As technology advances, new problems will always arise, both technical and societal. It is the latter that drew Jessica Barfield into the world of human-computer interaction (HCI). She successfully defended her doctoral dissertation this spring that delved into how humans are biased towards social robots depending on their perceived gender or ethnic identity, and she wants to continue that research as she begins her new role as an assistant professor in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Kentucky. Barfield is not only graduating with her PhD degree with a concentration in information sciences from the College of Communication and Information, but she is also the student speaker for the University of Tennessee, Knoxville\u2019s Graduate Hooding Ceremony.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really exciting. I\u2019m excited and honored to represent the class of 2024. A lot of us started during Covid and that\u2019s a special experience and bond that we all have together; we either started or were doing at least some of our PhD during Covid. Not only did we get through a PhD\u2014 arguably one of the hardest things we did to date\u2014but we did it during Covid,\u201d Barfield said.<\/p>\n
It was while earning her master\u2019s degree in business with a focus in marketing from the University of Wisconsin that Barfield began learning more about information sciences and HCI. At Wisconsin, she completed her coursework in her area of study early, so she was able to take courses in other areas of study, including some from the university\u2019s iSchool (an iSchool is part of an international consortium of information schools dedicated to advancing the\u00a0information field; UT\u2019s School of Information Sciences (SIS) is also an iSchool).<\/p>\n
\u201cThe iSchool had some courses that were really interesting, and I talked to faculty at UW about getting a PhD and what that route would look like, and they pointed me to the University of Tennessee,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
During her time at UT, Barfield found her groove in research as she began looking at the roles social robots would have in the future and how human bias would play out in interactions with them. Social robots are not yet commonly used but are expected to someday provide services such as frontline workers in the service industry or caregiving for children or senior adults. They have a humanoid appearance, such as a human and expressive face and possibly arms. And, as the results from her research reveal, social robots are human looking enough that humans may have a bias against them depending on the perceived gender or ethnicity of the robots.<\/p>\n
While Barfield is excited about her next move after graduation, she knows that more research in this area is necessary. She also wants to get more involved with community-engaged research and would like to work with more in-person studies. Because she started her research during the COVID-19 pandemic, she was limited in the type of research she could do with people on campus due to quarantine measures.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI definitely want to go deeper into what I\u2019ve already done but also incorporate AI (artificial intelligence) and perceptions of AI when it comes to these robots that signal a gender or ethnicities,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m hoping I can help inform robot designers as to how robots should be designed to be more inclusive and particularly to make sure they are inclusive for a very diverse population of users.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barfield said the interdisciplinary nature of CCI\u2019s PhD program appealed to her, and she\u2019s taken full advantage of that by also taking courses in marketing and educational psychology. She credits her advisor and committee chair, SIS and Chancellor\u2019s Professor Suzie Allard, with being a supportive mentor both academically and professionally throughout her time at CCI.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s really led by example and that\u2019s something I really value about her. Of course, I\u2019m also grateful for my other committee members, Jiangen He and Awa Zhu, and then Xiaopeng Zhou in mechanical engineering. All in all, I\u2019m leaving Rocky Top with fond memories of my department and am extremely grateful for all of the opportunities UT has provided me,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As technology advances, new problems will always arise, both technical and societal. It is the latter that drew Jessica Barfield into the world of human-computer interaction (HCI). She successfully defended her doctoral dissertation this spring that delved into how humans are biased towards social robots depending on their perceived gender or ethnic identity, and she […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":204456,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[205,56,196,198,168],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-204455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-access-and-engagement-news","category-featured-story","category-news","category-school-of-information-sciences","category-student-news"],"yoast_head":"\n