Building Accessible Early Warning Applications
CACTI Lab has three open projects for students interested in CS, Climate, and Human-Computer Interaction.
- Project 1: Public Transit x Climate Disasters. This study will examine how public transit can serve as an intervention during climate disasters. We will recruit and interview local mobility stakeholders to understand their perspectives and opportunities for technology. Student researchers will participate in the full research process: contribute to the development of research materials, conduct interviews with the PI (on campus and at stakeholder offices), and perform analysis.
- Project 2: Prototyping the Future of Evacuation Technologies. This is a participatory design study that will include codesigning the future of evacuation technologies with older adults. Student researchers will partner with participants to identify key features of evacuation technologies that might complement/support their agency and independence during a disaster event.
- Project 3: Serious Games x Climate Literacy. This study explores how serious games might influence climate change literacy. Previous CACTI Lab teams have worked on a prototype of this game. Students on this project will complete the game and conduct at least two playtest sessions with recruited playtesters.
Logistics: These are full-time summer positions (paid, housing included) that extend into the fall semester (academic credit).
- The summer positions mean the typical commitment is 40 hours per week for 10 weeks. In addition to working independently, student researchers should be prepared to participate in 1-hour team meetings.
- The fall positions will be an independent study for 1.5 credits.
Research Artifacts: Each team will summarize their findings in a 5 - 8 page paper. There will also be an opportunity to document your research experience in an ACM Interactions reflection piece.
To Apply: If this work interests you, I invite you to submit an essay using the following prompt: 1) Which project are you interested in and why? 2) What has been your experience with climate change? 3) Describe any HMC/5C classes that you have taken in the past that might help with this project? (Total essay length: ~3 paragraphs).
My goal is to build a community of emerging scholars interested in leveraging human-centered methodologies to design for equity in future climate change interventions and public transit interfaces.