Statement Of Purpose

I have been a CS professor at BYU–Hawaii for 16 years, and throughout that time I have had the privilege of mentoring and teaching students around the world in the field, especially students from areas with limited opportunities. While I am a tenured faculty member, I still desire to pursue new knowledge through software development and research.

My research interests are in mobile sensing. Mobile and ubiquitous devices present opportunities for passively collecting health data alongside active health assessments. Using modern AI techniques, this data can predict health events and provide interventions. In my research, I am focusing on the HCI side of passive and active data collection that supports these systems. By developing a mobile sensing framework consisting of iOS and Android applications with a cloud storage system used in a field study, I submitted a paper that proposes design guidelines for mobile sensing.

I am using the framework and guidelines for several health-related projects, including: studying meth and other substance addictions in the native Hawaiian population, the effects of screen time on sleep in kids, and cardio fitness in cancer survivors. I am developing a system to collect screen time from mobile devices, and to be able to collect health data from wearable devices. As I move further into my research, I plan on supporting AI/human interactions to improve mobile sensing systems.

I am excited to use my web and mobile development experience in new ways to explore how mobile sensing, AI, and HCI can be combined to improve health outcomes.

Included in my Portfolio

Evidence of Core Competency

I completed my Master’s of Computer Science in 2005 from Brigham Young University. I also passed my qualification exam.

Evidency of Scholarly Ability

• Thesis from my Master’s Degree.
• Paper submitted to CHI 2024 and currently under review.

Other Evidence of Professional Capacity

In addition I have two other published articles, which can be found under publications and my Google Scholar profile:

• Liberating Legacy System Data with Rails, Intelligent Use of Conflict Data with Automated Class Scheduling Tools, was published in Information Systems Education Journal, which has about a 38% acceptance rate. I developed the software used in the paper and wrote the methods section. It received a top paper award.
• Using Interactive Graphical Tools to Overcome the” Collage Effect” in Collaborative Learning Environments, was accepted at HICSS which typically has a 48% acceptance rate.

I have also included my literature search from 2012 on Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning.