue School of Business
Duquesne University

Abstract:
This study examines emotional contagion in online group discussions, examining language as a mechanism of emotional contagion. In a lab study 235 participants interacted online with a partner who was an electronic confederate. We manipulated exposure to emotional language to test how a partner’s use of positive versus negative emotional language impacts participants’ felt emotions and their displayed emotional language. Status of one’s partner was manipulated to test how status moderates emotional contagion. We find that felt emotions are contagious in an online setting. Further, partner’s emotional language affect participant’s use of emotional language. We examine whether participant’s emotional language mediates the effect of partner’s emotional language on participant’s felt emotion and find some evidence for mediation through negative emotional language when interacting with a high-status partner. By controlling partner’s language, we find that positive emotional language of one’s partner leads to more group reflection and less perception of conflict, both task and relational.

Bio:
Aimée A. Kane is an Associate Professor of Management at the Palumbo-Donahue School of Business at Duquesne University. Dr. Kane’s research focuses on group processes and reveals how members come together, learn, and collaborate effectively, despite the boundaries that separate them. Her research contributes to the organizational sciences, psychological sciences, communication sciences, and computer sciences. It has been published in key journals, conference proceedings, and handbooks, and won awards. Small Group Research awarded her article Language and group processes: An integrative, interdisciplinary review a Best Article Award. The Academy of Management identified “Am I still one of them?”: Bicultural immigrant managers navigating social identity threats when spanning global boundaries as a finalist for the International Human Resource Management Scholarly Research Award. The Palumbo-School of Business awarded her a Harry W. Witt Faculty Fellowship, and awards for research excellence. Dr. Kane is currently an associate editor at Group Dynamics: Theory, Research and Practice and on the editorial boards of the Academy of Management Discoveries and Organization Science journals. She holds a Ph.D. and a M.S. in organizational behavior and theory from the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University and a B.A. from Duke University, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Prior to joining Duquesne, Kane was an Assistant Professor of Management and Organizations at New York University’s Stern School of Business.