Current Projects
I'm a part of three labs and thus have three genres of research that I'm always working on!
Applied Research in Gaming Lab
The Applied Research in Gaming (ARG) lab explores the various ways that people interact with games. The lab emerged after a significant number of graduate students expressed interest in applying human factors to research in games. The most common research projects focus on video game evaluation and investigate the factors that contribute to a game's success.
First Time User Experience Playing a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena Game
Investigating users’ first time experience while going through the introductory and tutorial levels of three MOBA video games (League of Legends, DOTA 2, and Heroes of the Storm) on a desktop computer.
Responsibilities: Facilitation, note taking, qualitative and quantitative
analysis, report writing.
Competitive Analysis of Video Game Digital Distribution Platforms for First Time Users
Comparing the usability of three digital distribution platforms (Steam, Game Jolt, Origin) that allow for the download of and interaction with video games on a desktop computer.
Responsibilities: Facilitation, research design, note taking, data analysis, &
report writing.
Out-of-Box Benchmark of Multiplayer Board Games
An Out-Of-Box study on user experiences and expectations when recieving a new board game, including the packaging, setup, and first time use.
Responsibilities: Facilitation, note taking, qualitative and quantitative
analysis, report writing.
Applied Cognition & Expertise Lab
The Applied Cognition & Expertise (ACE) lab investigates human performance and cognition in complex, dynamic, and often stressful operational settings. Some topics of current interest to the lab are human factors of firearms and forensic science and police decision making and use of force under stress
Shoot or Don’t Shoot? Perceptual-Cognitive Expertise
Applied to Law Enforcement Use of Force Decisions
Investigating whether or not perceptual-cognitive expertise paradigms from sports research can be applied to law enforcement when making use of force decisions
Responsibilities: Literature review, research design, stimuli creation, programming stimuli presentation software, data collection, data analysis, report writing & presentation
Design considerations in the proliferation of
police body-worn cameras
A study on the optimal placement and other design considerations for police body-worn cameras, in collaboration with the Wichita Police Department.
Responsibilities: Literature review, data analysis, report writing & presentation
Optimize User Centric Research Group
Optimize is a user-centric research group at Wichita State University. We aim to be the leading provider to improve customer products, advance user-centric best practices, and develop new HF/UX practitioners via experiential learning.
We have experience designing and evaluating user interfaces, testing the usability of technology in many domains, and conducting research in applied human-computer interaction.